RHINO HIDE SHIELDS ME FROM FLAK
THE hide of a rhino will protect Joey Barton from any abuse Sunderland fans may throw his way.
Barton takes Fleetwood Town to the Stadium of Light tomorrow and the 30,000plus crowd will be the biggest the Cod Army has ever played in front of. It will also be more than Fleetwood’s 26,000 population.
Barton knows he will come under fire because he played for Newcastle but says he is happy to be a target for the Mackem faithful.
“Hostile, what’s hostile?” said the Fleetwood boss. “When you’ve had the journey I’ve been through in football, you develop a rhino’s skin.
“I’ll get a bit of stick, but that’s par for course and it’s better that they have a go at me if it takes it away from the players.”
The game will be the latest milestone in Fleetwood’s remarkable rise which has seen them win six promotions in a decade, but Barton refuses to see the Cod Army as underdogs.
The former midfielder has never lacked confidence and claims his Fleetwood side are the better team, with Ched Evans and Kyle Dempsey (above) helping them to get off to a decent start. They sit sixth in League One, just three points behind fourth-placed Sunderland.
“There will be more people in their stadium on Saturday than in our town, that’s a novel fact,” said Barton. “Their budget is £28million while ours is obviously not. Financially, it’s David v Goliath. But on the pitch I don’t see David v Goliath. If anything I think we are slightly better player for player.
“I don’t look at them and go, ‘Whoa’. I see some good players, who are hangovers from the Premier League days and a lot of players who are League One players.”