JOEY BARTON has told Neil Warnock to “shut it” and “look in the mirror” to see the reason why he was sacked as Queens Park Rangers manager last week after the 63-year-old hinted that his captain led to his downfall.

In a series of tweets Barton said of the man who signed him and made him the club’s highest paid player: “Lost his job and the guy is blaming everyone but himself. Embarrassing, time to look in the mirror mate. Last thing we need right. Big week.

“Looking forward to the game against Wigan tomo. 1st time in a while we actually have a plan and seem organised.

“Not a big fan of people that try to make scapegoats out of others. If u live by the sword, u die by it. If I talked about Neil, he’d do well to get another job. Twitter cost him his job???? I can think of a million other things! #shutitwarnock.”

Warnock claimed that Twitter had allowed players to influence Tony Fernandes, QPR’s majority shareholder, when he made the decision to sack him and hire Mark Hughes. He said: “When you have a run of results like we had and you’re not involved in football and you get people in your ear. . . tweeting him and speaking to him and talking about players . . . there’s some clever and manipulative people. I’ve no bitterness towards it. It’s just how things go. I’m not a communicator by tweet, I’m afraid so I was always going to be the last to know.”

Barton returns after a three-game suspension for being sent off against Norwich City in Warnock’s final league game in charge.