Joey Barton has hit back at Jamie Tandy, who used an incident between the pair in 2004 as the main reason behind a string of assaults that he committed on his girlfriend.

At Manchester City's Christmas party 11 years ago, the pair made the headlines when Barton stubbed a cigar out in Tandy's face.

Having pleaded guilty to the charges lobbied against him, Tandy, who was a trainee at City at the time, was spared jail by the judge earlier today to give him the chance to turn his life around. It is the latest in a list of criminal offences that the 31-year-old has committed over recent years.

In his defence, Tandy's legal team cited Barton's actions 11 years ago as one of the mitigating circumstances behind his actions.

Tonight, Barton, now of Championship side Burnley, took to Twitter this evening to respond.

"He was a gobshite a long time before I went anywhere near him. How many times is a judge going to buy his shit? Drink driving multiple times, pulled a knife on a fellow player, beat his former girlfriend up in 2010. And now beats his current one up," he tweeted.

"Reason he never made it was he was simply overweight and lacked desire and talent. Nobody to blame but himself. He forgets that he set my shirt on fire before I used him as an ashtray. Doesn't condone my reaction. But he was far from a innocent victim.

"How can you possibly hit women on multiple occasions and blame an incident a decade earlier. Men who hit women are nothing but shithouses. At the end of the day. In this world you are responsible for your own actions."

After Man City Tandy had spells abroad and in non-League, but never made a professional football career for himself.