'Bully Joey Barton hauled me out to do 50 keepy-ups and then told staff I'm s***': English football's youngest head of recruitment, 23, opens up on ex-Bristol Rovers manager - who fires back that he's 'full of lies'

English football's youngest head of recruitment has described Joey Barton as a 'bully' after a negative experience working with him at Bristol Rovers. 

The outspoken former midfielder was manager at the club from February 2021 until his sacking in October last year. 

Former Bristol Rovers analyst and current head of recruitment at Aldershot Town, Jamie Hedges, has opened up on his experience with Barton, in which he claims he was asked to do '50 keepy-ups' before being told he was 's***' in front of other staff members.

Barton has since responded on social media, insisting that the 23-year-old's interview with the Bristol Post is 'full of lies' and that he was a 'spy' in Tommy Widdrington's camp. Widdrington was Bristol Rovers' head of recruitment at the time and is now manager of National League side Aldershot. 

Hedges in his interview with the Bristol Post, said: 'It was after we lost to Wigan 2-1 in midweek, and then we came in on the Thursday. I was just on my laptop doing my work and minding my own business with the other support staff and Joey came in and I could just tell he was angry. He just looked at me straight away and I think that just set him off.

'He just picked up a football in the room, pointed at me in front of all the staff and said, 'oi you, come outside now and give me 50 keepy-ups or I don't want to ever see you again.' I sort of laughed it off to begin with but he said he was serious.

'I went outside and obviously I'm young at this point and was taken aback by it. Obviously I didn't do 50 keepy-ups.' He added: 'My role has nothing to do with being able to play football. I'm watching, not playing.

'I've walked back into the office and he's just said to all the staff, 'this is the s*** that I've got at this club who will never have a career in the game.' He just basically said that he never wanted to see me again. That was that, and to be honest, that was probably the first time I had actually spoken to him.

'I'm not going to lie, it really hurt. I'm working for my club and I've never worked harder. Things didn't go right but that's football. I said to Tommy and my family at the time, if he had ever just pulled me for a chat and said, 'look, we want to go in a different direction and I've got other people that I want to bring in' I would have just said fair enough, that's football. The way that he went about it is just wrong.

'He's just a bully. I think he waited for the person that would have stood up for me to not be around anymore. The very first day Tommy wasn't around, he decided to pile into me.'

Hedges is a lifelong Bristol Rovers fan, holding a season ticket since he was the age of four. 

He soon followed Widdrington - a former Southampton player - to King's Lynn town where he was made head of recruitment.  

Hedges then followed Widdington to Aldershot Town and is the youngest person to hold the role in the country.

Barton, on Monday, responded to the article, in which he claimed to have eight witnesses to the 'keepy ups incident' and hit out at both Hedges and Widdrington.

He tweeted: 'This article is fabricated by Jamie. It's full of lies. He's a fantasist who was @TommyWidd's spy in our camp. Proven by TW taking with him to last two jobs.'

Barton added: 'Ask TW why @waelaqadi (Bristol Rovers' president) sacked him. 

'I have 8 witness to the said 'Keepy ups' incident. All willing to give statements to the contrary. Jamie was removed because like most at the club at the time, they were poor at their jobs. Actually incompetent. 

'If the Bristol Post don't take down the article within the next 24hrs and apologise for the lies printed within it, I will be forced to get my legal team involved. Ball is in your court.'

The Bristol Post meanwhile have reported that Barton issued the publication a statement where he said: 'I inherited an amateur environment at Bristol Rovers created by Tommy Widdrington, where the terrible player recruitment had seen us relegated comfortably and he was the chief scout. He had far too much influence for someone with such a poor track record and as per my brief to fix things I removed him for that reason.

'We were promoted the following season at the first time of asking, winning 7-0 on the last day of the season against Scunthorpe to give the Gasheads a day to remember forever. For the record, he [Hedges] did two keepy-ups.'

The publication also reported that Bristol Rovers in a statement said that a complaint was not made at the time, but that all complaints are taken seriously and investigated fully. 

Barton was recently branded a 'bully' for firing criticism at 17-year-old Partick Thistle goalkeeper Ava Easdon.

The former Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers manager mocked the teenager on X, formerly known as Twitter, when sharing a clip of a goal the youngster let in against Rangers.

Barton reposted the video and wrote: 'I mean let's just talk about the goalie! How is this nonsense on the box?'

Easdon's father, seven-time world kickboxing champion Lex Easdon, accused Barton of trying to 'belittle and bully' his daughter.

To the accusation of bullying, Barton responded on social media by saying: 'Yep, there's me 'Bullying' a 17-year-old women by posting a clip of her playing football.

'The victim playing of these people is beyond pathetic. You're on the tele luv. You don't know where you goal is. You basically allow a free shot to go in. You and ya dad now in papers complaining. Playing the victim because you had a stinker. Maybe leave the proper stuff to the fella's and put a bit of work in to locate the net you're guardian. Nonsense Football off the tele.'