Joey Barton said “Glenn Murray and Troy Deeney are in a relegation scrap. If they don’t want to play, I understand it. Don’t play then. Stay at home. There will be a lot of young players at Brighton/Watford, desperate for an opportunity and who will fight to save their respective clubs. In my opinion, the only players/clubs who don’t want to go back, are the ones with either a relegation battle they want to avoid or nothing to play for. Every competitor wants to compete. Players have trained admirably through these crazy times, they deserve at least a shot. If Troy doesn’t want to play or doesn’t feel safe enough to, then that’s his choice. Let’s not kid ourselves about what is going on. Big money to be had in the premier league, who wouldn’t want another year of that towards the end of your career? Got to admire the opportunism. Massive bonuses for staying in the premierleague pro rata. Squad on huge bonus for survival. Hundreds of thousands of pounds per man. No wonder they want it null and voided. You can’t blame them.”
