Rovers quiet after boss in ‘holocaust’ reference
BRISTOL Rovers have refused to comment on, apologise or further explain Joey Barton’s comments in the wake of their 3-1 defeat to Newport County in which the Gas manager referred to a poor individual performance as like ‘a holocaust’.
When asked in his post-match press conference, “is that defence capable of being more solid?”, Barton responded: “I said to the lads during the week, the team’s almost like musical chairs.
“Someone gets in and does well but then gets suspended or injured. Someone gets in for a game, does well but then has a holocaust, a nightmare, an absolute disaster.”
After initially being broadcast through club channels, the footage was widely shared and condemned on social media by fans before it was taken down internally, edited and reposted to remove the offending line.
However, when contacted yesterday morning, and then given several hours to provide a response, Rovers refused to comment.
As of late yesterday afternoon the club still hadn’t commented.
The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews between 1941-1945 by Nazi Germany and their collaborators in which an estimated six million men, women and children – around two-thirds of the continent’s Jewish population – were slaughtered.
The alternative dictionary definition of a holocaust is a, “destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war”.
Bristol Rovers lost Saturday’s game against Newport County 3-1 to lie 18th in League Two after 14 games of the season.
In the 2011 Census there were 777 people in Bristol who identified Judaism as their religion, with three main synagogues in the city, but the wider Jewish community is far larger, when the student population is taken into account.
Since taking charge of Rovers in February, Barton’s choice of language has caused issues. His claims that predecessors Paul Tisdale and Ben Garner were “negligent” led to a threat of legal action. In May, he stated there was a “cancer” dragging the Gas down in reference to an unnamed individual at the club.
He has previously publicly criticised medical staff at the club and last week, unprompted, highlighted his non-existent relationship with director and former head of recruitment Tommy Widdrington.
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