Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton has admitted his decision to make a Manchester United -style half-time kit change was a "farce".
The Red Devils infamously switched from a grey kit back into a different away strip at half-time of a dismal defeat by Southampton in April 1996. Rovers opted to do a similar swap on Thursday night during a League One clash with Exeter City.
The Gas started the game wearing a black and teal away shirt, as part of Shelter's #NoHomeShirt campaign to tackle homelessness. But by half-time, the hosts had fallen two goals behind to strikes from Sam Nombe and Archie Collins.
As a result, Barton demanded his side change out of their away kit and into their blue and white home kit. But Exeter were wearing their third kit, which consisted of a light blue shirt with navy shorts and teal socks.
That led to somewhat of a kit clash with the shorts, with Barton admitting the situation was a "calamity". His side did fight back to go 3-2 in front, but Timothee Dieing and Nombe scored two late goals to win the game for Exeter.
"It was a bit of a calamity. It was a show of support for the homeless charity but for some reason Exeter didn’t wear red and white, which is not their fault," Rovers boss Barton said about the situation.
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"It seems as though there’s been an administration faux pas. Their kit didn’t look before the game like a clash but once you went out and under the floodlights, all of a sudden it was going to be tricky for the players.
"Why I asked them to change shirts? I said lads we’ve been absolutely s**** out there in that kit, so get it off and get the home kit on, and lo and behold we’re back in it. There was a little bit of superstition, but the kit was wet and we had nothing to lose.
"Hopefully, if we do it again we can make sure the opposition don’t wear the same dark shirts as us. I still don’t know why we didn’t wear the green and yellow one but maybe it was still getting washed after the Wycombe game. It was a bit of a farce. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”
United were fined £10,000 for changing their kit back in 1996, though there is no news yet as to whether Rovers will face a similar punishment. Exeter boss Gary Caldwell was unhappy, though, and slammed the decision to allow the swap to happen.
"I didn’t even notice the half-time kit-change but as far as I’m concerned it shouldn’t be allowed. It was quite embarrassing. I’m not sure if the players noticed but I’m just pleased that in the end we got what we deserved," he said.
"That was a phenomenal game of football. The pitch, under the lights, it was set up like that from the start and in the end we have found the desire, the quality to come out on top."
