BARTON SET FOR RETURN; Shown the door by Shearer, but bad boy's back in team.

Byline: LEE RYDER

JOEY BARTON will make a controversial return to Newcastle United duty on Saturday against Shamrock Rovers.

The Scouse schemer would have been out of the door at St James's Park by now if Alan Shearer had had his way following his disgraceful red card and subsequent outburst at Anfield during United's drop from top-flight football.

Shearer made his feelings on Barton crystal clear at the end of the season by banning him from the training ground for the remainder of the campaign.

And, without a shadow of doubt, one of the first tasks of his managerial manifesto was to offload Barton to any club willing to take him on.

With Birmingham City having cooled their interest in the ex-Manchester City man, the midfielder has been with the Magpies in Dublin as they build up for their first season of second-tier football since the 1992/93 campaign.

Caretaker boss Chris Hughton did not adopt the same stance as Shearer on Barton and included him in his squad which has been training at Carton House this week.

Now the former Tottenham favourite will name Barton in his squad for the game with Michael O'Neill's Shamrock, and Hughton told the Chronicle from Ireland today: "I plan to use all the players that are here. "I won't be looking to play anyone for 90 minutes. "My main concern is not so much the performance, but getting through the 90 minutes with no injuries. Each individual player's got to get something out of the game. "If we have no injuries, we'll be halfway there." Barton has stated this summer that he intends to stay on Tyneside, but admits he will be powerless if Shearer returns to St James's Park. Yet Shearer would undoubtedly have the backing of the fans if he did move Barton on after a string of misdemeanours since joining the Mags and a prison stint last summer. However, Obafemi Martins, who went under the knife for a hernia operation this summer, is not set to play against the League of Ireland club.

Hughton added: "Possibly the only one who won't be involved will be Oba, although he is training. "His programme's a little bit different to everybody else because of summer surgery. "We'll discuss it with the physio, but he's one, at this moment who won't be involved." The game with Shamrock kicks off a summer programme for United that sees them take on Darlington, Huddersfield, Utrecht, Leeds and Dundee United before their televised Championship opener with West Brom on August 8. Hughton went on: "We're looking forward to the game now, and hopefully, coming back with no injuries."

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REPRIEVE: Joey Barton appeared to have played his last game for United after being sent off at Liverpool (above), but he's back in the fold (right) - for now at least