"Trust me, in a short space of time, we'll be ahead of Portsmouth," Joey Barton said after Bristol Rovers were beaten at Portsmouth in August. "They're playing 4-4-2, the Cowleys, sound. It doesn't take you to where you need to get to in my opinion.
"They beat us fair and square today and we'll see them down the track."
The Gas manager faced ridicule from Pompey fans in the wake of that 3-1 defeat, but while he will take no satisfaction in Danny Cowley and his brother and assistant Nicky being sacked on Monday, it is hard to argue that those bold claims made pitchside on the south coast don't look prophetic now.
The Cowleys were relieved of their duties following Saturday's defeat to Charlton Athletic at Fratton Park, which extended a miserable winless run in League One to nine games.
Things were very different early in the season, starting the campaign with a nine-game unbeaten stretch in the third tier, with the high-intensity, direct brand of football employed by the Cowleys reaping great rewards.
It appears, though, that teams around the league were quickly able to suss them and their tactics out and they had slipped to 12th place in the table – one spot behind the Gas with three points fewer, although they have three games in hand – by the time of the sacking.
Barton namedropped Danny Cowley as recently as Boxing Day, sharing his sympathy for this counterpart amid their struggles.
In the wake of a defeat to Wycombe Wanderers – another team built in a similar mould to Pompey – the Rovers boss referenced a report from the Portsmouth News that was headlined 'Living in a world where Joey Barton is right', which cited Pompey fans bemoaning their poor form and stale tactics, coming around to the idea that Barton had called things correctly back in August.
"With the greatest respect to them (Wycombe), what they do only takes you so far in the game," Barton said.
"History will prove me correct on that as it normally does. I didn’t expect the Pompey fans and the Pompey newspaper to write a report they did which said they live in a world where Joey Barton is right. I’m like ‘I’m always right, it just takes a bit of time to get there, especially when it comes to football’.
"I did enjoy it but I actually feel sorry for Danny Cowley. He’s actually tried to play a back three and if you watch the game they played at Wycombe, Sean Raggett was in the middle of a back three, so they have actually changed from 4-4-2.
"But as I said to you, it stinks and it won’t work. It just doesn’t get you the traction you need.
"If I am a team that is trying to consolidate, I can get it, I understand it, but if you are a team trying to get out of the division, you need to control the football."
Portsmouth are yet to confirm a successor for Cowley, who is one of the more popular and well-liked figures across the EFL.
He took charge at Fratton Park in March 2021 and won 43.3 per cent of his 97 games at the helm.
“We are desperately disappointed that, following our recent run of results, we have made the difficult decision to part company with Danny and Nicky," Pompey CEO Andrew Cullen said.
“Both Danny and Nicky have given everything to Pompey, working so hard inside and outside of the training ground with a determination to bring success – not just to the football club, but to the city of Portsmouth and the wider community.
“We must now look forward and with 24 league games still to play, we will focus all our efforts towards delivering the targets we set for this season. The search for a new coaching team will commence immediately.”
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