Blackburn midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen has
welcomed an apology from Joey Barton and assured the Newcastle man
his punch is forgotten.
Barton is serving a three-match ban after punching Pedersen in
the stomach during Rovers' 2-1 victory at St James' Park last
week.
It is the latest in a string of controversial moments during
Barton's career but Pedersen spoke up for the 28-year-old, who
issued a statement of apology before phoning the Norwegian
personally on Friday.
Pedersen said in the Lancashire Telegraph: "I couldn't answer
the phone at that moment but he left a nice message on my answering
machine and I called him up the minute we had finished our team
meeting.
"Joey shows that there is more to him than what came out on the
pitch the other day, and I really appreciate it. It's not everyone
who has the courage to call to apologise after such an episode, but
Joey did without hesitation.
"Both me and Joey are professional and fully agree to put this
behind us, and that we can laugh about the whole thing next time we
meet."
teamtalk