Joey Barton today accused Mark Hughes of “shifting the blame” for his failures at Queens Park Rangers and claimed the club are still “trying to clean up his mess”.

Hughes said this week “an awful lot of things were not in place” during 10 unsuccessful months at QPR and suggested he should not be judged on his time at the club.

He left QPR bottom of the Premier League and many feel the Championship side are yet to fully recover from what Harry Redknapp has described as a “culture of decay”.

Hughes claimed he was “being dragged into areas where I needn’t have bothered” by the environment created by owner Tony Fernandes.

Barton responded today on Twitter, writing: “Nah mate, you’re not shifting blame. Not on my watch. Accept you failed. Accept you’re to blame. Be humble and apologise to a club you left in a hell of a worse situation than when you came. How dare he say what he has said in that interview. The club/board backed him to the hilt. Gave him everything he ever asked for. Fans backed him to the hilt.”

Barton was sent on loan by Hughes after earning a 12-match ban for lashing out at three Manchester City players on the final day of the 2011-12 season.

He tweeted: “People think I hold a grudge against Hughes. I don’t. He was the one who let me go to Marseille after all.

“He will claim he kept us up the year [he took over at QPR in 2011]. He never. It was [Neil] Warnock’s team. He is trying to get away from the truth. We are all now here trying to clean up his mess.”