Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton has explained his post-match apology to his Town counterpart Kieran McKenna following the 0-0 draw between the sides at the Memorial Stadium on Tuesday and says the Blues’ boss is a man under pressure.

McKenna said Barton had “apologised to me straight after the game for not being willing to give us a match tonight and not being willing to play their normal way” in his post-match press conference following the frustrating stalemate.

“I just went to him at the end of the game and said ‘Sorry we couldn’t take you on’,” Barton told BristolLive. “That’s what it meant, I wasn’t apologising for the way we played. I thought we were excellent in our strategy and really got the best opportunity to win the game by going the way we did.

“We were far from parking the bus. It was a mid-to-deep block with some triggers we felt we could catch them on and expose them higher up the field.

“To be fair to Kieran, he’s probably worried about four wins in 15 with a £15 million budget in League One and Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth pulling away and Derby, Wycombe, Barnsley, Bolton and the group chasing closing in on them.

“He’s a man under pressure. I could smell that on them and I knew that before with the results profile. It was part of the reason we went with the strategy because they were nervy and on a run of drawing a lot of games and finding it hard to break teams down.

“I was apologising and I do apologise to our fans that tune into this. I don’t want to sit and counter teams, I want to be in the middle of the ring, the middle of the pitch, with the ball taking the game to teams.

“But sometimes you have to cut your cloth accordingly. Our budget is three-and-a-bit million, theirs is £15 million. If we take them on — and we went to Portman Road earlier in the season and had a right pop at them and tried to take them on — in the moment we’re in in our stadium, we would have been gifting them points and that is not our football club.

“We had to make a plan for that and I apologised for sitting to counter. I don’t want to be a counter-puncher, I want to be in the middle of the ring trading blows with you, but I guarantee you if the boot was on the other foot, he wouldn’t be attacking me with a £3 million budget if I had a £15 million budget, that’s for sure, and he wouldn’t be drawing 0-0.”

He added: “We had to be [more defensive than usual]. I hope one day to have their budget and if you give me £15 million versus our £3 million, I’d ask Kieran if he would want to stand in the middle and trade blows because I guarantee he wouldn’t.

“For us at that moment, it would have been a kamikaze approach and we had to adjust our strategy and show a different side to our team and me as a coach to nullify our opponent to give ourselves the best opportunity of winning the game.

“They have completed 400 more passes than us, but recent weeks have shown it is not about completing passes and having possession because you have got to have a purpose and an end product to that.

"You could argue on the weight of chances, we had the best chances. We were the only ones that hit the woodwork and I do think Jarell Quansah’s header in the first half from the corner was as good a chance as any in the game.

“To get out of there with a clean sheet and a point was a step in the right direction for us, but I’m not sure Kieran’s well versed in the Mem.

“He said it was a cup final for our fans and they have all turned out, but we have been at capacity since the back end of last season and I just felt that was a little bit of a strange comment.

“Based on my CV and his CV, there is no doubt who is the A side if there was any cup final because he was a civilian until he started coaching.”

Photo: Action Images

Facefacts added 11:54 - Feb 17 Translation: "I would walk this league with Kieran's budget, and my record".
3

Karlosfandangal added 11:56 - Feb 17 It took Sir Booby a few years to start getting a good side together he was still learning and result were not good at first. I know it's different times but Town have a up and coming manager who we need to stick with but not sure how the owners will feel if Town don't go up this year. Beginning of the season I put £10 on for the top 2. I have Sheff Wed to win it and Town second. It's still a possibility but looking less likely now.

1

bkb added 12:26 - Feb 17 If all the teams we play against are playing this way isn't it about time we found a way to counter those tactics. The moans and groans around me on match days are getting louder at the continuous side to side and back to the goalkeeper play. No wonder the possession stats are high.
6

Ipswichbusiness added 12:35 - Feb 17 Yes, Joey Barton is a plonker, but even plonkers can be right occasionally. I'm afraid that he is right about us. However, I would prefer it if managers who go on about money would have the grace to recognise that we put 25,000 bums on seats and they don't.
7

Westy added 12:47 - Feb 17 Considering this is Kieron McKenna's first managerial role I think he has done well but have thought for a while that he is feeling the pressure - the sheer weight of expectation is coming to bear. A win tomorrow is crucial or I really feel the atmosphere could turn.
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IpswichToon added 12:57 - Feb 17 I think Joey needs to reference that £15m budget just a few more times
3

patrickswell added 13:01 - Feb 17 Oh feck off, Barton, you arrogant thug. One day he's going to assault someone and get sent down for it. He can keep his brother company.
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Pilgrimblue added 13:05 - Feb 17 KM has to change and quickly. His selections aren't working out so he must understand what the opposition is doing and counter that. A draw is a loss in my book! What's the point of having Kyle on the bench when he probably is the only one who can open up defences. Don't care if he loses the ball more often or gets it wrong but at least he's trying. Also why bench Jackson after his recent performances (mom) warrant a start. I've noticed that when either Jackson or Freddie make runs behind defence they're ignored so wasted energy and lost chance.

