Joey Barton says he is planning for Alex Rodman not to play a game for Bristol Rovers this season, admitting the veteran is in "limbo" over his future with the Gas and career in football.
The versatile midfielder has not featured for the Gas in pre-season due to a back injury, but the 35-year-old has returned to training, although he is yet to join in with his teammates at The Quarters.
Rodman has not played in almost 12 months after suffering a broken foot in training, although he was on the bench for the final two games of last season. But his latest setback has forced him to miss almost the entirety of Rovers' summer training programme, leading Barton to plan for the season without him.
At Thursday's pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's game against Forest Green Rovers, Barton went into detail regarding Rodman's contract situation, saying the player is in an unsatisfactory position. Barton says Rodman negotiated and signed a deal with former CEO Martyn Starnes in 2021, with reduced terms for this season compared to last season.
Barton says the onus is on the player, who outside of academy products Alfie Kilgour, Luca Hoole and Jed Ward is the longest serving member of the Gas squad having signed from Shrewsbury Town in 2018, to get himself in contention to play.
"He’s not really trained much," the manager explained. "He’s had a bit of a back injury from the opening gambit of pre-season. He’s actually back on the grass and moving now, but he’s missed a large part of pre-season.
"It’s going to be one of them for Rodders. I think he’s approaching that stage. He kind of defaulted into a contract. He and Anssi (Jaakkola) did contracts with (former CEO) Martyn Starnes last year and they’ve defaulted into them.
"I’m telling you, they’re not fantastic contracts. They’re great for me as a coach because they are relatively low-level. We’ve altered Anssi’s because there has been a change of emphasis in terms of what we want to do with him moving forward, moving him into that second goalkeeper/goalkeeper coach position and it’s something we’re exploring.
"Rodders on the other side of that is not enjoying how much he is getting paid off us at the minute, but he signed a contract with Martyn. He didn’t negotiate with me and unless he gets on the pitch and plays, that won’t change. At this moment in time, he hasn’t been able to do that so there is going to become a point where either Alex is not going to be able to get on the pitch and at this stage of his career he’s starting to look at what’s next, rather than ‘Who am I signing for next?’
"But also, let’s hope he can get back on the pitch, and if he gets back on the pitch and gets back in the team, then we can have a few conversations with him, but at the minute he is in a bit of a limbo. He’ll want a better deal for sure, but also he won’t get one because he’s not playing games.
"For me, I’m scheduling as if he’s not going to play a game for me this season and he’s not going to play a game because a great indicator of future performance is past performance. If he hasn’t been fit all of last year and if he’s struggling to be fit for the start of the pre-season, how am I going to expect him to be fit for the start of this year?
"Unluckily for him, he’s getting paid at a level where he won’t affect the budget of our group. Last year he was affecting it because he was on a decent salary, but this year because of his arrangement with Martyn…"
Rodman joined Rovers in the summer of 2018 from Shrewsbury. He has made 96 appearances for the Gas, scoring 11 goals, and there have been times where he has been an important player, including when Barton first arrived at the Mem 17 months ago.
But injuries have held the former Newport County, Grimsby Town and Notts County winger back, playing just 22 times in the past two seasons.
Barton said Rodman has is not on a 'pay-as-you-play' contract, and added: "He’s just signed a mad deal and he will feel the squeeze of that before I will. He’s not playing and he’s not fit. Yeah, it’s not nice if we’ve got wasted revenue but it’s not going to be life-changing.
"It’s a bit harsh me saying this to you, but if he’s not fit, we’re not a charity. It might be the end of his career. If he can’t stay fit and he can’t play footy at his age, you’ve got to hang your boots up.
"He’s ducking and diving with that in the summer going ‘What am I doing?’ and he’s thinking ‘Is my body going to hold up?’ At the moment, it’s not good signs for him. The fact he’s only back on the grass in the past 10 days and he’s not with the group means you’re at a disadvantage because if you miss pre-season, you chase your tail for most of the season.
"Again, I hope I’m wrong on this, but the ball is in his court at the end of the day."
Rodman has always been a popular member of the squad at Rovers and Barton made clear he has imposed no deadline on the situation, nor does he feel compelled to separate Rodman from his squad despite his expectation the player will not feature.
"No, absolutely not," Barton said. "But at the end of the day, if you’re not playing and we’re paying you as a player and you’re here in a playing capacity and you’re not able to fulfil that, we’re also not a charity.
"We will look after our lads and we try to do the right thing by them and there will be a few things coming down the track where we’ve got to do the right thing, but also it’s a meritocracy.
"You’ve got to work hard to be here, we’re not going to keep you here just because you’re a good person because there are loads of good people."
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