LEE WALLACE insists he is more interested in Joey Barton’s impact on the park than his controversial persona off it.
The midfielder has already made his presence felt in Scottish football after putting pen-to-paper on a two-year deal with Rangers.
Barton has aimed jibes at Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers and captain Scott Brown and has set out his determination to be the best player in the country to inspire Mark Warburton’s side to Premiership glory.
The 33-year-old has hit the headlines throughout his career for a string of incidents and will be a player that opposition fans love to hate in our game next term.
But Gers skipper Wallace is confident the positives will far outweigh the negatives when Barton gets down to business with Rangers in the coming weeks.
He said: “It goes without saying that there is history there and things that have maybe been blown out of proportion. But the bottom line for me is that you have to look at his footballing quality and that is what I look at.
“I know that any man that steps through this door will take to how we operate inside these walls with how we conduct ourselves and the environment that has been set here by the manager, Davie and the players.
“We would never allow that to slip. Having spoken to Clint who knows him well and Matt who knows him well, a lot of the stuff outside of football can maybe go over the top.
“But the main one for me is that I look at his football quality, where he has been, where he has played and who he has played with. He was Championship Player of the Year in a team that were promoted to the Premier League.
“It shows his ambition as well. It would have been natural to think that the best offer or best move for him would be to go and play in the Premier League.
“He has been there and done that and he feels he wants to come and be part of something new, something fresh, something exciting for his next career move. He is highly intellectual, a really clever man and it is easy to start looking at the negative side.
“For me, I can’t wait to get going with him. He won’t join us for a few weeks, he will take his rest from last season.
“I can’t wait to sit and talk to him, get a coffee with him, sit and listen and ask him questions and go out there and work hard with him and hopefully be successful with him.”
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