CITY THE BEST BAR NONE
ALL OF LEAGUE ONE FINE WITH SKY BLUES BEING PROMOTED INSISTS BOSS JOEY
Gopperth puts an end to exit fears with new Wasps deal
JIMMY Gopperth has signed a new contract at Wasps – a month ahead of his 37th birthday.
The long-serving Kiwi has put an end to speculation he was set to leave the Ricoh Arena club after scoring 844 points in 96 appearances since joining from Leinster in 2015.
Having featured in just 23 minutes of the 2018/19 campaign due to a knee ligament injury and a subsequent thumb break on his return, the former Hurricanes star returned to his very best in Wasps colours before the season was paused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reclaiming the kicking duties he registered 51 points in Wasps’ last four games to move into the top
10 Premiership point scorers of all time. He was also pivotal in helping Jacob Umaga to establish himself in the fly-half shirt as the 21-year-old’s sparkling form saw him earn a shock call-up to England’s Six Nations squad. However, with Wasps announcing that inside centre Ryan Mills would be joining from Worcester Warriors, there were concerns among Wasps supporters that Gopperth’s time in Black and Gold may be drawing to a close this summer.
Speaking during a Facebook Live session through the official Wasps account in March, he was asked by a supporter ‘will you stay at Wasps and coach?’.
The 36-year-old replied: “That’s not up to me, it’s up to the bosses to see if they want me to do that!” During an interview with The Rugby Paper earlier
FLEETWOOD Town boss Joey Barton says no League One club is against Coventry City being promoted this season.
The Sky Blues are five points clear at the top of the table with 10 matches of the regular campaign remaining.
Mark Robins’ men have a seven-point cushion inside the automatic promotion zone, with a game in hand on most of their nearest rivals. If the campaign is curtailed, the final standings will be decided based on an unweighted points-per-game system, which would see Coventry clinch promotion alongside Rotherham United.
Barton’s Fleetwood Town side would make the play-offs, along with Oxford United, Portsmouth and Wycombe Wanderers.
Barton would like to finish the campaign in full - but is happy to see Coventry handed promotion if it comes to that.
“Last week when I was on the LMA (League Managers’ Association) call with all the managers, it was mooted that Coventry would be promoted,” he said.
“I think Coventry would have got automatics - they were seven points clear of us and five clear of Rotherham, with a game in hand. They’d lost three all season. They were probably going to get the automatics, so I don’t think anyone has got a gripe with Coventry going up.”