Joey Barton will meet Newcastle United officials this morning to discuss his position at the club. Having been released from Strangeways yesterday after serving 74 days of a six-month sentence for assault and affray, the midfield player has been summoned along with his agent for talks that will determine whether he has a long-term future at St James' Park.

While Kevin Keegan, the Newcastle manager, hopes to rehabilitate Barton, Mike Ashley, the owner, has been deliberating over how to discipline the 25-year-old for bringing the club into disrepute. Whatever approach the club choose, little can be determined until the player's feelings are gauged; Newcastle were prevented from visiting Barton during his time in prison.

Ashley's stance has been hard line in tone, but Newcastle are adamant that there is no conflict between the billionaire and his manager on the subject. All options have been considered, from terminating Barton's contract on the grounds of gross misconduct to selling him for £3 million, while an attempt to cut his wages from £65,000 a week to £30,000 has been made.

That, so far, has been resisted.

The legal validity of those alternatives is questionable - neither the club nor Willie McKay, the player's agent, were prepared to add to previous comments last night - but Keegan wishes to stand by the England player. Having worked with him at Newcastle and Manchester City, Keegan has hailed Barton as a “changed character”, although Ashley will make the final decision.

The moral validity of continuing to employ a man with such a chequered history will be debated fiercely - supporters appear split on the issue - but Newcastle also have a financial case to consider. Sacking Barton would entail a hefty loss on a player who cost £5.8 million a year ago and further weaken a limited first-team squad.

Barton was recently given a four-month sentence suspended for two years, ordered to pay £3,000 compensation and carry out 200 hours of community service for a training-ground assault on Ousmane Dabo, his former City team-mate. He will continue to receive treatment for alcohol-related issues from Peter Kay, of the Sporting Chance Clinic.

“Joey fully accepts that he becomes a different person when he puts alcohol down his throat and he hasn't touched any since the offence was committed last December and his intention, desire and focus is on staying sober,” Kay told The Times last night. “He was absolutely horrified when he saw the CCTV footage of what happened and he has been punished for what he did and rightly so, but since then he's done everything that we've asked of him and more.

“He spent nearly a month with me at the clinic and then I was speaking to him every day and seeing him for two days a week before the trial. He accepts his punishment. We are not judges of morals but of people and their intentions. Joey should be judged on his actions from today. He needs our support now more than ever, so we will continue to offer him that through thick and thin, because that's what we do.”

Barton is unlikely to accompany his team-mates on their pre-season tour to Majorca, but with the start of the campaign less than three weeks away, Gérémi has become the latest Newcastle player to express concern at the size of Keegan's squad. The club have completed only two signings this summer, while their list of absentees stretches into double figures.

Newcastle are hoping to beat Tottenham Hotspur to the signature of Fabricio Coloccini, although Deportivo la Coruña have rejected an opening bid of £8 million for the Argentina defender, while Sébastien Bassong, the 22-year-old Metz defender, is “optimistic” that his trial at Newcastle will result in a permanent transfer.“Our physio room is full,” Gérémi said. “We need those players back and hopefully we can add to them because there's only a few weeks until the beginning of the season.”

Back to work

Joey Barton can finally get back to his day job after expanding his CV with a number of low-key roles during his spell in prison. The midfield player was rumoured to have served as an unofficial personal trainer to fellow inmates while serving his six-month sentence for assault and affray. It has also been reported that Barton earned £11 per week as a welder after turning down a sweeping job; a sweeper would have been a useful addition to Kevin Keegan's squad.