Joey Barton admits there will be no love lost when Bristol Rovers and Exeter City meet at St James Park on Saturday. There is bad blood between the dugouts dating back to last season and although Barton is eager to get one over on the Grecians, he says he respects the job Matt Taylor has done.
Both Rovers and Exeter were promoted from League Two last season, although it was Saturday's hosts that dominated two of the three meetings, racing into four and five-goal first-half leads in the respective league and EFL Trophy games in Devon in 2021. The third game between the sides ended 1-1 at the Mem, with both teams finishing in the top three.
But it is Exeter who have made the better start in the third tier. Continuity has been key for Taylor's side, who are 10th in the table after romping to a 4-0 win in front of the Sky Sports cameras at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday. Rovers, meanwhile, are 21st following a seven-game winless run that has been underpinned by injuries.
Barton knows Exeter will have no sympathy for Rovers and their struggles but he believes his players are capable of returning northbound on the M5 on Saturday evening with the points. Barton has complete faith his team will come good in the weeks and months ahead.
"Exeter won’t care about that," he said. "They’ve got their tail up, they just beat Forest Green, and they’ve had two good results against us at their stadium last year.
"I think that was where I famously told you all what was going to happen about us getting promoted and I was proven correct on that. Maybe after the game on Saturday, I’ll be able to tell you again just what I feel.
"I think we’re a really good team. Honestly, I do. I think we’ve got some really good players to come back in, all in a specific part of the team and all will make us better. The minute we get those back – and two are back on the grass today, almost joining back in with the group – the stronger our hand will be.
"But I still think we’ve got more than enough to beat Exeter in their stadium on Saturday. I don’t particularly like what they’re about, I’ve not got a lot of time for them and I don’t think they’ve got a lot of time for us based on the exchanges we had last year, but we know they’re a good side and we have to respect them.
"They are superb on the second balls. They don’t overcomplicate it. They start most of their attacks, as Forest Green found out on Saturday, from you trying to play in your half. They’re a very good team when they’re in your half. They’re nowhere near as effective when they’re forced to defend their own half, as we can attest to from playing them, so it’s going to be a battle for supremacy, which team can play in the other team’s half for a majority of the game?"
When asked about the origins of the rift between the coaches at Rovers and Exeter, Barton said a tongue-in-cheek offer to buy the Devon club was not well received.
"They were beating us 4-0 after 20 minutes and then 5-0 at half time," Barton recalled. "I don’t like losing games, I didn’t like that feeling so there were words exchanged. I think I told them I would buy Exeter and remove them from their job, which probably was not the best thing to say, but as it’s a fan-owned club and I’m a relatively wealthy individual, I think that got their goat up and they stuffed us twice.
"You don’t have to like everybody in football. As I say, I absolutely don’t like these guys, but I respect them and the job they’ve done. I felt they should’ve won the league last year and they’ll be kicking themselves they never won the league because Forest Green were gone, in my opinion. I thought they were there to be taken and Exeter had the momentum with the way they finished.
"Matt and the lads are a well-organised, well-drilled team. A seven-man squeeze coming down and leaving the three lads at home, it’s really brave what they do and it’s effective. I personally would have loved to play against these types of teams because their strengths can be used against them as a weakness. We’re going to the lion’s den on Saturday and their fans will be baying for blood.
"They will be wanting to try to heap more pressure on us because we personally don’t like each other and I look forward to the challenge. It’s great, I can’t wait to get in the stadium on Saturday."
Taylor was in attendance at the Mem for the second half of Rovers' 1-0 defeat to Accrington Stanley last Saturday, racing from Nailsworth after dispatching Forest Green in the early kick-off. Barton made clear his respect for the job his opposite number has done, as well as Exeter's ability to be self-sufficient by producing their own players, although he believes Rovers should be in a position where the Grecians "shouldn’t be able to lay a glove" on them.
"You can imagine Exeter is not the most desirable location for a young footballer because it’s the a*** end of the country," Barton explained. "It’s miles away from everywhere, so logistically to do what they do and consistently produce their own players into the team and a revenue stream, I think a lot of clubs should look at Exeter and see it as a well-run business model.
"As I say, I have absolute respect for them. The reality is, if I was a Gashead I’d be going ‘How are Exeter doing what they’re doing and how are Bristol Rovers doing what they’re doing?’ It just comes down to a good strategic plan from a football club that has to be self-sustainable because of the limitations on it in terms of the population close to it and also the logistical problems there can be.
"But places like Accrington, Fleetwood and Exeter, when you end up there as a player, you realise you’re at skid row. Nobody really wants to be there and everybody wants to get out and get to a big city club. Bristol Rovers are a big city club, but we haven’t had a big city footprint, certainly in the blue half.
"You get to these players as a player and you go ‘Oh god, I don’t want to be here. I need to knuckle down and get myself going in the right direction’ and get to these more desirable locations where you’re not living in the sticks, pretty much.
"Exeter historically have been a well-run club, a well-managed club, but their only hope is that other bigger clubs with bigger fanbases and bigger city reach don’t have their act together. We’re one of thiose clubs and I think finally – since I’ve been here – the club is getting its act together. The club I found was one of the reasons why teams like Exeter and Forest Green can be successful when in reality they shouldn’t be able to lay a glove on a big city club like Rovers."
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