Trevor Clarke has been reintegrated into Bristol Rovers' squad and has the chance to earn Joey Barton's trust, the manager has said.
Clarke was a surprise inclusion for Tuesday's EFL Trophy group stage tie at Plymouth Argyle, four weeks on from Barton excluding him from the squad and indicating he had no future with the Gas. The left-back only signed a new contract in June but he was instructed to find a new club, with Rovers allowing him to leave for free, after the opening day defeat to Forest Green Rovers.
In the aftermath of that game, Barton said he had made a "mistake" offering the Irishman a new two-year deal, but with Clarke unable to find a new club with the transfer deadline looming on Thursday evening, bridges have been built and he has returned to training. Barton suggested the case will be the same for Zain Westbrooke, too, if he does not leave the club by 11pm.
Barton said it would be "childish" not to try to make the most of the left-back while he remains a Rovers player, especially given his lack of options on that side of the pitch.
"(Clarke is) still here and he’s back training with the group," Barton said. "I was quite vocal in terms of where we were at and what we were doing, but I’m not someone who carries grudges through life. He had the chance to explore the marketplace and he hasn’t come back with anything and, obviously, we were prepared to supplement that.
"He’s here, he’s a lad who’s part of our team once the window closes tonight. I don’t want to see lads, it’s a horrible thing to watch people in the stands who are being paid to play football and not playing football. For me, the only reason Trev would not be in our group would be we had a falling out, and that’s just childish for me.
"At the end of the day, you’re in the group. You haven’t managed to get yourself a new club and you had the opportunity to do that. You’re now here until at least January and we might as well get the absolute maximum out of you.
"He wants to play, he’s a player who wants to play and we need him to play when he’s here because we want good players in our team. We’re all grown-ups here, life moves on, but nobody is in the bad books or anything, it’s not like that, but at the end of the day we had a disagreement, I was vocal about why I had that with them, but again he’s working from a place of the truth now. That’s why I always believe you should be open and honest because you can work with it."
In explaining his decision to take Clarke out of contention in early August, Barton said he lacked "trust" in the player to execute the manager's plans on the pitch. The manager insisted on Thursday he sees potential in Clarke, hence why he was offered a new contract, and the former Rotehrham United and Shamrock Rovers defender has the chance to force his way into the team.
"He’s has an opportunity if he doesn’t manage to get out in the next period, which looks highly unlikely, he has an opportunity to come in and earn my trust and show what he can do because I do see potential in Trev," Barton added. "That’s why I gave him an extension in the summer, but up until a few weeks ago he wasn’t doing that.
"I think he will have had a little bit of a reality check because for a player, if you’re available on a free and your club will supplement that for you to go out and you don’t have an abundance of takers, hence the reason he is still in the building.
"The same will be true with Zain if Zain manages to get out or not, but I don’t like seeing our owner’s money wasted by players sitting at home on a Saturday and training here on a Saturday and not being involved in a squad.
"If they’ve not managed to get a new deal and a new club, you’re part of our group. If their attitude or application proves otherwise then we’ll revisit that again but I’m surmising none of those boys wants that. They want to play football, they want to be involved and when the window closes they might just get an opportunity."
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