He said: “It is difficult for me to get away from the blatantly obvious facts. Those facts being, realistically, statistically, we are the worst team in the league. Finishing fourth in the Championship last season, scraping up via the play-offs says that.”

Although he does not mention Redknapp by name, it is clear to whom Barton is referring when he adds: “So the thing that you have got to do in between getting promoted and getting back to the Premier League is have an incredible pre-season and recruit really well.

“You would have to look at that and make a decision on that. Then the next recruitment window is key. Again, you have to look at that window and say, ‘have we given ourselves the maximum opportunity?’ Because everybody put a shift in against Everton and we have come up short.

“It is key in football. For all the effort, sometimes you come up short. The fact we are in with a puncher’s chance after, without wanting to name names, being privy to a lot of the things that go on at this club which people don’t really know about or only hear rumours on the grapevine about, is a minor miracle.

“It would have been great to win because that would have put us right back in the pack with other teams. It would have given us a viable route of one win and you are out of the bottom three. That’s not the case. But we have got that puncher’s chance.

“We have got to play the sides around us — West Brom, Aston Villa — and if you don’t get results against those teams, if you don’t start picking up results on the road… you can’t win one away game all season. The side in the table nearest to us has got seven points away from home and we have got three. If you add those four points on we are out of the bottom three or certainly pushing Sunderland quite close. You get what you put in in this League. This League doesn’t lie.