Barton won’t cash out despite Dons KO

JOEY BARTON is adamant he has found his home in management.

Barton’s hopes of a good first FA Cup run as a boss ended in agony as Kwesi Appiah’s 90th-minute winner took Wimbledon through to round four for the first time since the club reformed in 2002.

And the former Newcastle midfielder admitted that a thirdround exit had blown his chances of having some cash to spend in this month’s transfer window.

Barton, who had to watch Saturday’s match from the stand as he started a two-match touchline ban imposed for verbally abusing a referee last month, has not spent any money on players since taking charge at Highbury last June.

But he insists he is loving life at the sharp end in League One.

He said: “It wasn’t like Solskjaer going in at Manchester United.

“I knew it wasn’t just about lifting a few players and get a few five-a-sides going and get a bit of confidence, just to get Paul Pogba smiling and enjoying his football again. I knew we had to change the culture here.

“I’ve got no dough now because we’re out of the FA Cup. It’s back to free transfers.

“But that’s the job. I signed myself up for this for the next 35 years. I must be absolutely insane to do it.”

Fleetwood looked beaten when Anthony Hartigan added to Andy Barcham’s fine first-half goal to put the Dons 2-0 up.

But the home side responded with two goals in as many minutes as Paddy Madden scrambled one back before Ched Evans won and converted a penalty – only for Appiah to have the last word.

It was a frantic end to the week for Dons debutant keeper Aaron Ramsdale, signed on loan from Bournemouth on Thursday.

The England Under-21 international managed just one training session with his new team-mates before Saturday’s game.

He said: “I was on the website, looking at the players’ names and pictures on Friday night. I still have to learn nicknames, so I was calling them by their first names.”