QPR wanted to hit Joey Barton with a £1 million fine for his Manchester City meltdown.

The Mirror says QPR's furious chiefs wanted to punish Barton with a fine of close to £1MILLION over his now infamous meltdown at Manchester City.

The £70,000-a-week midfielder was only rescued from losing three months' money because the players' union, the PFA, stepped in.

Barton would otherwise have been hit with a staggering £840,000 penalty.

As it is, he has been docked six weeks' wages - £420,000 - and stripped of the captaincy over his sending-off and subsequent actions during the final game of the season last month.