Joey Barton has paid tribute to the work of Kevin Bond at Bristol Rovers, but he believes he had to make the "difficult" decision of moving him on to make the club more "efficient".
Bond's departure from the Gas was confirmed by Rovers on Sunday. He joined the club as a first-team coach in August 2021, working alongside Barton and Andy Mangan in the wake of Clint Hill's departure.
But Barton made two appointments to his staff this summer, adding Glenn Whelan and Danny Ventre as first-team coaches, with Bond watching from the stands to offer a different perspective on some occasions with the Gas exceeding the number of people permitted on the bench.
