Joey Barton has revealed he interviewed Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell to be his assistant at Bristol Rovers ahead of Thursday's clash between the teams at the Mem.
Barton wanted to bolster his coaching staff after the surprise exit of Clint Hill in 2021 and former Celtic and Wigan Athletic defender Caldwell – who took charge at St James Park in October after Matt Taylor was snapped up by Rotherham United – was in the frame to be his assistant manager.
Barton decided against recruiting the 40-year-old, choosing to leave the assistant role vacant and adding veteran coach Kevin Bond to his staff. But Barton has been impressed by what he has seen from the Scotsman since taking over in Devon, believing he has made a positive change to the Grecians' style of play.
"I think Gary has changed them over," Barton said. "They were very good at what they did under Matt Taylor. They were a very well-drilled team and I say they were unlucky not to be champions last year.
"The way they started this campaign, they were a real problem and Matt nicks a move to Rotherham. Gary has gone in there.
"When Clint (Hill) left, I actually interviewed Gary about becoming assistant manager. He’s a good guy and he wants to get his stamp on their group.
"I think it will be a tough game at our place. Two good footballing sides, both newly promoted and going at it so I’m looking forward to it."
The Boxing Day defeat at Wycombe Wanderers – just the second loss in the past 13 league games – has left Rovers 10th in the table ahead of Thursday night's meeting with Exeter, who are 13th after a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth last time out.
Rovers and Exeter have played out some tetchy encounters since Barton has been in charge, particularly in the past two meetings that have ended in draws with the teams well-matched once the Gas found their feet in League Two last season.
Both teams were promoted together and ahead of the 2-2 draw at St James Park in October, Barton revealed his dislike for Taylor and his staff – joking that he made a cheeky bid for the club during the game in Devon last season.
Taylor may be gone but Barton's desire to take three points off the Grecians remains.
"It’s always personal with me," he joked. "If I play my kids on the PlayStation, it’s personal, I don’t let them win. You are competing and we’ll shake hands and have a beer afterwards.
"In this game, you’ve got to understand whenever you go over that white line, you are competing. I always say to players ‘Nobody cares if you’ve got a knock or a niggle, as soon as you step over that white line you are 100 per cent fit’. The fans don’t care, you’ve got to compete.
"The good thing about these levels is there is no Man City who just blow you out of the water. Everybody is quite closely matched and it can be a moment of quality or a moment of madness that costs you or wins you the game. It can also be a refereeing call.
"But on the whole, every game is competitive. We’ve hit a hurdle, we’ve stumbled a little bit and now we’ve got to pick ourselves up very quickly for two tough home games.
"We’re disappointed because we had the chance to leapfrog Wycombe and I think if we won there everyone knows the Gas are in sniff for promotion.
"We probably stay off a few people’s radars because we’re sitting 10th now and it will be key how we respond in the Exeter game. If we are serious about progressing and getting in the promotion picture, Exeter and Cheltenham at home are games that you’ve got to pick up points in."
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