Joey Barton laid a ghost to rest on Saturday haunting the new QPR skipper for more than two years.

Rangers may have lost a top-flight opening match for the third time on the bounce, but there was one very major positive as far as the 31-year-old was concerned.

He resumed a career in the Premier League rudely terminated in the 55th minute at Manchester City in May, 2012.

The infamous bust-up at the season's finale as Rs battled relegation saw Barton lash out at anything in a sky blue shirt that led to a record 12-match ban; around £500k in lost wages, a £75k FA fine, and exile to Marseille the following term.

Red mist: Barton is restrained by coaches at The Etihad

Considerably more mellow, Barton looked back on one of football’s more notorious incidents with a dollop of wry humour following Rs 1-0 defeat to Hull that also saw Charlie Austin miss a penalty six minutes from time.

“Can’t remember my last one in the Premier League,” he quipped. “Does anyone remember it? Until you get that ghost out of your closet it always lingers, and a lot of people believed that I’d never be back and playing at this level.

“It was on my mind leading up to this game. But it (the City game) was good in a way; I got to go to France; and a lot’s changed. This time the club’s really united.”

The skipper on the pitch reckons he still has to work on his diplomatic skills, but was adamant Rangers were hard done by to come away with nothing against Hull.

“Being skipper does allow me to meet refs before the game but that hasn’t always been a good thing for me, and it’s something I have to work on."

A spot of bother: Hull's Allan McGregor saves Charlie Austin's penalty

“In the past, I’ve been a little guilty of getting irate towards the referee. Some of the Hull lads did it, and I’m not sure it helped Charlie (Austin) before he got to the pen.

“At the end it was almost as if Hull had won a cup final. Last year, in the Championship we would have got away with it. But this is the not-messing-around-league," he said.

“But there are a lot of positives. The gaffer’s looking to bring in more players. The board are a lot shrewder and did a lot of smart business, and as a playing staff now we don’t really have the kind of character the fans fell out with in the past.

We’re gutted for Charlie; he’s devastated. But he could scored a more important goal against Wigan last season from the spot at the same end in the second leg of the Championship play-off.”