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Joey Barton has told Queens Park Rangers’ angry fans that their protests are making the club’s battle to avoid the drop even harder.
Barton had to act as a peacemaker on Saturday, as Richard Dunne and Clint Hill clashed with supporters following the 2-1 defeat at Burnley.
The row capped a miserable afternoon for QPR, who set a Premier League record of starting the season with 10 straight away defeats as they dropped into the bottom three.
Barton accepts that fans have a right to be frustrated but believes rounding on the players is helping QPR’s rivals.
He said: “I can understand. Fans work all week and they get frustrated. They will vent their frustration because they care.
“But at the end of the game, there is no one more disappointed than the players. Is it the best time to voice it [their frustration]? No. Do the club need it? No.
“The only way we’ll get out of this situation is to be united. If you’re a Burnley or Leicester fan looking at it, you’re thinking, ‘There is a bit of division in the camp, that’s what we want and can we capitalise on that?’ We have lost 10 on the road and if I’m a football fan, I wouldn’t be happy. But would I go about it that way? I don’t know.”
While Rangers, on 19 points, have slipped back into the drop zone, they are still just eight points behind 10th-placed Newcastle.
Barton is confident it will take fewer than 37 points to survive.
He added: “We all know there is a benchmark of points to get to of around 37, 38, 39 that gets you safe but it will be a lot lower because everyone is beating everyone. It’s so tight. Nine points separate 10 teams and it will go right to the wire.
“To finish 17th will be a great season, as for any side new to the Premier League. What people forget is we scraped up. We never went up by pulling up any trees.
“We had a big squad, a big wage bill and anyone who watched the play-off final [1-0 against Derby] knows we did it the hard way. We finished at least 10 points behind Burnley and Leicester, so the reality of it is we are the worst team in the Premier League.”
