Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton faces more trouble.
He has been belatedly charged with violent conduct by the Football Association on Thursday afternoon over his training ground assault on Ousmane Dabo 15 months ago.
The FA were unable to launch their own investigation into the incident - of which there is no video footage - until the completion of the criminal investigation and court case.
That fact has not assuaged his current employers, however, who immediately voiced their discontent when the FA charge was handed out.
"Newcastle United can confirm that it has received documentation from the Football Association stating that it is charging Joey Barton with misconduct in relation to the incident that occurred with Ousmane Dabo in May 2007, at a time when he was a registered player of Manchester City," a club statement read.
"The club has sought clarification from the Football Association as to why this decision has been reached now, given the incident occurred nearly 15 months ago.
"Joey will be requesting a personal hearing in relation to the charge and the club will be making no further comment on the matter at this time."
The new charge from the FA comes as a result of the criminal hearing at Manchester Crown Court after football's governing body received all the relevant documentation from the case.
Barton now has until August 13 to respond to the charge.
There is no maximum sentence which could be issued to Barton by the FA and, given the severity of the attack on Dabo, a lengthy ban and possible fine would be the likely outcome were he found culpable.
