Here is Barton's pre-match interview for tomorrow's game. I have not posted this on the match day thread because its a long interview and he hardly discusses the upcoming game. It is mainly its about his take on the future. Some key points... * He made a point of saying you need good fitness to have a good season and he wasn't happy with the training sessions that were going on before he arrived at the club. He has seen all the sessions (training must have been recorded then). * He walked in on his first day at the training ground and found 11 chewing tobacco pouches on the training pitch and he immediately thought "what have I got myself in to" * He said the table don't lie after 43 games and we deserve to go down. Will be a miracle if we stay up. Need 3 wins and a ridiculous amount of a goal return and even then we are relying on others. * He said "the old team is dead. Good riddance to it. It died the 1st half vs MK Dons when it rolled over and get it's belly tickled!" * He will be picking a team for the 3 remaining games who are in his plans for next season but due to a number of injuries and a lack of depth he will have to include players not wanted. * He confirmed Ayunga is out injured for the remaining 3 games. * He's been relegated before as a player with Newcastle and got promoted the following season so he thinks he knows what it takes to go straight back up. * He said getting relegated doesn't happen due to bad luck. It happens because of lots of small decisions over a long period, usually 50 50 calls being made that they get wrong. It's not just because of 1 person. * He knows League 2 is an unforgiving league. Salford has spent a gazillion and doesn't look they they will get into the play offs. He believes that league rewards good structure and good discipline. * He has been watching some League 2 games to get an idea of what to expect, adding if you think the officials are bad in League 1 then... (he didn't finish that sentence) * He believes a manager should be aiming to win the league each season and that is his goal next season whether its League 1 by a miracle or League 2 which is highly likely. * He believes if we are in League 2 then we will have 12k fans each home game (wonder what he has been smoking) expecting us to win and but there is a 21% chance of going up at the first attempt and the average first season finish for a team who got relegated is 12th (one minute he says he will aim to win the league and the next minute it sounds like he was trying to lower our expectations) * He said hard work ahead to be ready for next season. You don't go from bottom of League 1 to the top of League 2 overnight. * He said he needs to figure out who stays and goes but then shortly afterwards he contradicted himself again saying he has spoken to Wael and they agree on the retained list! * He confirmed the new training ground will be finished before pre-season starts and that will help recruit the right players, adding he will say to them "whatever you knew of Rovers beforehand, it is not what it is now" (chuckled to himself while saying that) * He said new players coming in will be like firefighters putting out fires everywhere! * He said there are players under contract who we have to secure because they will play a big part for us to be successful. He named Jaakkola as one of them. Players out of contract need to be tied down too and he named Leahy as one of them adding he has been a superb voice in the changing room and getting 10 goals from left back speaks volumes. And he said keeping our best players from clubs who will be sniffing around is imperative, not mentioned names. * He finished by saying he is looking forward to the pressure.
'in League 2 then we will have 12k fans each home game' Did Joey mean 1200? 'he said keeping our best players from clubs who will be sniffing around is imperative, not mentioned names' I didn't know you had any?
When I seen on the home page that you had commented, I knew it would be about the 12k fans! It was because of you that I put (wonder what he has been smoking) gag next to it
I’d give Barton 12 matches next season. If he doesn’t deliver get rid and get some grizzled old L2 campaigner in.
That’s the hammer, if after 12 games he’s failing then leaves with 3 quarters of a season to save you.
Here is another reason why I don't want Barton next season. League games only for this season... Ben Garner: Games: 11. Won: 3. Drew: 3. Lost: 5. Scored: 11. Conceded: 19. Points: 12. Win percentage: 27.27%. Points Per Game: 1.09 Paul Tisdale: Games: 15. Won: 3. Drew: 3. Lost: 9. Scored: 13. Conceded: 24. Points: 12. Win percentage: 20%. Points Per Game: 0.8 Joey Barton: Games: 16. Won: 3. Drew: 2. Lost: 11. Scored: 13. Conceded: 22. Points: 11. Win percentage: 18.75%. Points Per Game: 0.687 This equals 42 games. Widdrington had 2 games in charge before Barton's appointment. And of course Barton still has 2 games left and his stats above will probably get even worse! I think we all agree that Garner had to go. Last seasons results had an impact on the decision to let him go. I think we all agree that Tisdale had to go. We thought Garner was bad but Tisdale with all his experience was somehow worse than Garner! Looking at the stats above, somehow Barton has been worse than Garner and even worse than Tisdale!!!!! I appreciate this is not Barton's team. But at the same time, this was not Tisdale's team either and that didn't stop Tisdale getting sacked. So I really can't see why Barton should carry on. He has no experience of L2 as a player or manager. He has minimal managerial experience. He just speaks a good game but he is just all mouth no action, unless it comes to thuggery of course! Wael will probably back him but I wouldn't trust him with those funds to get it right. Just my opinion of course. But it is an opinion based on facts that are presented!
He will use all the funds available and after it hasn't worked out after 12 games, someone else will come in with no funds available to sort out the mess that Barton would have put us in with the wholesale changes that he will make throughout the summer. Season would be over with 34 games left! Wael, get a new manager in asap, someone who is experience and knows L2 well and how to get out of it (the right direction) and back the guy for project 'Rovers return'.
Looking at Garner’s points per game we probably would have just stayed up if we’d kept him!!! Three managers, three failures. But the players need to take a long hard look at themselves - most aren’t fit to wear the shirt.
If Garner had stayed and kept his PPG the same for the whole 46 games, we would get 50 points. The current 4th bottom club (Northampton) are on 44 points with 2 games to go so yeah, we would have stay up under Garner!
On the figures above under BG we would have had 48 points if the figures continued with 2 to play. I also thought he would have been a good manager with his contacts with some half decent Premier clubs, Think he is coaching for FA now wonder if we could persuade him to return
Yeah, that's why I said "if Garner had stayed and kept his PPG the same for the whole 46 games, we would get 50 points."
I think you have to give Barton time - a lot of players are out of contract so a good clear out will happen This means it will be his team (and he will get a full pre-season with them) He proved at Fleetwood that he knows what he is doing - he just needs time to sort it out
Going by his interviews the weak will get sucked in thinking he's so great, I'd say he likes to pass the buck and full of ****. Maybe Lennie and Trollope weren't so bad, that's the type you need.
Barton's done a bit better than Penney, Garner and Dobson, so I'm not holding my breath for next season. I still think we had players who were good enough to stay up if any of these managers had been decent, but things have got so toxic yet again, that it's probably going to take quite a lot of changes to get things back on track.
Updated: Ben Garner: Games: 11. Won: 3. Drew: 3. Lost: 5. Scored: 11. Conceded: 19. Points: 12. Win percentage: 27.27%. Points Per Game: 1.09 Paul Tisdale: Games: 15. Won: 3. Drew: 3. Lost: 9. Scored: 13. Conceded: 24. Points: 12. Win percentage: 20%. Points Per Game: 0.8 Joey Barton: Games: 18. Won: 3. Drew: 2. Lost: 13. Scored: 13. Conceded: 24. Points: 11. Win percentage: 16.66%. Points Per Game: 0.611 2 games by Widdrington
Barton's literally in the bottom three or four of all time managers - his record is terrible, therefore if the side get off to a poor start next season he could well be gone after ten or so games. I really hope, for the club's sake that Barton pulls something out of the bag, because this is his record since the 0-0 draw v Wimbledon...LLLLLWDLLLLL