A VIDEO has emerged online which appears to show a football fan calling police to report Joey Barton as a missing person following Saturday’s Old Firm Derby.
The minute-long clip appears to show a man speaking to an officer to tell him that the Liverpudlian midfielder was “last seen in Scott Brown’s pocket”.
The prankster pretends to be Barton’s midfield colleague, Niko Kranjcar, whilst he claims the sniggering in the background comes from Gers’ favourite, Andy Halliday.
Barton, who joined the Ibrox club in a high-profile summer move, was part of the Rangers team that was humbled 5-1 at the weekend by their bitter rivals.
The footage was uploaded to popular Facebook page, ‘Scottish Football Away Fans’ yesterday and has already amassed over 350,000 views and countless comment and reaction.
The recording starts with the man holding his phone out in front of him as he uses speakerphone to report Barton as missing.
The man asks: “Is that police?” A recorded message replies: “You are now connected to the Police Scotland 999 priority line.”
Loud sniggering in the background can be heard as the phone starts to ring.
A man answers and says: “Police, what’s the address of your emergency?”
The man says: “It’s not an address, i’m just wanting to report a missing person.”
The operator says: “Okay, what’s your name?”
The prank caller replies to say he’s the Rangers midfielder Niko Kranjcar and says he’s ‘just looking for Joey Barton’.
The operator asks: “Sorry, what did you say your name is?”
The man reiterates that he’s ‘Niko Kranjcar’ and is ‘looking for Joey Barton’.
The operator then asks: “Who’s that laughing in the background?” He is told that the laughter is coming from Andy Halliday – a fan’s favourite at Rangers.
The phone call ends with the caller agains stating he’s looking for ‘Joey Barton’ and tells the operator: “He was born in Liverpool but plays for Rangers. Last seen in Scott Brown’s pocket.”
The fake calls sparked a furious reaction from viewers on social media.
Stewart Tannock said: “Waste of police time. Sure hope that this guy gets what comes his way when police catch up with him. Might think that’s funny but someone could really have needed the police and cause of some kid on comedian, they wouldn’t be taken as quickly.”
Derek Burnie commented: “Hope the guys enjoyed their laugh. Let’s hope he wasn’t preventing someone getting through to the Police who actually needed them.
And Laraine Simmons wrote: “An old firm game and aftermath is one of the busiest times for police Scotland! Although this is meant as a joke there could’ve been someone trying to get through with a life or death situation.”
But Stacey Bradley said: “Some people really need to lighten up! If this was roles reversed I’m sure you would find it hilarious! Watched this all morning so so funny.”
Police Scotland declined to comment on the clip and confirmed they will not be investigating the incident due to a lack of information.
