Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton has explained his post-match apology to his Town counterpart Kieran McKenna following the 0-0 draw between the sides at the Memorial Stadium on Tuesday and says the Blues’ boss is a man under pressure.

McKenna said Barton had “apologised to me straight after the game for not being willing to give us a match tonight and not being willing to play their normal way” in his post-match press conference following the frustrating stalemate.

“I just went to him at the end of the game and said ‘Sorry we couldn’t take you on’,” Barton told BristolLive. “That’s what it meant, I wasn’t apologising for the way we played. I thought we were excellent in our strategy and really got the best opportunity to win the game by going the way we did.

“We were far from parking the bus. It was a mid-to-deep block with some triggers we felt we could catch them on and expose them higher up the field.

“To be fair to Kieran, he’s probably worried about four wins in 15 with a £15 million budget in League One and Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth pulling away and Derby, Wycombe, Barnsley, Bolton and the group chasing closing in on them.

“He’s a man under pressure. I could smell that on them and I knew that before with the results profile. It was part of the reason we went with the strategy because they were nervy and on a run of drawing a lot of games and finding it hard to break teams down.

“I was apologising and I do apologise to our fans that tune into this. I don’t want to sit and counter teams, I want to be in the middle of the ring, the middle of the pitch, with the ball taking the game to teams.

“But sometimes you have to cut your cloth accordingly. Our budget is three-and-a-bit million, theirs is £15 million. If we take them on — and we went to Portman Road earlier in the season and had a right pop at them and tried to take them on — in the moment we’re in in our stadium, we would have been gifting them points and that is not our football club.

“We had to make a plan for that and I apologised for sitting to counter. I don’t want to be a counter-puncher, I want to be in the middle of the ring trading blows with you, but I guarantee you if the boot was on the other foot, he wouldn’t be attacking me with a £3 million budget if I had a £15 million budget, that’s for sure, and he wouldn’t be drawing 0-0.”

He added: “We had to be [more defensive than usual]. I hope one day to have their budget and if you give me £15 million versus our £3 million, I’d ask Kieran if he would want to stand in the middle and trade blows because I guarantee he wouldn’t.

“For us at that moment, it would have been a kamikaze approach and we had to adjust our strategy and show a different side to our team and me as a coach to nullify our opponent to give ourselves the best opportunity of winning the game.

“They have completed 400 more passes than us, but recent weeks have shown it is not about completing passes and having possession because you have got to have a purpose and an end product to that.

"You could argue on the weight of chances, we had the best chances. We were the only ones that hit the woodwork and I do think Jarell Quansah’s header in the first half from the corner was as good a chance as any in the game.

“To get out of there with a clean sheet and a point was a step in the right direction for us, but I’m not sure Kieran’s well versed in the Mem.

“He said it was a cup final for our fans and they have all turned out, but we have been at capacity since the back end of last season and I just felt that was a little bit of a strange comment.

“Based on my CV and his CV, there is no doubt who is the A side if there was any cup final because he was a civilian until he started coaching.”

Photo: Action Images

RonFearonsHair added 10:27 - Feb 17 Sensitive petal isn't he?
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itfcskayman added 10:30 - Feb 17 As much as I dislike Barton, he got his tactics spot on. It's clear that we can't break teams down. I really hope McKenna is the man to turn our form around because we're a much better club since he's been at the helm.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 10:30 - Feb 17 Joey Barton Appreciation Society: Chairman Joey Barton.
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StringerBell added 10:30 - Feb 17 Not wrong though is he? All the money we've spent and our form is poor. McKenna is under pressure and hasn't shown a huge amount of guile and tactical nous to turn it round over the last 15-20 games. Simply not good enough.
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churchmans added 10:32 - Feb 17 Barton tells it how it is!!
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churchmans added 10:34 - Feb 17 Itfcskayman We are a much better club since the new owners come in
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Jugsy added 10:35 - Feb 17 StringerBell - what's your solution, sack McKenna? As frustrating as it is, we're probably playing 'too well' for this division and we need to get a bit smarter at breaking these teams down. McKenna is a young, up and coming manager and I'd rather we were his club to learn his craft and take us through the divisions than him do it for someone else.
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Phil1969 added 10:36 - Feb 17 We have become the pariahs of League one bit like Newcastle in Prem, everybody hopes we lose. We should bottle that in a siege mentality everybody hates us we don't care !
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Broganonthewing added 10:37 - Feb 17 Bristol Rovers trained at Delwood Avenue the home of Felixstowe and Walton United the morning of the game at Portman Road earlier in the season. He was very respectful and complimentary to his hosts, and after the training session he made sure his players and staff cleaned up and left no mess behind. Don't believe everything about him you read in the press.
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SamWhiteUK added 10:40 - Feb 17 I'm not sure I see the difference between "sorry we couldn't take you on" and apologising for the way you played...
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blues1 added 10:44 - Feb 17 While some of his points are absolutely valid, I'd love to know,what he means by mckenna was a civilian before he started coaching? Clearly vas no idea what he's on about? Mckenna,started coaching as soon as he had to give up playing, so has been coaching far longer than Barton has. So a,very strange comment.
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ArnieM added 10:48 - Feb 17 …and that, in a nitshell is why Town are struggling. Teams have decided to,stop competing with us in a football game, and instead sit back. Tbh it's been like this ( especially at PR) for years. And Town never find a way through this blocking strategy. Does any other team face this game after game from opponents ? I doubt it. We face it every game, and it's costing us points. WE need to change . Get quicker in attack from defence, and take SHOTS from all over the pitch . Make the keeper work , look for rebounds , get in the box. We'll achieve absolutely nothing playing possession football in our half or on or about the half way line. McKenna if you're reading this …..WISE UP !

