Joey Barton said he made a 'mistake' offering Trevor Clarke a new contract with the former Shamrock Rovers defender told to seek a move away from the club just two months after putting pen to paper on a deal deal.
Clarke left Shamrock Rovers for Rotherham in 2019 and moved to Bristol Rovers last year and signed a two-year deal earlier in the summer.
But Bristol boss Barton said he made a 'mistake' offering Clarke the new deal.
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Clarke was among three players the manager exiled from his first-team squad on Monday, with Zain Westbrooke and Alex Rodman also told to find new clubs. Clarke's case, in particular, has divided opinion among the fanbase, with many believing he had impressed in pre-season and questioning Barton's decision.
The 24-year-old Irishman joined from Rotherham United last summer, but he was restricted to just nine appearances in all competitions last season due to a series of injuries. With the former Shamrock Rovers left-back reaching the end of his initial 12-month deal in June, the Gas had a one-year option in their favour but instead renegotiated terms for a two-year deal.
With Josh Grant enduring an injury-hit pre-season and Nick Anderton diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, Clarke had an uncontested run at the left-back spot and started in the opening day defeat to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday. But after that game, Barton told reporters he did not view Clarke as a regular starter in his team this season.
Rumours emerged early in the week that Clarke, Westbrooke and Rodman had been informed they were no longer in the manager's plans and at Thursday's pre-match press conference before the trip to Burton Albion, Barton confirmed that was the case.
Westbrooke has long been a fringe player at the Mem, spending the second half of last season on loan at Stevenage, while Rodman played just four times last season due to injury. News of their futures, therefore, prompted little surprise among Gasheads but Clarke's exile raised questions.
And Barton said that he could not 'trust' the former League of Ireland defender.
"He’s a good kid," Barton said when explaining his decision. "He just can’t play the position how I want it played. Last year, we didn’t see a lot of him due to his physical state.
"He came in this summer after the back end of the season and he got the bit between his teeth and he was saying he really wanted to get after it in the summer and the off-season. He’s come back in and he’s had a lot of reps because we’ve been light in that position with Josh (Grant) being unavailable.
"For me, he just doesn’t fill me with trust going forward. If I’m honest, I don’t trust him. I don’t think he’s the right component for us. We want to pass out, we want to play, and he’s not that type of full-back.
"Unfortunately, we extended his deal and sometimes you’ve got to be very quick to recognise and I hold my hands up. I’ve made a mistake on that one, I shouldn’t have brought him back in. If I had my time again, I wouldn’t have done that, but we have and we’ve got to find a solution, firstly for Trev and, obviously, for the club.
"I don’t think he’ll have a problem. I think there will be many suitors for him. He’s obviously done well in the League of Ireland and he could pop back out there, but that will be somebody else’s problem and he won’t go forward with us."
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