Keegan to stick by Barton

Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan has revealed he will back jailed midfielder Joey Barton after he is released from jail. The midfielder is currently serving a six month prison sentence.

"Joey will be back towards the end of the month," Keegan told Radio Five's Sportsweek programme.

"It's well-documented that he's had his problems but I knew of those problems at the time of taking over.

"I told him as long as he did things right and started to rebuild the confidence of everyone around him, which he has to do, we would stick by him.

"And the Joey Barton we had for the last two months of the season was a much-changed character."