“I thought his people skills were really, really poor”. Why did I do that?’
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“He’s a smart man and I think we’ll see the consequences of how he deals with it in the coming weeks. They think me helping is me trying to say ‘you’re not good enough.’ It’s hard”.
Barton, who was told to stay away from the Glasgow club for most of last week, met at Rangers’ Ibrox ground with manager Mark Warburton and board members.
With no victories in their three previous matches, and a Joey Barton- induced controversy that was threatening to swallow Rangers whole, here at last was some light relief for the Ibrox club.
“From Mark Warburton’s point of view, he’s got to preserve the name of Rangers Football Club”.
“But, most pleasing tonight was that we were more clinical in front of goal, we missed a lot of chances as well”.
Barton, who signed a two-year contract in pre-season, added: “The way it’s been handled is unusual”. The team spirit is good.
“So pleased with that, but we will work hard and keep working hard and there’s a long season ahead”.
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Rangers midfielder Harry Forrester was lucky to escape a straight red card for a second-half lunge on Jordan Marshall when it was 1-0, but Queens boss Gavin Skelton didn’t feel it affected the outcome the tie.
“I remember it well, we had just announced Brendan (Rodgers) as our new manager and I was with our company secretary in London at the time”.
Barton admitted he had over-stepped the line with some of his comments as Warburton’s squad carried out a post-mortem debrief on last week’s mauling by Celtic.
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He said: “The players north and south of the border know the situation. He wants to win and has been unfairly treated in my opinion”.
