It’s a question that causes Joey Barton to puff his cheeks out, move uncomfortably in his chair, almost as if he's been personally affronted, and accumulate a self-imposed personal fine as his press conference significantly overruns causing him to be late for a meeting with CEO Tom Gorringe, as he explains his answer.
The theme is such: having criticised the styles of Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe Wanderers, Shrewsbury Town and other clubs over the course of the campaign, while it may be valid to an extent, given their relative success and respective positions in the table compared to Bristol Rovers, does he feel the Gas need to evolve and embrace some of that approach?
Barton would proudly consider himself a football purist and while all 250 games of his managerial career have been spent in League One and League Two, he’s determined to play his way out of the lower reaches of the EFL rather than succumb to the whims of pragmatism.
