Mark Warburton has commented on the situation surrounding Joey Barton.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton
Rangers manager Mark Warburton has told the Daily Record that Joey Barton’s banishing didn’t affect his side’s preparations to take on Ross County.
The Gers were looking to bounce back from last weekend’s 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Old Firm rivals Celtic, but were left frustrated after a 0-0 draw with Ross County.
Rangers’ Joey Barton looks dejected
Despite having 58% of possession and 16 shots on goal, Rangers couldn’t find the break through against Ross County, and have already dropped nine points from their first six games of the season.
There is some pressure now mounting on manager Warburton after the last week’s results, and matters with summer signing Joey Barton didn’t help.
Barton, 34, has been banished from Rangers until Monday following a training ground bust-up with midfielder Andy Halliday, as reported by The Scottish Sun on Thursday evening.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton with’ Joey Barton at the end of the game
The former Newcastle United and Manchester City midfielder has since spoken to talkSPORT about the situation, claiming he has little to be sorry for, as he only wants Rangers to win having lost to Celtic last weekend.
With Barton’s future hanging in the balance, his situation dominated pre-match conversations ahead of the game, whilst the Ibrox crowd were vocally behind midfielder Halliday before today’s clash with Ross County.
Joey Barton applauds fans as he is substituted
After the final whistle, Warburton spoke to the Daily Record about the situation, claiming it didn’t impact his preparations for the game, but wouldn’t comment further as it’s an ‘internal matter’ that Rangers are dealing with.
“I’m not going to talk about Joey Barton,” said Warburton. “It’s an internal matter that is being dealt with by Rangers Football Club. We won’t make any comment on any internal matter.”
“Not at all,” he added when asked whether the situation has affected his preparations. “It’s just another matter that you deal with, it’s part of the challenge of day-to-day working life. It didn’t affect our preparations. We did very well, we trained well and we gave a good performance but didn’t get the rewards that I felt we deserved today,” he added.
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