Joey Barton hammers Rangers critics and wants Hearts manager chance to 'ram it down the Old Firm’s throats'

Joey Barton says he wants to manage either of the Edinburgh clubs or Aberdeen to prove a point after his calamitous Rangers spell.

The former midfielder is currently boss at Bristol Rovers and has also had experience at Fleetwood Town since retiring. He played at English Premier League level during his playing days but a short-lived spell at Ibrox is something he describes as the only blot on his CV.

And Barton tells The Sun that a crack at managing one of the nation's biggest clubs outside Glasgow would help him show Scottish football he is more than a failed Rangers signing, as he took shots at former boss Mark Warburton. He said: “Every time I read a Scottish paper it’s a case of ‘Flop Barton’. It’s the only blot on my copybook as a player. Maybe there’s only one thing for it and that means I’ll have to go back to Scotland and take charge of Hibs, Aberdeen or Hearts — and ram it down the Old Firm’s throats.”

"You know what you’ve done and I don’t need anyone to tell me that I was a brilliant player. “My time at Ibrox is the only black mark I’ve got in my copybook as a player.

"I can’t count myself successful as a Rangers player because I fell out with the manager there and wasn’t allowed enough time to prove myself. But look at what’s happened to Mark Warburton since we went our separate ways.

"It’s been a case of sacked, sacked, sacked. Now he’s a first-team coach at West Ham and look what’s happened to David Moyes since he arrived.

“But if the powers-that-be had got rid of Warburton and stuck by me, they would have won their 55th title a lot sooner than they did under Steven Gerrard. But Rangers made a bed for themselves with Warburton and they had to lie in it."