Joey Barton has launched a furious tirade at Wayne Rooney, dismissing claims that Queens Park Rangers deliberately allowed Manchester City to win the 2012 Premier League title in one of football’s most dramatic finales.
Speaking on the Common Sense podcast, the former QPR midfielder took exception to Rooney’s suggestion that the fixture was “bent.”
The match, which City won 3–2 with Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp strike, delivered the club’s first top-flight title in 44 years and left Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United stunned.
Barton, who was sent off in the second half for elbowing Carlos Tevez, said Rooney’s accusations were baseless and insulting to the players involved.
“There’s been a bit of a spat online between Djibril Cisse and Wayne Rooney,” Barton said.
“Rooney has said the game was bent, that QPR threw it.
“I’m only commenting on it because he referenced me in it. Half of our team knew we were safe and half didn’t — you can see it when you watch the game.”
City, needing a win to secure the title, trailed 2–1 deep into stoppage time before Edin Dzeko equalised and Agüero scored the most famous goal in Premier League history.
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But Rooney has since questioned the integrity of QPR’s performance, claiming it was “strange” that they appeared to give the ball away so easily after conceding.
Barton rejected those suspicions outright and defended his former team-mates, particularly goalkeeper Paddy Kenny, who was accused of failing to stop City’s goals.
“You might say Paddy should have done better,” Barton said.
“But I don’t think Paddy Kenny is the type of lad to throw a game.
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“We were fighting for our lives that day. We had to get a result to stay up. As it was, we lost, but other results went our way.”
Cisse, who scored QPR’s first goal that afternoon, also hit back at Rooney’s comments.
“I was celebrating with Samir Nasri,” he told FourFourTwo. “I didn’t celebrate with Mario Balotelli or Sergio Agüero.
“I celebrated with my friend Samir, who had been a friend of mine for 15 years. I was happy for him and also that we managed to stay up. I don’t care about Man City.”
Barton suggested that while some players, including himself, Nedum Onuoha and Shaun Wright-Phillips, had strong links to City, that did not influence the outcome.
“Yes, some of us came through City’s academy, and we might have preferred City to win the league over United. But at the time, we were just trying to survive,” he said.
The former England midfielder then turned his anger directly on Rooney.
“Your conspiracy theories are untrue,” he said.
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“Man City won the league. Man United didn’t.
“Am I happy about that? Absolutely. Because I can’t stand United.
“But to say that me, Cisse, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Nedum Onuoha or Paddy Kenny fixed the result is nonsense.”
Barton ended his rant in typically blunt fashion, mocking United’s reaction to losing the title.
“QPR stayed up. City won the league. And you lot were crying on the pitch, which made it even sweeter,” he said.
Whether Rooney responds remains to be seen.
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