Football / Bristol Rovers
Rovers manager apologises for ‘holocaust’ comments
Joey Barton has finally apologised for comparing his team’s performance to a ‘holocaust’ but said that there was “no malice or offence intended to anybody”.
The Bristol Rovers manager made the comments after his team’s 3-1 defeat to Newport County and has since been roundly criticised despite not facing any FA sanctions for his words.
During a post-match press conference at the Memorial Stadium, Barton told reporters: “I said to the lads during the week, ‘the team’s almost like musical chairs’.
is needed now More than ever
“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.”
Facing the media at Rovers’ The Quarters training ground in Almondsbury for the first time since the controversy, Barton issued an apology.
The former Manchester City and Newcastle player also appeared to take a dig at the press for looking for clickbait stories.
“I’m just going to say there were some comments made after the press conference last week where clearly no offence was meant, but some people have rightly pointed out to me the use of the analogy was not correct,” he said.
“The FA wrote to me this week to remind us of our language and communications, and the last thing you want to do is cause offence or upset anybody.
“So if anybody was offended by that, I would like to apologise for that and I think the FA were right to write to me and remind me of that.
“You hope to use better analogies in future, but it was certainly with no malice or offence intended to anybody.”
He added: “I do get the world we live in and the people we work with, and some of our acquaintances have to produce content and produce the opportunity to get people’s attention by clicks.
“I get that everything we say, even this I’m saying now, will no doubt be pieced together in such a way that it will be there to grab and capture the attention of people that use social media, internet, blah, blah, blah.
“My natural next progression in terms of speaking to the media is here, and I felt that was the way to deal with it rather than the club releasing a statement, blah, blah, blah.
“For me, it was a poor analogy to use in the context of the modern-day world we live in, and it won’t happen again.”
Main photo: Bristol Rovers / YouTube
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