Joey Barton had a slightly unexpected visitor to his office in the wake of Bristol Rovers’ 1-0 win over Peterborough United in November. There was a rap at the door as players from both sides began to make their way out of the Mem, and there wanting to come in was Jonson Clarke-Harris.
The Posh striker, and former Gas favourite, had gone goalless on his return to BS7, having left the club in the summer of 2020, but that wasn’t the topic of conversation, it was something a little more profound.
The two had met as opponents, towards the end of Barton’s and the start of Clarke-Harris’ in a game between Rotherham United and Burnley at The New York Stadium in October 2015 (funnily enough, Grant Ward also played in the game in the Millers midfield), exchanging a few playful barbs, and since that occasion each man has taken a slightly strange fascination in each other’s career.
From Barton’s perspective, Clarke-Harris very much conforms to the idea of a rough diamond who had bounced around scores of EFL clubs before he finally found a home at Rovers, Fleetwood Town having neglected the chance to sign him in that same January window, showing his capabilities.
For Clarke-Harris, Barton’s roguish reputation and straight-talking persona plus role of villain to so many aligned with something inside him and the Rovers manager has always been someone he’s admired in the game.
The conversation that went down in the bowels of the West Stand, the last door on the left as the players leave the tunnel and turn right to make their way onto the pitch, centred around Clarke-Harris’ status an elite League One goalscorer, as the 28-year-old is battling with Ipswich Town’s Conor Chaplin to claim his second boot at this level with 25 goals for Posh, and whether he was happy with that as his ceiling.
Barton reveals “horror stories” of the lax attitudes to professionalism during Clarke-Harris’ time at Rovers, admittedly not the only guilty party but with the former No9 very much an influential figure in the dressing room.
“My full debut for Burnley was Rotherham away on a Friday night and Jonson was playing in the game and we were chatting during the game - he was a baby then, and I was in my 30s - I remember having a good chat with him, you read a lot about people, but I took him at that value - I’d met him and he seemed a decent enough lad,” Barton said.
“Obviously, we all do mad things but I’ve always watched his career just because you remember stuff like that. My observation was, I’m looking at him going, ‘you’re better than what you’re showing’.
“He came here, there were the horror stories - not just him, Josh Barrett was in the same category, the standards had slipped in the place - and I think people like that type of personality, they need a bit of structure and someone getting after them to get the best out of them.
“Clearly Fergie (Darren Ferguson) and the lads at Peterborough have done a good job with him because he’s consistently scored goals, but I had a chat with him and just as player to player I said, ‘just if you do, this, this and this, you’ll improve, and don’t just settled for being top scorer in the division'.
“Don’t just settle for being how you are at 30. I remember Steve Black used to say to me, ‘if you can’t get better then you may as well give up; stop playing, you’re wasting your time, you’re not getting out of bed with any motivation’.”
Clarke-Harris will line up against Rovers on Saturday at London Road, with Posh seventh in the table and two points off Derby County in sixth meaning he still has another shot at Championship football, having made 98 appearances previously in the division for Rotherham and Posh.
For Barton, though, that’s nowhere near enough, and a player of his talents should be operating at a much higher level, more pertinent given he turns 29 this summer.
“For me, I think he’s better than what he’s currently showing,” Barton added. “I spoke to Josh Windass, who was at Rangers with me, about the same thing, Barry Bannan - you shouldn’t be in this division.
“I never played in League One. If you’re a top player, it should embarrass you to have League One on your CV. Some lads get caught up in contracts, and you can’t get out of them because nobody is going to give you more money up a division, I get lads get tied into it. But if you’re a Championship or Premier League-level player, you’re doing yourself a disservice to be dropping down and playing against players you’re clearly above.
“Tiger Woods doesn’t drop down to the Korn Ferry Tour to win tournaments; he’s Tiger Woods, he plays at The Masters. Whether he can win it or not is a different equation, but he challenges at that level because that’s where he sees himself.
“There are teams at our level who are having themselves, massively, massively, and I’m like, ‘lads, settle yourselves down - you shouldn’t be here some of yous, the fact that you’re here is an embarrassment to you and the standards that you’re prepared to be playing at this level.'
“You should be so much better than this because you’re a good player and you’ve got so much more quality. That’s how I see it and I’ll never stop chasing people, who I think are receptive.
“Loads of people I know don’t care what I’ve got to say but I know Jonno has great respect for me, as I know from my early run-in and I know people read my press because it’s refreshingly honest and they’ll wonder what mad thing I’ve said. I’ll just say it as it is and if it impacts him for the positive then great, because I think he’s got more to give.”
Clarke-Harris lost out to Aaron Collins for the EFL Player of the Season Award last Sunday, a decision he no doubt disagrees with and will be looking to put right on Saturday, while the Welshman has his own targets of reaching 20 goals with the Gas No10 four short and three games remaining.
As for targets in the Rovers camp, Barton admits that with little to play for in terms of achieving promotion or surviving relegation, matching the intensity of the opposition who has such consequence to their fixtures is a challenge in itself.
But internally the mark is now to conclude the campaign as the highest-placed of the four promoted teams from League Two, and also for the squad to perform in front of their manager who very much won’t be sentimental with his recruitment this summer.
With Forest Green Rovers seemingly bound for a return to League Two, that leaves the Gas on 52 points needing to finish above Port Vale (49 points) and Exeter City (53 points), a place above them in the table.
“We’re going to empty the tank in these next three games. We spoke this morning, we know the toughness of the challenges ahead of us with team teams (Posh and Bolton) chasing a play-off berth to come,” Barton said.
“But we’ve got our own mini-targets, we’ve got an opportunity to finish the best of the newly-promoted teams which, I think, for us would be a step in the right direction. It’s going to be tough but we’ve got some targets we want to hit."
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