‘A holocaust’: manager Joey Barton on his football team selection woes

Anger is growing at the Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton after he appeared to compare his difficulties selecting a full football team to the Holocaust.

Barton used the word in an interview as tried to attribute his team’s latest defeat to inconsistent player performance.

Bristol Rovers lost 3-1 to Newport Country in a League Two encounter on Saturday.

Barton said in the post-match remarks: “I said to the lads during the week, you know, the team’s almost like musical chairs, you know, someone gets in and does well but then gets suspended.

“Someone gets in and does well, gets injured. Someone gets in, does well for a game, then has a holocaust, a nightmare, an absolute disaster.”

He was criticised for appearing to compare the slaughter of six million Jews and others during the Second World War to his team’s difficulties on the football field.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of Holocaust Educational Trust charity, said: “A bad football match is nothing like the Holocaust and this is clearly an inappropriate comparison – it is why our work is so important.”

Bristol Rovers and representatives for Joey Barton did not return a Jewish News request for comment.