Barton reveals desire to grow ‘coaching tree’ at Rovers
WINNING on a Saturday means everything to Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton. Well, almost everything.
The Gas boss is a man motivated by legacy, not only the imprint he himself will leave in BS7 when his tenure comes to an end, but he also wants to inspire a coaching dynasty.
Barton, a man influenced hugely by American sports culture, wants what they call a coaching tree - a network of people who started under his tutelage before going on to forge their own careers. That is why in every team meeting at The Quarters, his players are instructed to bring a notepad and pen; he wishes he had done so as a player, knowing now just how valuable those titbits of knowledge could eventually be.
Steve Black, Barton’s beloved mentor who was a highly-regarded coach in both football and rugby and sadly died earlier this year, also played a big part in shaping Barton’s desire to give a platform to those around him.
Barton sees management potential in many of his players, with Glenn Whelan - whom he has tipped to manage his country one day - the first to make the transition and the Irishman is part of both the playing and the coaching staff, alongside Danny Ventre and Andy Mangan, who is working towards his UEFA Pro Licence with the Football Association of Wales.
There would be little surprise if
Paul Coutts and others follow suit and join the staff when the time is right, and another player Barton believes is on that pathway is Sam Finley, who has captained the team while Coutts has been injured.
“Absolutely, Sam could do it,” Barton said. “People like him and he differs from me in that regard, but he’s a good people person. He’s got great people skills. You’ve seen with Whelo now, who is on the bench sometimes or in the squad sometimes, but that’s the job for me. The job is bringing these leadership qualities out of men.
“If that transmits into life after football, I’m hoping they pick one or two things up. I’m banging it into them every day and by repetition, I think some of them go home and when they sleep on a Saturday or Sunday night, they will have certain things I said to them throughout the week running through their mind.
“If they just remember 15-20 per cent of those things... I ask them every single day that our lads come into every meeting with a notebook and I tell them to write down, mainly because I never did that as a player.”
He continued: “We’re trying to get all of our lads to be better than we’ve ever been. We want all our lads, and some of my coaching staff are clearly going to go and manage. We want to create a football dynasty.
“Steve Black was brilliant for me and created that yearning for knowledge and constantly wanting to evolve and learn.
“It’s natural that we pass that back on to the young men who spend a lot of time with us.”
Barton made an immediate transition from player to manager, taking charge at Fleetwood Town in 2018 after his playing career was curtailed by a five-month ban from the FA for betting breaches. Therefore, he is not part of another coaching tree, although he was heavily influenced by former Burnley manager Sean Dyche after their time together at Turf Moor.
For the Gas manager, he says it will be not enough when his career ends to only have had personal success. He says he wants to plant a thriving coaching tree.
“That was one of the big things,” Barton continued. “I’m hugely influenced by American sports and the NFL is one of them. One of the things I’ve picked up is no coaching dynasty has grown. Look at Alex Ferguson and all the success they had, but the lads who came after him weren’t better than him.”
He added: “There’s nothing worse, and I’ve been it, where you’re the apex of the room. What do any of us learn from that?”