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pennblue added 10:48 - Feb 17 Time for us to take our gloves off. This is League 1, we need to fight to win games.
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BlueBlood90 added 10:48 - Feb 17 I'd rather stay in League One with McKenna as our manager for the rest of eternity than have a muppet like Joey Barton.
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Bobbychase added 10:58 - Feb 17 One of the two managers was caught on local radio offering to fight an opposition player after the game before the one at the Mem. After they had lost four in a row. Also sounds like a man under pressure. I live in Bristol and lots of my mates are Rovers fans. They were fearful of a humping before the game, and delighted with a point against a bigger club. There's no shame in Barton admitting that.

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Bobbychase added 11:05 - Feb 17 Here's the clip if anyone needs proof. A classless moron reacting as a classless moron does Joey Barton offering out Lincoln players live on air 😂 pic.twitter.com/JXGpFpxHmH — Jordan Brown (@jordbrown96) February 11, 2023
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MickMillsTash added 11:12 - Feb 17 Everyone plays the same way against us (except Plymouth) and everyone gets the same result a draw. We don't take enough of our chances BUT we started with 2 players on Tuesday who I thought might score- Ladapo, Burns Things are not working What about Hirst and Ladapo up top ? one can drop in if required but get more early crosses into the box with double the men attacking the ball. Can Broadhead play instead of Humphries? Can McKenna Fix this ?

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Cakeman added 11:18 - Feb 17 Joey Barton has made some very valid points and it would be difficult to disagree with him.
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bobbyramsey added 11:21 - Feb 17 Indeed churchmans, Gamechanger have improved the club not KM, the changes were coming whoever was manager.
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Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 11:24 - Feb 17 Yes he's a complete ar*e, but he's not wrong. We can't break down teams that sit, it's the same over and over. They were smart to do so. Others should so the same until we figure out that a slow build up with lots of sideways and back passes isn't working...great for possession stats but that's it. This comment is also 100% accurate: "“He's a man under pressure. I could smell that on them and I knew that before with the results profile. It was part of the reason we went with the strategy because they were nervy and on a run of drawing a lot of games and finding it hard to break teams down."

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Bert added 11:28 - Feb 17 Our football will make us a decent championship side but that won't happen until we learn how to play teams that are happy to just survive in league one. We are now the Leeds of this league. Sheffield Wednesday fans say the same things about how teams are set up to stop them playing but they have found a way. We have to do the same even if it is not pretty. KMcK is undoubtedly under pressure but he and the owners have turned our club around so let's give him some help by generating an encouraging atmosphere on Saturday.

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multiplescoregasms added 11:31 - Feb 17 I get the defensive tactics, and that's his call as the manager. Opponents will do what they can to get the result that suits them. I just had to laugh at him calling McKenna a civilian.
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Marinersnose added 11:32 - Feb 17 Barton is a thug but his assessment of town is spot on. Too many so called town fans already hanging KMK out to dry but I suggest that they look at where we were before his arrival. He's taken the club forward and the stadium has been rocking. Yes he's young and inexperienced but he's learning all the time. I think some of the players have let their manager down massively this season. A few appear to have the swagger but don't cut it on the pitch. Maybe they are players who feel that the Championship is beyond them ? Morsy being a card away from a ban doesn't help him either. These are not excuses but we do miss so many opportunities in front of goal, lack goals from midfield and have a tendency to switch off at the back. A settled back four would be good imo,

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norfolkbluey added 11:38 - Feb 17 I fully understand what he is saying. If Town were as good as the top three would they have beaten Rovers? We are just inept tactically when against teams do a Rovers on us. I doubt whether Bolton Derby or the top two would have tolerated Joey Barton's tactics. Continuing to playing the way we do is getting us no where quickly and that's the nub of it. Can McK wise up or are we incapable of promotion because he is intransigent. Worrying times in the slow lane.

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Westcountryblue added 11:53 - Feb 17 Hard to disagree with Barton here. McKenna is under pressure right now and has to deliver.
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