QPR captain Joey Barton admits he had to hide away his wide-ranging interests early in his career.

The QPR midfielder now quotes George Orwell and the Dalai Lama on Twitter and has also pontificated on the art world and his idol Morrissey.

Barton says: "If I said I was going to art galleries and listening to The Smiths there would probably have been an element that thought I was homosexual.

"I was into it all back then but I was striving to make a living in the game, and football is very macho. Men are men and to talk about the fact you are into certain things would leave you vulnerable."