2

Carberry added 13:10 - Feb 17 As Barton suggests the problem is the McK era has stalled because he doesn't know how to produce winning football in this League. As he said umpteen times in his post match interview, we have drawn too many games and that is why we are losing touch at the top and sliding down the table. He doesn't hide behind the fact that we haven't lost many, it is the fact that we can't win that is a stone around his neck. He knows it isn't working but he doesn't know how to solve it because he would have done so by now if he did. Teams have blips but this isn't one of those, it's a serious issue. Everyone (bar a few on here) have said it, he has one of the most expensive, talented squads in the division, something other coaches embarrassingly keep telling us, but he can't get a tune out of them now. He doesn't know his best team, believes he can chop and change to suit who we are playing and tries to keep everyone happy with rotation. Tactically he is trying to play Champions League football in League 1 Poor teams all get behind the ball and good ones try to bully us, just like Sheff Wed on Saturday. And it is working for them. We should be running away with this league and the fact we aren't means there's something seriously wrong.

7

TimmyH added 13:14 - Feb 17 People are using the excuse that certain clubs of a certain budget have stopped playing us and decided to sit back and counter us (where we have struggled)...so that's not the case for sides playing Wednesday and Argyle? they always seem to get the job done, the main problem is we're just are not flexible enough in our game plans and attacking style - just too much tippy tappy or side to side without much penetration and with generally at least a mistake in us at the back.

7

Cheshire_Blue added 13:18 - Feb 17 Much as I dislike him, he is spot on.
3

Fatboy added 13:58 - Feb 17 We need a plan B for when teams sit back against us. An obvious one would be to play high balls into the box to cause a bit of panic (similar to what we've seen in our own box far too often). To counter this, teams would have to push out further, which would give us the space to play our A game. At the moment, we're like a boxer who only has one type of punch.
0

MBG added 14:11 - Feb 17 Everyone knows KM is under pressure. Barton takes a cheap shot by saying KM should have had better results given the resources available to him. The jury is still out on KM but it's clear Barton has no class.
0

danger_matt added 14:14 - Feb 17 Reads like an overly aggressive job application.
1

Bluefish11 added 14:23 - Feb 17 Mr Barton - Ipswich has a population of less than 150,000, you have over 450,000, our average home attendance is 25,000+ this season whilst yours are under 10,000. That could be why we have more money than you! Perhaps you should concentrate on building your fanbase by starting to play entertaining football and not constantly gobbing off about other peoples business.

3

johnwarksshorts added 15:26 - Feb 17 I think Joey is mellowing a wee bit. Bless him.
0

TimmyH added 15:41 - Feb 17 Bluefish11 - you do know that L1 teams do have financial constraints (60% of turnover on wages etc.)? but yes the increased attendances will help that Gamechanger lose less money.
0

Len_Brennan added 15:54 - Feb 17 There you have it in a nutshell; Barton confirming that the other teams in the league have worked us out & we are too inflexible (principled, but inflexible) to adapt & overcome them. I & others have been saying that for months, to a chorus of unsubstantiated comments about moaning, & other lightweight red herring remarks, from the blissfully unaware who think that identifying a persistent weakness means that you can no longer be a supporter of the club you have loved for decades. We are in serious danger of missing out on promotion, or even making the playoffs now; that is a huge problem for the manager. Why would any of the bottom half clubs we are playing over the next few games chose to set up & play differently to how Bristol Rovers did, given their performance/result? Why should they? We got carried away by the goals scored column, because we had knocked in quite a few against sides that came to play, allowing us multiple scoring opportunities, many of which were missed. But even during that period, when a club did come to defend & frustrate, we struggled to break them down & our conversion rate of chances created was poor enough to cost us points. We have 2 quality players at this level for every position, which is great; but that does not mean that we just keep playing the same way by replacing one with the other when subbing & constantly rotating the squad. The manager doesn't know his best starting players at the back or in attack; even the goalkeeping position could be argued atm. While our midfield is one booking or knock away from being precarious. This is not a good way to be 6+ months into the season & £millions spent in the transfer market. We need to use the undeniably superior quality of the players we have, to play faster, sharper & more direct (not long ball kick & rush) and get the results we need to get up. Whether the manager can do that now this season is genuinely up for question.

5

blues1 added 16:01 - Feb 17 Fans saying mckenna is under pressure are wrong. Sorry, but he's under no pressure at all at this moment in time. Thr fact the owners stated from the word go that it could possibly take a few years to get out of this division, suggests he won't be under any pressure whatsoever for some time as yet.
0

Len_Brennan added 16:16 - Feb 17 He's under pressure, make no mistake. Dropped from 1st to 4th since Christmas & still heading backwards, 4 wins in 15, Bolton having overturned how many points in that time? Derby, Barnsley & Wycombe right on our tails. Promotion looking less likely than likely. The manager unable to address the slide having been backed again substantially in the window. We are going backwards while our rivals are all improving. Those are the factors that are being looked at, not the memory of a statement back before the season started. These are serious business people; they will sack him if they feel he is stuck in a rut & unable to turn it around. If we slip to 6th over the coming weeks (unthinkable at Christmas, but now ...) I would imagine he'll be gone.

3

jas0999 added 16:42 - Feb 17 Barton did a job on KM, simple as that. Barton is also spot on with his comments. It is entirely right that Km is under pressure. 4 wins from 15 with our budget simply isn't good enough.
5

Whos_blue added 16:52 - Feb 17 Ok. I'm confused after reading some of the posts here. Are we saying that when KMk goes ( which apparently can't soon enough for one or two of our more learned fans) we should install Joey Barton as boss?
0

Len_Brennan added 16:57 - Feb 17 Yes, you are confused. Very much so it would seem.
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Whos_blue added 17:16 - Feb 17 Well based on the JB love in, who could blame me?
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Len_Brennan added 17:30 - Feb 17 Most posters started with something along the lines of 'I don't like Joey Barton, but ...'. Was he wrong in what he said? And if so, what bit?
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