PFA offer Barton help

The PFA has vowed to offer assistance to Joey Barton following the training ground incident with Ousmane Dabo.

Manchester City have suspended the midfielder until the end of the season after Dabo was left needing hospital treatment.

The club will now make inquiries into what happened and, while the PFA has no objection to Barton's immediate suspension, deputy chief executive Mick McGuire has promised to help the player if Manchester City's final decision is deemed unfair.

"We will offer Joey help and, if there is a requirement for mediation, we will be there," he said.

"We have spoken to the club and are in the process of speaking to Joey as well to get the full facts.

"Once City have made their judgement, we will be in a position to decide whether in our opinion it was the right one or not, but for now we have followed regulations because they are allowed to suspend for a couple of weeks pending inquiries."

Meanwhile, Stuart Pearce has told fans to stop singling out Georgios Samaras for criticism.

The Greece international has become a target for the boo boys at The City of Manchester Stadium and Pearce believes he has become a scapegoat.

"If there are any misgivings at the club then people always throw Georgios into the mix," he told the Manchester Evening News.

"He is 22 years old and it is drastically unfair to name him after every defeat. It is very unfair to pick one individual out and blame it on him.

"If people want to say player A had not done well, player B had not done well and player C had not done well and, by the way, the manager had done badly as well, then that's fine, but I find it quite sad that one person is being picked on as a scapegoat.

"It is important that when you win, you win together - and when you lose, you lose together."