Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton has been fined £2,000 sterling and warned as to his future conduct for baring his backside at Everton fans.

The 24-year-old admitted a charge of improper conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute and was fined by a Football Association disciplinary commission today.

The player twice dropped his shorts following the final whistle at Goodison Park on September 30 in response to taunts from Everton fans about his brother Michael's 17-year prison sentence for murder.

Having escaped with only a fine Barton will be available for Manchester City's match against Sheffield United on Saturday.

Barton told City's official club website www.mcfc.co.uk: "I have had a fair hearing and would like to thank the FA for that.

"I regret what I did but am grateful to the FA for recognising the provocation I had to endure.

Barton was represented at the hearing by the Professional Footballers' Association, and Sporting Chance, the charity set up by Tony Adams that had helped Barton last year after he was sent home from a pre-season tour in Thailand for fighting with a 15-year-old Everton fan.

Barton said at the time he was at "rock bottom" following his brother's conviction for the racist murder of Liverpool student Anthony Walker.

The club had been supportive of their player on this occasion and indeed criticised the FA's decision to bring a charge against the player.

In the past, however, the club have taken internal action against Barton for misdemeanours.

Apart from the Thailand incident, he was fined six weeks' wages, with a further fine of two weeks' wages suspended for a year, after he jabbed a lit cigar into the eye of City team-mate Jamie Tandy at the club's Christmas party in 2004.