Joey Barton has vowed that Bristol Rovers will do everything they can to help Nick Anderton both emotionally and financially as the defender undergoes surgery for bone cancer, that could leave him unable to walk for a year.
Rovers confirmed Anderton’s diagnosis last week, with the 26-year-old requiring an operation to remove a tumour in his leg that is now likely to take him to the end of his Rovers contract. Barton has indicated that health-wise Anderton is in the best possible place to make a full recovery but his career is decidedly more uncertain.
As the Rovers manager stated, following their 2-1 defeat to Forest Green Rovers, having plied his trade predominantly in League One and League Two, Anderton hasn’t accumulated the same wealth as players higher up the pyramid.
Barton has promised to run the London Marathon next year to help raise money to help Anderton and his young family, with the defender soon to welcome a second child, and the club will also support him, beyond his physical recovery.
“It’s such a tricky thing to deal with because you’ve got a young person whose career has pretty much been flipped on its head from nowhere,” Barton said. “He’s so well thought of in the group and so much of a good lad that you can’t see the fairness in it from time to time, but the other side of that is you don’t find it and it rumbles on and it doesn’t get detected and it gets worse and worse.
“The good thing for Nick is he’s going to watch his children grow up, fingers crossed. He’s not going to face chemotherapy as it stands. He’s probably not going to walk for a year of his life, which for a 26-year-old man is a very worrying time.
“But we’ll all be with him, every single one at the football club and he’ll see the fans, and not just our fans and players, but their players with the jerseys on. The football community has been around him and it’s been superb.
“He’s not a Premier League player, someone who can afford to retire and not have to earn another pound note. He’s got a year left on his deal and we’ll do everything we can to help him for the rest of his life, never mind the rest of his contract.
“He’s got two young babies and no medical insurance because they can’t afford to have that cover at this level. Maybe the players at the level where I played did and a bit higher.
“I’m just hoping we can raise him a few quid. I’m going to run the London Marathon myself. I’ve been putting it off but I’m going to do it for Nick and try to raise a few quid for him.
“We’ll have to try to do everything we can to try to make sure he and his family have got some security going forward because he’s a top kid and he’s got a baby on the way in 10 or 11 weeks and another baby in the house.”
Rovers and Forest Green both warmed up in t-shirts in tribute to Anderton, bearing his No16, while Aaron Collins celebrated his goal at the Mem by hoisting the defender’s jersey into the air. Anderton had wanted to attend the season curtain-raiser but didn't feel ready.
Barton felt regret that the Gas were unable to mark the occasion, and end a challenging week, with a positive result, but thoughts will now turn to Burton Albion next weekend and a chance to secure three points in the Midlands.
“We’re not going to use it as an excuse, we should have done better to get a win and dedicate it to Nick. We’re going to have to do that next week now,” Barton added.
“You’ve got to take in perspective. We’ve lost today and sometimes you feel sorry for yourself as a coach, and then when things like that happen to people that are close to you, people you care about, it snaps you out of it.
“We’ll be back, we’ll be better, we’ll win games of football and the key for is us making sure Nick, one of our brothers, one of our friends, is taken care of at the moment.”
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