Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton has admitted Irish defender Trevor Clarke does not have a future under his management, freezing the 24-year old out of the first team squad despite the player only signing a two-year contract with the club this summer.
Dubliner Clarke joined the club in 2021, helping them to earn promotion from League Two last season. He played well enough to earn himself a new deal.
However, it looks as though his manager now regrets handing out that contract.
Joey Barton freezes Trevor Clarke out of first team squad
Clarke started the first game of the season, a 2-1 defeat at home to Forest Green. Since then, the left back has been forced to train away from the rest of the first squad as his manager grew suddenly impatient with his form on the training pitch.
Speaking to the Bristol Post, Joey Barton admitted that the former Shamrock Rovers man is no longer in his plans and that he wishes he had not given him a new contract just a few months ago.
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.
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.
I’ve been telling Trev all summer ‘I don’t trust you, 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.
Clarke first moved to English football with Rotherham United, joining them from Rovers 2019. He found first team opportunities limited at the club, making only 17 league appearances across two campaigns.
While things seemed to be looking up since his move to Bristol Rovers, his future at the Memorial Stadium now looks very much in doubt.
Barton did not know where the player's future would lie, but made it clear he did not trust him to be part of him team as things stand.
He could go back home. His family is in Ireland and he could probably play in the League of Ireland, he’s probably got enough ability to play there.
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.
Bristol Rovers fared better in their second game of the campaign, running out as 4-0 winners over ten-man Burton Albion. Player/coach Glenn Whelan would come off the bench in the closing stages of that game.
While Joey Barton holds the former Ireland midfielder in very high esteem, that does not seem to be the case for Clarke.
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