Barton faces fight for his Newcastle future after leaving jail

Joey Barton returns to Newcastle United on Tuesday and will head straight into talks with Kevin Keegan and senior board members to discuss his future at the club.

The controversial midfielder was released from Strangeways Prison in Manchester on Monday morning after serving 74 days of a six-month sentence for assaulting a teenager in Liverpool city centre just after Christmas.

Barton, 25, wearing jeans and a jumper and carrying a holdall, was immediately driven from outside the prison by his father and headed to his family home in Liverpool.

Tuesday's expected meeting on Tyneside will be held at a secret location. Although Barton has been promised he will be welcomed back with open arms by manager Keegan, Newcastle chairman Derek Llambias and owner Mike Ashley want to meet the player and set out their vision for his future.

The first priority for Newcastle and Ashley is to negotiate a new contract for Barton. The club want him to take a drastic cut from his current £71,000 a week wages and have had to delay talks until his release.

Ashley and Keegan are also expected to warn Barton about his future conduct and emphasise that this chance to salvage his career will be his last.

Keegan told the BBC on Sunday that Barton deserved a second chance after serving his sentence, although there is some dismay within the club that they have been forced to reinstate a player convicted of an assault described as 'violent and cowardly' in court.

Newcastle tried to off-load the one-time England international to Bolton during the summer and came close to completing a deal, but no other takers have been found for a player signed from Manchester City for £5million just over a year ago.

That has forced Newcastle to take the player back, with Keegan staking his reputation on Barton proving the doubters wrong.

Keegan said: 'I told him that, as long as from now on he did things right and started to rebuild the confidence of people around him, I would stick by him. It's up to Joey to put things right now - he's got to win over a lot of people.'

Newcastle leave for the Mallorca Summer Cup on Wednesday but Barton is expected to stay on Tyneside to begin training in a bid to regain match fitness for the start of the season on August 16.