“I’ve been telling Trev all summer, ‘I don’t trust you’.”
Joey Barton has delivered a scathing dismissal of former Ireland Under-21 defender Trevor Clarke.
The Bristol Rovers manager has said that he doesn’t “trust” Clarke and that he regrets giving the full-back a new two-year contract in June.
The Dubliner, along with teammates Zain Westbrooke and Alex Rodman, is currently training away from the first team.
Barton delivers brutal dismissal of Irish defender Trevor Clarke.
“Unfortunately, we extended his deal and sometimes you’ve got to be very quick to recognise and I hold my hands up,” Barton told BBC Radio Bristol.
“I’ve made a mistake on that one, I shouldn’t have brought him back in.”
Clarke joined the League One side from Rotherham United last summer and played seven times for the team as they earned promotion.
The former Shamrock Rovers defender started the first game of the season for Bristol, a 2-1 defeat to Forest Green.
Following that match, however, Barton said: “If you had said to me at the end of last season Zain Westbrooke and Trevor Clarke were going to be in our starting XI on the opening day of the season, I would have said, ‘My god, we must have had a bad summer’.”
The former Manchester City midfielder has since told Clarke, 24, that he has no future at the club.
Trevor Clarke.Joey Barton says he doesn’t ‘trust’ Irish defender.
“He’s a good kid, he just can’t play the position how I want it played,” Barton said.
“For me, he just doesn’t fill me with trust going forward. If I’m honest, I don’t trust him. I don’t think he’s the right component for us. We want to pass out, we want to play, and he’s not that type of full-back.”
“I’ve been telling Trev all summer ‘I don’t trust you,” the former Newcastle United midfielder continued.
“You’re doing stuff in training, you’re not doing what I’m asking you to do, your retention of information I’m struggling with because how many times am I going to show you?’
“He’s not 17 or 19, he’s 24. So, at some point, the penny has got to drop. And after doing a year’s worth of work with him last year, I just got to the point where we need to pull up stumps here and just draw a line under it.
“It’s not fair on him because he had a similar theme at Rotherham where he’s not played minutes. He’s had a similar theme here, where he has not played minutes.”
🎙️ "I've got to clear the decks…"
Rovers manager Joey Barton talks about his decision to tell Trevor Clarke, Zain Westbrooke and Alex Rodman that they can leave the club. pic.twitter.com/QXF3hfiPI6
— BBC Sport Bristol (@bbcbristolsport) August 4, 2022
Barton tells Irish defender he can leave Bristol Rovers.
The Bristol Rovers manager went on to say that Clarke is free to leave the club and he spoke about a potential return to the League of Ireland for the defender.
“His family is in Ireland and he could probably play in the League of Ireland, he’s probably got enough ability to play there,” Barton said.
“He might get another opportunity in England, I don’t know. But putting someone in the team like Westy and Trev, who you don’t trust, is not fair on them.
“We have to put them in because we’re light on bodies and they also know that you don’t trust them and they also know that their fans don’t trust them.”
Finally, Barton, once again, said that he regrets giving Clarke a new contract and that the player has no future at the club.
“Unfortunately, we extended his deal and sometimes you’ve got to be very quick to recognise and I hold my hands up. I’ve made a mistake on that one, I shouldn’t have brought him back in.
“If I had my time again, I wouldn’t have done that, but we have and we’ve got to find a solution, firstly for Trev and, obviously, for the club. I don’t think he’ll have a problem. I think there will be many suitors for him.
“He’s obviously done well in the League of Ireland and he could pop back out there, but that will be somebody else’s problem and he won’t go forward with us.”
Clarke played over 100 times for Shamrock Rovers before leaving the club to sign for Rotherham United in 2019.
The defender’s time at Rotherham was hampered by injuries and he only made 20 appearances for the club before signing for Bristol Rovers.
However, it appears extremely unlikely that Clarke will play for Barton’s team again.
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