Joey Barton has lifted the lid on the power struggle at Newcastle United which cost Chris Hughton his job as manager.

The controversial midfielder has questioned his own role in the departure from Albion's current rivals at the top of the Championship of a "noble man" with "incredible dignity".

Barton, who helped Burnley pip Hughton's Seagulls to promotion last season and has just parted company acrimoniously with Glasgow Rangers, played under Hughton at Newcastle for two years.

Injury limited him to a bit-part role when they won the Championship in 2009-10. Now Barton has revealed in his autobiography, 'No Nonsense', his involvement in a row between the players and club owner Mike Ashley over a bonus scheme which left Hughton (below) caught in the middle and signalled the beginning of the end of his reign at St James Park.

The Argus: The dispute over the performance-related scheme escalated on the eve of Newcastle's return to the Premier League away to Manchester United and plunged dressing room ringleader Barton into conflict with Hughton.

Ashley insisted on every member of the first team squad signing up to his terms before a ball was kicked. Barton, supported by some of his team-mates, refused.

 

He said: "Chris retained our respect, but he was frantic, adamant we had to sort things out that night. I was incredulous, increasingly irate. I told him: 'We're playing Manchester United tomorrow. We don't need this s***. I don't need this s***.'

"In hindsight, his alarm was understandable. Ashley regarded the episode as a critical test of his manager's credibility. If Chris could not enforce the owner's will, his power over his players was, to all intents and purposes, negligible.

"The strain was etched on his face the following morning, when he called a squad meeting and reiterated that bonuses had to be agreed before we made our bow on Monday Night Football".

Newcastle lost 3-0 at Old Trafford and the row rumbled on until early December, when Hughton was sacked.

Barton said: "I had every reason to examine my conscience. The club statement pointedly spoke about appointing a successor 'with more managerial experience'. It praised his 'exceptional character and commitment' without removing the implication he had not been strong enough to control his players.

"Had I done the right thing, in the wrong way, by so blatantly confronting Ashley? Had I been seduced by my supposed influence? Had Newcastle somehow become a personalised vanity project? Had I overestimated what a football club means? Such challenging questions can only be answered through quiet contemplation.

"Had I known at the time that I was triggering the avalanche that would bury Chris Hughton I might have behaved differently. But Chris was doomed, in any case, because of the nature of the beast he was dealing with. Look at the incredibly ruthless business model Ashley operates at Sports Direct."

Barton and other senior players "seething at the way they had got rid of Chris" had a dressing room bust-up with Ashley's righthand man, Derek Llambias, after Alan Pardew was appointed as Hughton's successor.

Barton said: "He had sacked a noble man, who held himself with incredible dignity in the face of adversity. He had humiliated someone we cared about, someone who had conducted himself with an elightened professionalism that contrasted with the malicious amateurism of his employers.

"Chris Hughton got them the promotion they needed to maximise their investment, and he was rewarded with contempt."

* No Nonsense is published by Simon and Schuster, priced £20