Fleetwood Town boss and Everton fan Joey Barton happy with Goodison Park cup tie

Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton is pleased the ‘nonsense’ is over, now that his side know they will be travelling to Goodison Park in the Leasing.Com Trophy.
Everton fan and Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton is looking forward to managing his side at Goodison Park.Everton fan and Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton is looking forward to managing his side at Goodison Park.
Everton fan and Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton is looking forward to managing his side at Goodison Park.

There had been a bit of confusion on organising the fixture but the Cod Army will be facing Everton U21s, who came through a tough group, at Goodison Park.

The game will take place next Tuesday, November 26 at 7:45pm.

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But the Fleetwood boss, who is an Everton fan, is looking forward to the contest and for the chance to manage a side at Goodison.

He said: “I’m looking forward to it.

"It’s been moved to Tuesday now, there was a bit of nonsense about when it was being arranged but finally we have it in the diary now.

"It comes as a part of a congested period of fixtures.

"We’re delighted, we just want to bounce game to game now.

"We’re really enjoying it. It’s a good challenge for us, a midweek game, going back to Goodison.

"It’ll be nice. It’ll be the first time I’ve ever done that as a manager, albeit against an U21s side.

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"It would be nice to go there in the league on a consistent basis.”

The Toffees youth side finished on six points and top of Northern Group E, winning one, drawing two and winning one of the resulting shoot outs for their draws.

They also finished above three league sides, with Mansfield Town, Crewe Alexandra and Burton Albion all finishing behind Everton, in that order.

Barton won’t be taking the tie lightly and is fully aware of what is at stake.

“It’s a challenge we’ve got to overcome," he said.

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"I think some of my comments when I was working on the radio will no doubt add a little bit of fuel to the occasion.

"I’m sure it’ll be nothing that we’ve not dealt with before and be something we’ll look forward to dealing with again.

"We’ll pay them the ultimate respect by picking the strongest side we can, we want to go to Wembley and I’m sure they do.

"We expect a really good cup tie. Hopefully we’ll get a good crowd there.”