Joey Barton's wish after key decisions go against Fleetwood Town

The Town head coach felt aggrieved after decisions went against his side in both the past week’s derby clashes with Blackpool.

Asked if he was in favour of full-time officials at Town’s level, Barton answered: “Why not? I think there would be an appetite for that among the referees.

“You have a full-time league and some big outcomes are decided by someone who works Monday to Friday and might have had a bad week in work.

“I have a lot of experience playing football for as long as I can remember and you have referees who aren’t full-time football people.

“I know it’s not an easy job and we don’t have VAR down here, but there is an us and them between the referees and the managers and players.

“We need to improve the game so referees become invisible. We need to do away with the curse of the celebrity referee.”

Not that Barton believes VAR is the answer, adding: “I’m frustrated with VAR. I think it’s taking away the art of refereeing.

“It should be there, as in rugby, to help the ref if he wants to use it. We’ve got some good refs in this country but we have to allow them to referee, to work with the players and to build a rapport with the players.

“That’s how we’ll get a better product, with more flow and better decisions. And you’ll get fewer managers screaming and shouting at refs... though that won’t always go away!”

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