Fleetwood boss Joey Barton says: Let's get moving because players need return to normality

Joey Barton believes football should “get moving” again for the sake of the players and their clubs.
Joey Barton is concerned many players face an uncertain financial futureJoey Barton is concerned many players face an uncertain financial future
Joey Barton is concerned many players face an uncertain financial future
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Barton adds his voice to calls for football to return

And Barton stressed his squad are keen to get going for footballing and financial reasons.

Speaking on Matchroom Boxing’s ‘Talk the Talk’ podcast, Barton said: “I’ve got a lot of lads in our care who want to play.

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“They don’t have a surplus amount of cash in the bank and a lot of them live week to week, month to month.

“You’ve got 1,400 players in the lower leagues out of contract (this summer).

“They’ve got no money in the bank. They’ve got kids to put through school, mortgages to pay and cars to pay for.

“If the Premier League boys don’t want to go back because they don’t feel safe and they have got the money to be able to do that, no problem.

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“I’m not forcing anyone but a lot of clubs need to get on with it. Some clubs will not survive.

“The working class that football is – we need to crack on if it’s safe to do so.

“We have to return to normality because if we don’t, then at some point the economy will fail and the football economy is already creaking now.

“We’ve got to get moving is my take. I’m happy to take that calculated risk based on everything I’ve been told about testing and about the distancing in place.

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“If we don’t get back moving what are we going to do? Just sit and stay in our house and watch people go out of business?”

Barton has previously expressed the view that the season must be decided on the field, with all remaining League One fixtures taking place before play-offs.

And the Town boss repeated that belief, also referring to Peterborough United’s threat of legal action if the final table is decided on points-per-game averages.

Barton added: “We’ve got Sunderland, Peterborough and Wycombe all scrapping for one play-off place. It looks like Wycombe are going to get it if they go points-per-game,”

Darragh MacAnthony (Peterborough chairman) is alluding he’s going to go bizarre. I’d go nuts as well. It’s out of order. We’ve got to finish the league.”