Barton lets rip at pink boots, 'celebrity' refs and League Two's lack of quality

Bristol Rovers chief Joey Barton has suggested that there are no good teams competing in League Two.

Barton's comments will certainly raise the eyebrows of his 23 rival bosses in the fourth tier.

In a bizarre pre-match press conference ahead of Rovers' home game with Rochdale on Saturday, Barton also took the opportunity to slam players who wear pink boots and said that referees 'want to become want to be a celebrity in their own right'.

Barton, who earlier this month was cleared of assault against former Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel, gave his blunt views on a variety of topics.

Most notable was his belief that League Two lacks any real quality.

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"The beauty of Division Four in England is there are no good teams," the 39-year-old said.

"You wouldn't be in Division Four if you're a good side. The good sides play in the Champions League, Premier League and even in the Championship.

"Everything's relative to the level you play at and anybody can beat anybody on any given day at this level because the sides are closely matched.

"So you can put strings and runs together without being at your absolute best and firing on all cylinders at this level due to the quality of opposition.

"For me, every game is winnable, whether you're playing the top teams or the bottom teams.

"Everything's poorer in Division Four, the standard, the pitches, the teams, everything is less than it would be in three, two or one."

Barton was also asked about his views on officials.

He responded: "The official, for me, you should never know he's in the stadium. You should turn up and not mention the referee because nobody pays to watch a referee or a linesman, they don't.

"We're seeing that at the top level now, the officials are on the TV, talking about every decision. They've got a former referee who comes in and backs up, usually, what he's seen.

"Who wants to listen to a ref? Who wants to be a referee, anyway? It's like who wants to be a traffic warden? On the backside of that, who wants to listen to them? I don't.

"I want to watch players, I want to listen to ex-players, I want to listen to people who have experienced what's happening, not people who have stood there and stopped the game with a whistle or stuck a ticket on a car.

"Unfortunately now, the referee has become more prominent than I think they should ever have been allowed to become.

"You've created this vicious thing where the referee now wants to be prominent. They want to be a celebrity in their own right."

While he was on a rant, Barton also got some views on player's choice of footwear off his chest too.

He added: "You've got players at this level with a load of pink boots on and I'm going 'Why? You're in the fourth division of English footy, you shouldn't be wearing pink boots'.

"I just think about when I played. If had seen someone in pink boots, they were treated a hell of a lot differently than somebody wearing black boots because you're going 'OK, this fella's a bit soft'.

"But it's crept in. It's only the referees now wearing black boots."