Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton can’t resist Steve Lansdown dig as he drops Bristol City claim | OneFootball

Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton has claimed he wants to take the Gas to the Premier League before local rivals Bristol City and suggested Robins’ owner Steve Lansdown “has had his fill”.

Rovers continued their strong start to life back in League One on Saturday as they beat Oxford United to move to third in the table after three games.

A dramatic final day promotion helped Barton’s side secure a return to the third tier last term and it seems he is setting his aspirations very high for the rest of his tenure.

Speaking to Bristol Live, Barton revealed he wants to take Rovers to the Premier League before the Robins can do so and couldn’t resist aiming a subtle dig at Lansdown after his recent comments about looking for new investment.

He said: “We’re a lot bigger city to be having no Premier League side and my goal is to put the blue side in the Premier League before the red side,

“They’ve (City) had a right crack of it because of what’s been here before but nobody has conquered the mountain in Bristol.

“We speak about it all the time. At the start of the season, we were speaking about it. We were up on the observation tower (Clifton Observatory) overlooking the Suspension Bridge saying we want to be the first team on the moon in this city. While it’s still there, we’re going to give everything we can.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do and lots of catching up. They’ve got a bigger ground than us, a better training ground than us, but you’ve seen last week, Steve (Lansdown) is talking about selling the club. He’s had his fill of it. He’s poured that much money into it and our owner hasn’t.

“Our owner has massive ambition and I have to rein it in from him when I’m talking about us getting value for money. It’s not for Wael, it is me going ‘No, there is a fair price’.

“You want to play for us. Why would you not want to play for us? We make every player better. If you come in and you want to work hard and get better, we do everything at a ridiculously high level for the level we’re playing at. It’s Championship and above in every aspect.

“If you’re a young player and you come here, you get better. If you’re an idiot and you don’t want to put it in and cut corners and you want to think there is a shortcut, you will get emptied out here because the group just won’t have you.

“My commitment to the Gasheads is that every person that pulls on that jersey will give everything they’ve got for the football club because we’re custodians, we don’t own the club. We will all disappear in a period of time and we want to set a legacy here that sets the benchmark for the blue half of Bristol.”

Neither Bristol club has reached the Premier League since it was formed in 1992 but while Rovers have never reached the top flight in their history, City’s most recent stint at that level came in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Quiz: Can you name which club Bristol Rovers signed these 25 English players from?

1 of 25

Joe Day

Cardiff Swansea

The Verdict

These comments from Barton are likely to get the Gasheads excited and draw a response from  Robins fans – either annoyance or ridicule.

Rovers have made a strong start to the season and carried over some of the momentum from their phenomenal finish to 2021/22 but these are lofty ambitions from their coach.

It’s been a long time since the Gas were even playing in the same division as City so to talk about beating them to Premier League promotion is a big claim.

Barton couldn’t resist taking aim at Lansdown on the back of his recent admissions about being open to new investment either, which won’t go down too well with the Ashton Gate faithful.