Fleetwood Town’s Wes Burns pays tribute to head coach Joey Barton ahead of Portsmouth clash

The Cod Army winger has been a key player throughout Barton’s tenure at Highbury and holds his boss in high regard.

The Town head coach carries a reputation and there can often be preconceived ideas of what he is like, but in Burns’ view, he isn’t like people might expect him to be.

“He has been inspirational throughout the whole time he’s been here,” said the 25-year-old.

“Everyone knows the stereotype of Joey Barton.

“The first thing that everyone asks me when we get talking about football outside is: ‘What’s the gaffer like? What’s Joey Barton like?’

“Everyone’s always surprised when you say he’s completely different to the way he was portrayed when he played.

“He’s a very inspirational guy. Even before the games and in the team talks, he really gets you going as well.

“It’s been driven into us now as a group of players, that training is so intense too.

“We train as we play, I know it’s a cliché but we literally do train as we play.

“It keeps those lads who are not getting the game time on their toes and it pushes the lads that are playing to keep their shirts.

“We’ve got a really good environment; it’s high intensity, but it is a good environment at the same time.”

Burns will be fit to play against Portsmouth at Highbury tomorrow despite picking up a facial injury against Peterborough United last weekend.

He had stitches in his eyebrow to seal a cut but expects to be good to go come the weekend.

With Storm Ellen making its way across the country this weekend, Burns is hoping it will play a part on Saturday.

With the Fylde coast always offering the chance of a breeze, Burns thinks it can sometimes make the difference at Highbury, with his side the quicker to adapt.

He said: “I don’t think any other team in the league really knows how bad Highbury is on a stormy day.

“It’s mental when the wind gets going up here.

“It kind of plays into our hands a little bit because we’re used to it.

“So when it’s slightly windy, we’re used to it being extremely windy so it’s fine for us.

“I think that played into our hands a little bit on Saturday. Peterborough, being a bit of a fancy football team, when it got a little bit blustery they didn’t quite know what to do.

“Whereas we knew exactly what to do when it gets like that.”