Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has blasted Championship rivals Charlton Athletic's sacking of Chris Powell and appointment of Jose Riga.
Powell was sacked by the Championship club on Tuesday morning, despite owner Roland Duchatelet having assured the former defender of his position at the club.
Duchatelet, who also owns Belgian side Standard Liege, recently discussed an extension for Powell, however, a disagreement on transfers and philosophy saw the decision to relieve the 44-year-old of his duties and AC Milan youth technical director Riga is set to be appointed as his successor.
Riga arrived at Charlton's training ground this morning and the opinionated Barton waded in on developments through Twitter voicing his discontent at the latest foreign appointment.
He wrote on his account: “AC Milan youth technical director? Do me a ****ing favour. How is this helping OUR game.
“We lose a young British coach who has done a great job at Charlton in Chris Powell. And replace him with some no mark from abroad. Stupidity like this is why we struggle on INT stage.
“Feel sorry for Chris Powell. Loyal player for the club, did a great job getting them up and this is how he is treated. Shambles.
“Wish him every success going forward. It will end in tears for Charlton.”
Barton continued to speculate that he feels that coaches from abroad are not brought in solely on their credentials.
He added: “I'm all for the best coming here to work. But not just any old s***e. At one stage we attracted the best players/coaches. Now it just cheap labour. Its not based on skill. Its based on the fact the lesser foreign coaches will work for less and do as they are told.”
