Joey Barton's history of anti-Burnley tweets comes back to haunt him

Burnley's newest signing Joey Barton has a savvy social-media lesson for the kids: once it's on the internet, it stays on the internet.

The Championship side announced Thursday that it had signed the 32-year-old midfielder on a one-year deal, ending months of speculation on which side would take a chance on the contentious Manchester City youth product.

While Barton seems overjoyed at the prospects of joining the Lancashire outfit, a host of his tweets from the past suggest otherwise.

Moments after Burnley announced the signing on the club's official website, a 2014 tweet from Barton conveying his appreciation of the town's virtues made the rounds.

As with many items professional athletes post on Twitter, this specific one lacked a little foresight, though it was hardly the worst of the lot. A cursory search of "@Joey7Barton and Burnley" turned up a few more gems from the Merseyside-born lightning rod of controversy, including ...

Barton's assessments of the size of Burnley's Turf Moor crowd:

And some banter with the Burnley faithful:

Finally, Barton offered his impression of Burnley supporters.

For Barton's sake, here's hoping the midfielder's next appearance at Turf Moor will have better results than the last time he visited the ground in 2014 as a member of Queens Park Rangers.

(Photo courtesy: Mirror)

(Twitter photos courtesy: Who Ate All The Pies)