It’s a question that causes Joey Barton to puff his cheeks out, move uncomfortably in his chair, almost as if he's been personally affronted, and accumulate a self-imposed personal fine as his press conference significantly overruns causing him to be late for a meeting with CEO Tom Gorringe, as he explains his answer.
The theme is such: having criticised the styles of Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe Wanderers, Shrewsbury Town and other clubs over the course of the campaign, while it may be valid to an extent, given their relative success and respective positions in the table compared to Bristol Rovers, does he feel the Gas need to evolve and embrace some of that approach?
Barton would proudly consider himself a football purist and while all 250 games of his managerial career have been spent in League One and League Two, he’s determined to play his way out of the lower reaches of the EFL rather than succumb to the whims of pragmatism.
Against Derby, Rovers out-passed the seventh-placed Rams 595-265, enjoyed 69.2 per cent of possession but needed a last minute penalty to secure a 1-1 draw. On Tuesday, against third-placed Sheffield Wednesday it was a familiar story with 574-287 in the pass count and 65.9 per cent possession to the Owls.
Of course, these are rudimentary numbers that only tell you Rovers enjoyed a lot of the ball. What’s important is what they did with it, and where it got them to, and this isn’t boxing where you don’t necessarily need to land a knockout blow. As Barton admits, they only got one point, lacked a consistent end product and “that’s something we need to work on”.
But having witnessed all the top teams in the division over multiple matches now, he’s been left distinctly unimpressed, even if the ends may just about justify the means.
The fundamental difference between Rovers and the likes of Wednesday, Derby and the more direct teams in the division is that there is a pressure, both financial and sporting for immediate results. Darren Moore and Paul Warne have to get promoted so they instantly lean on percentage football. It’s not necessarily their fault, if you want to call it that.
Barton understands that, to an extent, but at the same time insists it’s a narrow, short-termist view that will only lead to issues as and when they find themselves back in the Championship. And, fundamentally, it’s not something he plans to mimic in north Bristol, no matter the success of their rivals.
“No, no,” Barton winces, when asked, followed by an exasperated “God”. “I could go back to doing what they’re doing. Not being disrespectful to those lads but it’s kind of about survival, they’ve got to get results to keep their jobs. I totally get it. For all manner of reasons, if something works you don’t go away from it.
“For me, I see what I do as an artform. I have to watch the team every day, and it’s what I want to watch on the sideline. I don’t want to watch a team that brings towels to away games and sets up for long throws, and is asking the referee, ‘are we alright to launch it?’
“If that’s Bristol Rovers going to Sheff Wed, I understand it - your resources are bigger than ours, you’ve got to come and play 5-4-1. I don’t understand when that’s Derby and Sheff Wed against Bristol Rovers. So I see that as a huge badge of honour. Look, we only got one point, so we’ve got work to do but we’ve got a really, really young group.”
For Barton, the way he’s trying to grow his team is emblematic of the developments across the club with a message of long-term sustainability. A concept that is undoubtedly admirable, although doesn’t quite chime with the fact that Rovers published record losses of £3.7m in their most recent accounts.
However, as a more general point, given their budget relative to a number of clubs in League One, the method at which Barton seeks to achieve his ultimate and grandiose goal of getting the Gas into the Championship and the Premier League is built on incremental improvements. Something that, for example, Moore and Warne aren’t afforded such patience to build.
Rovers are unable to buy in experience or even League One-ready players at times, admitting there were players in their mid-20s from the division below who they tried to sign in January who priced themselves out of moves, and he foresees further issues this summer with Wrexham set to join the EFL and begin to distort transfer fees and wage expectations. So therefore a core group, including Luca Hoole, James Connolly, Lewis Gordon, is being developed, with the hope for more to follow.
The manager is adamant Rovers are light years away from what they were when he took over in February 2021, on and off the field, with further plans to boost the Mem’s capacity to 12,500 set to be revealed next week and the ultimate goal of a new stadium eternally on the agenda, to follow a similar pathway to that of Plymouth Argyle. Gorringe has also previously cited Brighton & Hove Albion as a fitting example for Rovers.
“You can just smell there’s just a scarcity of talent at what I do,” Barton added. “Nobody externally could see what a huge goldmine Bristol Rovers was. Now the problem was, it was so messed up, in terms of you had Tommy Widdrington knocking about, Martyn Starnes knocking about, to name but a few. Forget the chancers who were on the park and meant to be footballers for us.
“So you had a mess here. We sailed close to the wall; lots and lots of times, I was going to give up because I thought it was a basket case, this can’t be done.
“Then when you make it through the process of the club changing, and the responsibility of that ultimately lies with the owner - he made the big calls to remove people from big positions - and then give myself, who wasn’t actually doing that well in the job, more responsibility and appoint the youngest CEO in the league, and the club’s benefited from it.
“Look, we’ve got a lot of work still to do but there’s a chance to do something that’s never been done before - put a club from Bristol in the Premier League. Do I think I can do it? Absolutely.
“Can I sit here and say, if you keep giving me three and a half, four million, well it can be done on those numbers but you reduce your chance of being successful based on the resources. I also know that Wael isn’t the Sheikh of Qatar. He doesn’t have unlimited resources but I think if we grow the club sustainably - the new stadium will be a massive part of that.
"Everyone talks about Plymouth. Their budget is about four-and-a-half million a year, they’ve had renovations done to the stadium which gives them 15-18 thousand, as opposed to us, and we’re maxed out at nine and a half, 10 thousand. That’s an extra two million in the budget every year on ticket sales, pies and revenue. It does mount up and allow you to invest in the infrastructure.
“Fleetwood have a Cat 3 going into a Cat 2 academy and there’s funding coming into the club from various places. There’s so much Bristol Rovers can do better, you can see it happening now, but it’ll take 5, 10 years before it bears fruit. Evidence tells me the manager won’t be here but you can also put down foundations.
“At some point either the fans will want me gone, and results won’t be good enough, or somebody will come and want you to do bigger things up the food chain. That’s just the natural cycle of things.
“But the one thing I know is when I walk out of here, this club will be in so much of a better position than what I found it. I could walk out tomorrow and that would be the case but I’m not going to rest on the laurels of that, I’m going to keep pushing and pushing. And let’s see how far I can take it.
“My intention is to put Bristol Rovers in the Premier League. I think I have the skills to do it, I think I have the people around me with the skills to do it, so it’s only a matter of time that I need and resources, incrementally, becoming more and more.
“Football-wise, we’ve just seen Derby and Sheff Wed - it’s archaic what they’re doing but it’s effective for them. As soon as they get to the Championship, they’re coming back down because it’s not good enough. Or they’re going to have to rip it up. You can’t bully people in the Champ. They’re only successful because they’ve stockpiled better players.”
SIGN UP: To receive our free Rovers newsletter, bringing you the latest from the Mem
READ NEXT:
