Trevor Clarke, Zain Westbrooke and Alex Rodman have been told they can leave Bristol Rovers and are not training with the first team, manager Joey Barton has confirmed.
Rumours have been rife among the fanbase this week that Barton had made the decision to part ways with the senior trio, and on Thursday afternoon he confirmed they have all been told to pursue moves away from the Mem in the final four weeks of the transfer window.
Youngsters Sam Heal and Jamie Egan have also been told their immediate futures are away from the club on loan.
Barton’s resources are already relatively thin with some star players from last season’s promotion to League One unlikely to return, and the manager’s patience is being tested in the transfer market. The Gas have gone a full month since making striker John Marquis their fourth summer signing, and the manager says Rovers are playing the waiting game in hope of finding value in the market before the window shuts at the end of the month.
The decision to exile Clarke, Westbrooke and Rodman reduces the manager’s options further, but he believes it was the right decision for the club and the individuals themselves, with their spots in the squad for now taken up by academy players.
"I've got to clear the decks really so I've decided that some boys who haven't got a future here, there's no point dragging it on," Barton said, ahead of Saturday's trip to Burton Albion. "We're short at the minute but we're turning to guys who aren't going to have an impact in our group and I'd much prefer to open the pathways for the next crop, the next generation.
"While those senior players are around, you lean on them, because you go, 'okay, it's better than throwing the kids in at the deep end'; Saturday's game for me was a kind of line drawn in the sand in terms of cleaning out the group.
"We've lost three players this week who won't have a future with us: Alex Rodman, obviously, Trevor Clarke and Zain Westbrooke.
"I just don't think it's fair to carry them on down the track with us when they're not going to be part of our future and that allows us to bring six young boys across today from the academy who are raw, are young but are full of potential and I'll much prefer to give those guys the reps than keep turning to people, for no fault of their own - they're all good lads, they just don't have the skillset that I require for us to move forward."
The case of Clarke is curious having awarded the left-back with a new two-year contract earlier this summer. But after Saturday’s defeat to Forest Green Rovers, Barton made clear he did not view the 24-year-old as a starter in his team moving forward; comments that caught supporters off guard after what was perceived to be a good pre-season for the Irishman.
Westbrooke and Rodman, meanwhile, have been on the fringes of Barton’s plans for some time. The former spent the second half of last season on loan at Stevenage and his time at Rovers appeared to be nearing an end, but he was handed a rare start against Forest Green on Saturday due to the absence of captain Paul Coutts and vice-captain Sam Finley.
“Everyone at the football club wants Zain to do really well, but at some point he’s got to do well,” Barton said after the game. “You’ve got to do well and do the job. He had an opportunity today and you’ve got to keep asking how many opportunities are you going to get?”
Rodman is Rovers’ longest-serving player, excluding academy graduates, but he has not played in a year and he has made just 22 appearances in the past two seasons due to an unfortunate series of injures. The 35-year-old winger’s efforts to put himself in contention have been stifled by a pre-season back injury and Barton said last week he was not banking on Rodman being available at all this season.
"I've told them all to explore the market and find new clubs and with the two young boys, I could keep them in, but it's just not fair on them," Barton said. "They're probably going to have to drop out of the league and into non-league, I think Jamie has done that at Hereford before. Sam Heal has come back of an ACL last year, he needs to go and play men's football. He doesn't need to be hanging around our training ground.
"Rodders has got decision to make what he wants to do, but he's reported for pre-season injured after having the whole summer off and then hasn't been with the group for six weeks. At his age, with his record of games, if he missed pre-season, it's tricky for the rest of the season, especially when we're stepping up a division and the intensity goes up.
"I made a mistake bringing Trevor Clarke back, I shouldn't have brought him back, I should have really known that from last year but I gave him a chance and he hasn't managed to take it.
"Zain is a top kid, I really want him to do well, but it just hasn't worked at Rovers and I can't keep turning to him because Jerry Lawrence doesn't get minutes if Zain's about, because you would naturally go to the more experienced boy. I don't think it's fair on Zain and sometimes you just have to draw a line under it and got to help them boys find new clubs."
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