Gawn yersel Joey.....
JOEY BARTON has delivered an astonishing attack on his former Rangers team-mates as he insisted the same players are making the same mistakes at Ibrox.
The controversial midfielder joined Rangers in 2016 after departing Premier League club Burnley and immediately branded himself the best player in Scotland.
Unreserved manager Barton sticks by his assessment and reckons he would have delivered on his claims if he had the time to prove himself in Glasgow.
However, his time in Scotland was cut short with his contract terminated in November after a fall-out with the club.
Now, six years on, Barton has insisted Rangers would have won the league far sooner than their 2020/21 triumph has they "f****** listened" to him.
Making the bold claim, Barton said: "I think all of us comfortably accept there is a monopoly on who can win trophies, and at that time Celtic were so far ahead. I went there to close the gap.
"I knew they were ahead because Rangers were in the Scottish Champ, but I genuinely believe if they f****** listened to me they would have won the league a lot quicker."
And Barton wasn't finished in his criticism as he went on to slam the Rangers squad over continued mistakes he claims were happening as far back as his time at the club.
Adding a word of warning that it could cost Giovanni van Bronckhorst his job, Barton in particular took aim at the Ibrox rearguard venting: "certain people, who are meant to be defenders, can't defend".
As quoted in the Scottish Sun, he continued: "It ended up being Stevie G and my cousin Tom (Culshaw) who ended up delivering 55 three years later.
"I’m still watching the same players I was criticising when I was in the building make the same mistakes, which is probably going to get the manager now, Gio van Bronckhorst the heave-ho relatively soon.
"Certain people, who are meant to be defenders, can’t defend, and nobody’s done any work on them since."
Barton will come up against former Glasgow rival Scott Brown this weekend - albeit in the dugout.
The ex-QPR man will lead his Bristol Rovers side into a fierce encounter with Fleetwood Town, led by Brown - with Bobby Madden the man in the middle.
However, when quizzed on his confrontation with Scott Brown during a derby between Rangers and Celtic, Barton played down the battle.
But he went on to again take aim at his former team-mates insisting he was "comfortably" the best defender when dropped into the backline alongside Lee Wallace and James Tavernier.
Concluding his stunning Rangers rant, he said: "The actual game, when you watch it back. There was nothing between me and Scott, the actual encounter.
"The game actually developed everywhere else and in the last 20 minutes when (Philippe) Senderos gets sent off, I end up playing middle centre-back with James Tavernier right side and Lee Wallace left side, and I was comfortably the best defender between the three of us."