Queens Park Rangers "disappointed" by length of Joey Barton ban

Queens Park Rangers coach Marc Bircham has said that the club is "disappointed" at the length of Joey Barton's recent ban.

The midfielder was handed a 12-match suspension for violent conduct during the Hoops' final game of the season against Manchester City.

Reacting to the FA's ruling, Bircham told talkSPORT: "Speaking from the football side of things, we're just disappointed at the length of the ban. Twelve games is a hell of a long time to be missing a top player who is also your captain.

"What we're most disappointed about is we got a glimpse of how well Joey can do in the last two months of the season and now the season has ended like it did and we won't have him for the first 12 games of the season."

Barton was red-carded in QPR's 3-2 defeat to City for elbowing Carlos Tevez. He then kicked Sergio Aguero and allegedly attempted to headbutt Vincent Kompany before leaving the pitch.