FOR the second summer in a row Joey Barton is moving on to pastures new, but the difference between his farewell at Queens Park Rangers and Burnley speaks volumes for the way the experienced midfielder has rebuilt a reputation with the Clarets, and how they have rebuilt him.

Twelve months ago Barton was part of the QPR side that had just been relegated from the Premier League and he was told his eventful spell at Loftus Road was over, he was shown the door.

At that point there was probably a sense that Barton was damaged goods.

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In 96 league games for the Hoops he had been booked 31 times and shown four red cards. His career appeared to be at a crossroads.

There was certainly more than a few raised eyebrows when Sean Dyche’s interest in bringing him to Burnley became clear.

Fitting Barton into a team built on its work rate was a concern. As was his previous off-hand comments about the town and the club, and the open-top bus parade that followed promotion to the Premier League in 2013/14 when Dyche’s side unexpectedly finished second.

If he arrived unpopular in a cloud of supporter uncertainty, he leaves having been voted player of the year by the supporters, with a Championship winners medal around his neck, and a disciplinary record so improved that he didn’t miss a single minute through suspension last season.

His influence on the team, and particularly in the dressing room, has been crucial, and nobody inside Turf Moor has had a bad word to say about him.

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He has immersed himself in the culture set by Dyche and he’s thrived in it, on and off the pitch.

After promotion was secured at Turf Moor with victory against the team who released him a year ago, Barton spoke about his desire to prove those who had doubted him wrong.

“I’d been released by QPR in the summer and I was at the end of my tether with the football club, it was mutual, I just needed to get out of there,” he said.

“When you’re part of a side that gets relegated and it’s a bit of a mess people can’t tell who is who from a distance.

“I had a lot of people to prove wrong, people who had written me off, and I’ve quietly gone about my business as part of a great collective here. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”

He might have left Turf Moor, but Barton was far from at the end of his tether with the Clarets. In fact, he could hardly have been more effusive with his parting messages for Burnley fans and for the group he left behind.

In the week after he signed on the dotted with Burnley, Barton insisted he was here to win the title. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could win the league,” he said.

He added: “Hopefully my legacy here will be that despite a few stupid tweets I was a resounding success at this football club.”

Mission accomplished.