Rovers urged to rise to the challenge of Pompey
then also be a coach to invest in a long-term project. However, his potential appointment would not be without controversy.
Barton has a chequered disciplinary record, both as manager and player, remains an outspoken individual and, more immediately, is facing a trial for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in June, for which he has pleaded not guilty.
Barton is accused of pushing thenBarnsley manager Daniel Stendel in the tunnel after a League One game in April 2019. Stendel is said to have suffered a damaged tooth. The trial was initially scheduled for June 2020 but has been delayed by a year due to Covid-19.
There are also financial considerations regarding his entourage as Barton appointed former teammate Clint Hill as assistant and close friend Eddy Jennings as director of football at Fleetwood.
Rovers’ current coaching team remains a combination of hires from the Graham Coughlan and Ben Garner eras which could complicate matters, plus hiring more staff is another expense for the club in a season of minimal revenues amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tisdale arrived in November and, with the exception of the addition of long-term colleague Mel Gwinnett, was expected to work with the staff already present.
Prior to that Garner also worked with Kevin Maher and Adrian Tucker from Coughlan’s time, before bringing in assistant Jack Mesure and goalkeeper coach David Coles last summer.
But Barton is not a done deal and there remains a number of options for the Gas, along with Robinson, including former Shrewsbury Town manager Sam Ricketts, with the preference of the board to appoint someone currently out of work.
Former Bristol Rovers manager
Darrell Clarke, meanwhile, swapped Walsall for Port Vale after leaving the Bescot Stadium yesterday afternoon.
Following the postponement of Saturday’s game against Swindon Town, Rovers sit just outside the bottom four on goal difference, and caretaker boss Tommy Widdrington, pictured, was asked yesterday what he wanted to see from his team against Portsmouth at the Memorial Stadium tonight.
“I want them to show what wearing the quarters is all about. I was really confident going into Saturday’s game. You can prepare them as much as you can and you get a feeling of where they are mentally and physically and I thought we were really ready to go.
“I’m hoping after this morning’s session it will be similar, but Portsmouth are a different opposition. Kenny (Jackett) is a very experienced manager, as is John Sheridan at Swindon, but they are very different entities in the way they play.”
Widdrington added: “In Kenny (Jackett), they’ve got a fantastic, wellversed manager. We’re under no illusion of what the task is. But it’s one game, it’s 11 vs 11.”
On the Rovers injuries front, Widdrington said: “Ed (Upson) is available, because he’s had another two days of training. He wasn’t available for that game on Saturday, but he’s joined the group and hasn’t reported anything back as yet in that respect.
“I have one player who I’m waiting to hear on, he was a little tight after a training session on Saturday, but it’s not a major worry.”