Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton has hit out at his former Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce.

Pearce blasted the player for launching a scathing attack on his unimpressive City reign - which was quickly followed by the alleged training-ground assault on Ousmane Dabo.

Barton said: "I didn't speak to Pearce about Newcastle because we had a relationship breakdown in the end.

"He came out and said certain things which he shouldn't have said, whether he felt them or not.

"There's a lot of things I feel about him but I've not come out and said them and I don't plan on doing so.

"When you have a working relationship with someone, there are a lot of things that should be kept in-house. Stuart thinks differently and he is entitled to his opinion.

"But if everyone spoke their opinions, we would have anarchy and chaos in the world."