Joey Barton facing government action for vile social media posts as sports minister Stuart Andrew condemns recently-sacked Bristol Rovers manager's 'dangerous comments'

Barton has taken aim at women in football across the past week, culminating in a vile post in which he compared both Eniola Aluko and Lucy Ward to notorious serial killers Fred and Rose West. ITV, who employ both Aluko and Ward, condemned the comments, but he subsequently doubled down, and government minister Andrew has now added his voice to the chorus of discontent.

Per BBC Sport, Andrew was asked if he would condemn Barton's behaviour and said: "Yes, I would. These are comments that open the floodgates for abuse and that's not acceptable.

"I'm always wary in these situations that these sort of people want the oxygen and I don't want to fuel that. I want to put on record my thanks for the amazing contribution that women and girls make to football and sport more generally."

Asked if he would be willing to speak directly with social media companies, he replied: "I can happily do so."

Barton has been out of work since being sacked by Bristol Rovers in October, having only managed to guide the club to 16th place after 13 games of the season. He managed Fleetwood Town prior to taking over at The Pirates.

Barton's comments appear to be in service of the promotion of a podcast. It remains to be seen if anyone will be willing to listen to it after his controversial outbursts, and he may well face government sanctions after Andrew's strong response.