Football / Bristol Rovers
Barton refuses to apologise for likening bad performance to ‘holocaust’
Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton has refused to apologise for likening a poor performance on the football pitch to a ‘holocaust’.
Barton’s comments in the post-match press conference were initially posted on the club’s YouTube channel but have since been deleted with his interview reuploaded.
Rovers have not commented on or apologised for Barton’s words following their 3-1 defeat to Newport County at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
is needed now More than ever
Speaking to the press after Saturday’s defeat, Barton said: “I said to the lads during the week, the team’s almost like musical chairs. Someone gets in and does well but then gets suspended or injured.
“Someone gets in for a game, does well but then has a holocaust, a nightmare, an absolute disaster.
“Then the crowd gets on them and you have to keep them out for the next couple of games.
“So it’s really frustrating as a coach but I’ve seen signs in recent weeks that we do have some of the components to get us where we need to get to.”
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Some Gasheads have defended the former Manchester City and Newcastle player’s comments.
Sharing a link to the Bristol Post story on the Bristol Rovers Fan Zone forum on Facebook, Steve Endicott said: “Whilst results ain’t been great, the most embarrassing thing has been our fanbase. Getting upset over a word when clearly don’t know the meaning of it. Look it up and it’s mass scale. Like nuclear holocaust would be or amount of individual errors our players are making. He was not being anti-Semitic or anything.
“Seems some so called fans want to destroy this club and stories like this just make us a laughing stock. I hope club tells Bristol Live that use of word was acceptable and it expected higher standards of its reports.”
But other fans have slammed Barton, who was appointed Rovers manager in February
“A man so horrible we shouldn’t even be discussing how poor he is as a football coach,” tweeted Rob Davies.
“The only consolation is that, because he is an accident waiting to happen, it is only a matter of time until he eventually does enough to make @waelalqadi see sense. Isn’t it?”
Main photo: Bristol Rovers / YouTube
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