More quotes from Dabo in this Guardian article:
Badly beaten Dabo set to take Barton to court
Daniel Taylor
Thursday May 3, 2007
Joey Barton, the Manchester City midfielder whose reputation is in tatters after a savage training-ground attack on his team-mate Ousmane Dabo, is likely to face legal action from the Frenchman.
Dabo has contacted his lawyers about the possibility of a civil case and is strongly considering making an official complaint to the police about the assault, which was witnessed by a group of children who had been invited to City’s training ground.
“My face is badly disfigured,” Dabo said last night about an incident which left him needing hospital treatment. “When Barton struck me the first time I lost consciousness for three or four seconds and I don’t remember exactly what happened then. The cornea and the retina in my left eye are damaged and I have a lot of bruises. I am shocked this could happen.”
His eye is completely closed and he has informed his lawyers that Barton attacked him from behind. The two midfielders had squared up after Barton’s second late tackle on Dabo in the space of minutes. Angry words were exchanged but Dabo claims he then turned away and had walked several paces, with his back to Barton, before being punched to the ground. “It is Barton’s cowardice that upsets me most,” said Dabo. “What I find most shocking is that he struck me first from behind and then repeatedly when I was down on the ground. He is a coward and his actions are despicable.”
He is particularly upset by comments from Barton’s agent, Willie McKay, who claimed his client had been acting in self-defence, and it is clear that City have taken the Frenchman’s side. Barton was suspended until the end of the season at an emergency board meeting and the club have decided that he has become so much of an embarrassment that they have no option but to sell him in the summer.
McKay dismissed the incident as the sort of thing that happens “from Chelsea to Yeovil” but Dabo says he has never known anything like it in a career that has taken him from Rennes to Internazionale, Vicenza, Parma, Monaco, Atalanta and Lazio before joining City last summer.
X-rays have shown that the 30-year-old former France international suffered no broken bones but he will need further tests on his eyesight once the swelling has gone down. He is also extremely shaken and has been advised to spend the next week recovering at home. He will not be available for Saturday’s visit of Manchester United and it is not clear whether he will be able to return before the end of the season. “I cannot play on Saturday,” he said. “I was knocked out and physically I am not ready.”
Barton will be fined four weeks’ wages and his tempestuous career in Manchester will be ended as soon as City can find a club willing to take him on. Everton are among those monitoring the situation and are aware that the 24-year-old Liverpudlian has a 5.5m buy-out clause in his contract. He was once a season-ticket holder at Goodison Park and a member of their youth academy.
Barton has been ordered to stay away from City’s training ground. He is alleged to have struck Dabo six or seven times and the other players are said to be shocked by what happened. It is thought he may have been in a bad mood after Richard Dunne was named as the club’s player of the year the previous night. Barton had also criticised some of Stuart Pearce’s foreign signings and the manager will hold a press conference this morning.
