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Fans slam Joey Barton’s excuses blaming ball boy for Bristol Rovers defeat vs Accrington

Fans slam Joey Barton’s excuses which shaw him blaming his own club’s ball boy for the Bristol Rovers defeat against Accrington.

He is under mounting pressure after just two wins in 10 League One games this season, and was met with boos from Rovers fans after the final whistle last Saturday.

They currently sit 21st in the League One table, picking up 8 points from 10 games. Forest Green, Morecambe and Burton Albion also sit in the relegation zone.

Barton suggested it was the fault of a ball boy for giving Accrington Stanley the chance to take a corner quickly and allow Joe Pritchard to score the only goal during his team’s 1-0 defeat on Saturday. But it appears fans aren’t buying it.

The manager told BBC Bristol why he believed they lost. He said: “I don’t think we’ve done enough to deserve to win a game in our stadium.

“You have to argue if they did enough, as I say, there wasn’t much between the two sides. Maybe a bit of gamesmanship and nous and a bit of intelligence, certainly for the goal.

“Our ball boy takes a quick ball to their player, they take a quick corner and we’ve switched off. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot in that regard.”

Bristol Rovers have been in dismal form this campaign and there are fears they could get sucked into a relegation battle. Barton added: “It’s frustrating at the minute.

“Everything that can go wrong, seems to go wrong and we’re pining to get our best team out on the pitch and stop playing square pegs in round holes. I have five or six players who could well be big players and start for us away from where I want to be.

“As Murphy’s Law would have it, they all seem to be in the same area of the pitch, so tough to take. We’re frustrated, we’re disappointed, but we’ve got to be better.”

Joey Barton does however add “it’s only a matter of time” before he turns Bristol Rovers’ form around, and although he claims he’s not feeling any sense of pressure on his job accepts greater focus is falling on his position the longer this troubling run goes on.

“For me, it’s going to turn,” Barton said. “It’s only a matter of time, but I’m not stupid. If we lose the next eight games and we’re sitting not winning a game in 15 or 16 in all competitions, then of course pressure would naturally come on the job and I’m cool with that.

“I can walk out of this club tomorrow with my head held high, knowing we’ve made a positive impact on the club in the time I’ve been here. At some point in the future, whether that’s 15 years or 15 minutes, that will happen where a manager will leave and somebody new will come in.

“But I don’t feel under pressure, weirdly, because myself and the owner and the fanbase and the players, we’ve been through this cycle before and I know I’ve got absolute support.

“I get the fans are frustrated. I actually thought they were shouting at the referee more than me, but I imagine there will be one or two voices trained on the manager because the tallest trees catch the most wind.

“I have to accept when they are carrying me on their shoulders around the pitch when we’ve won promotion that sometimes they throw sausage rolls at you when you don’t win games of footy. It’s tough being a manager and you have to accept the responsibility for the team when it’s going well and also when it’s not going well.”

He accepts his team need to start showing the same fighting spirit as characterised by Accrington.

“Yeah, and we haven’t got many reinforcements coming back to it so it’s going to get harder before it gets easier, that’s for sure,” Barton added.

“I think you can beat every team you play against at this level, with the greatest respect to the level. You’re not playing Manchester City or Real Madrid, the teams are very evenly matched even though there are some teams who have a bigger resource.

“But you see Accrington there, constantly fighting above their resources but the key for us is to stay in the division. That’s the key for Bristol Rovers this year, to establish the club from a League One club that was relegated and a League Two club that was promoted into a League One side consistently.

“When you do that, then you get the opportunity to build and to try to get from League One to the Championship, which I think is everyone’s ambition here. If it was easy, everybody would do that.

“We’re 10 games in now, we’ve got 36 games on the board and I’m confident we’ll be a League One side at the end of the division.

“If I’m the manager, fantastic. If I’m not, no problem, but I think we’ve got the players here and I think the fans are going to get with the team as they’ve stuck with us again.

“The better days for this group are out in front of us, albeit the adversity we are in at the moment feels similar to Leyton Orient. It feels similar to Swindon and Barrow when we’re scratching around trying to put a team together.”

As mentioned, fans take to slam Joey Barton’s excuses blaming the ball boy for the latest Bristol Rovers defeat vs Accrington…

@Bristolian_: BARTON HAS JUST BLAMED THE BALLBOY. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. #utg

@Lewispaul__: Give me strength

@robbrowne19: Blaming the ball boy to cover the teams non-existent defending 🙄 will be blaming the coach driver next for bringing the away team to the mem

@ianmaggs: Not sure it is the ballboys fault we are dogshit but even if it was this is low. ffs.

@kellyoxley: Did he just blame the ball boy for the goal 🤔 . Sad to see that there was no apology to the ball boy for his comments on Radio Bristol.

@otib_co_uk:
Barton’s excuse for defeat
Better side won ❌
Poor Tactics ❌
Poor performance by the team ❌
Holy & Phil ❌
Russia ❌
Shitheads in away end ❌
The Ballboy ✅

@BRFCWill: Blaming a 12 year old for his shit tactics is nuts😂

@mancgas: Absolute disgrace of a comment. We’ve repeatedly switched off from short corners and conceded at least 3 goals at home. To involve a child in your failings, whether correct or not (it isn’t),is a bloody disgrace #utg

@SouthStand7: Barton is now blaming ball boys A new low. But what can you expect from him. Any comment @waelalqadi

@Gasperoni27: Not a good look to blame the ball boy, but that’s Barton for you.

@SimonTing18: What a wanker blaming a 12 year old on his dream day as a ball boy, blokes an absolute cunt !

@jonpople: Blaming the ball boy 🤪

@Jackobrfc999: Barton just blamed the ball boy 😂😂 how about set a team up to not switch off my man

@ASFCPlayers: Joey Barton blaming their own Ball Boy for us beating them yesterday! That’s got to be a new low, even for him, blaming a 12 year old! 😂😂

@SimonDGould: There were 3 short corners we failed to defend properly in the first half. Failed to acknowledge that is a failing of players & coaches!

@Im_sprouticus: No need to mention the ball boy at all. Completely unnecessary. Hope he apologises for lumping the lad in with the poor reactions of his players

@mancgas: And staffs pathetic attempt at righting a failure that’s been there for many months¬ only this season. How hard is it to task 2 players with reacting to short corner attempts 🤷‍♂️ He clearly hasn’t or he’d have said so by now given no. of goals we give away from short corners…

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