Joey was due to reply to FA on the 5th but appealed for more time.
My thought is....why did the FA not extend it to say 19th (2 weeks) rather than 31st (deadline transfer day).

Coincidence?

If they give him a long ban...we won't have time to sign a replacement.
Could somebody in London really dislike us so much?

Regardless of a ban or not, surely the club would be looking at other players.

You've been hanging around with bluelab too much if you've come up with that conspiracy theory.

Joey is going to get banned anyway, even if its 3 games, 3 months or 3 years or whatever and I'll imagine that there will be some kind of termination clause in his contract depending on the outcome, but by that time, his people will have delayed the hearing that much we will will have had the best from him for this season. Everyone knows where they stand, from the clubs point of view, Barton is a luxury signing and wont alter the progression of other long term targets.

Isn't it the case that he has until the end of the month to reply to the FA? Can he not then ask for an official hearing, thus delaying the case further before any potential ban?

Conspiracy chaos

I suspect we are very much involved in Joey choosing to delay. I expect between 6 and 10 game ban (hence a cup run could be important). I think having him for these few games and then the final few may be what Dyche is thinking. There are some crucial winnable games in that lot.

Didn't he ask for the long extension?
As said on another thread: A later date, appeals, could see this season through.

Sidney1st wrote:You've been hanging around with bluelab too much if you've come up with that conspiracy theory.

Or, spending too much time on this forum, it's worrying.

Infamy infamy, they've all got it in for me!

Think the FA charge is wrong anyway. I believe it became against FA rules to bet on any football match if you are involved in football in August 2014. Therefore before that date you can't have breached the current FA betting rules. So to charge Joey for breaching the rules for 10 years is Tosh. They have also cited 1260 bets over that 10 year period. An accumulator is 5 bets in 1. Does Joey bet on accas or in single bets? I think the FA have cocked this up. Hopefully Joey's legal team can spin this out to the end of the season.

Presumably we can't rely on Barton being available for at least 3/4 games - maybe more if he gets a
lengthy ban. Presumably we aren't putting all our eggs in Joey's basket?
Presumably we've got a few other targets.

Would feel a lot happier if we'd got one or two signed up by now in addition to Barton.
Just hope Dyche doesn't believe he can do it with the current squad.

As long as they ban all the other footballers who bet on football too - tip of the iceberg time

Don't forget your tinfoil hat!