Joey Barton insists he'll need to return to Scotland one day in order to shut up his strong critics from either half of the Glasgow divide. 

The Bristol Rovers manager is fed up reading stories about him being branding a Gers flop.

And so the former Manchester City, Burnley, and QPR midfielder is adamant he will need to take over at Hearts, Hibs or Aberdeen to "ram it down the Old Firm's throats".

The 40-year-old left Ibrox under a cloud in 2016 having fallen out with then-manager Mark Warburton.

He had his contract terminated just five months into a two-year contract after a training ground bust-up with Andy Halliday.

While he's remembered in these parts for being a failure from his short stint in Glasgow, Barton is determined to prove everybody wrong with a return to the Premiership.

He told the Sun: “Every time I read a Scottish paper it’s a case of ‘Flop Barton’. It’s the only blot on my copybook as a player.

"Maybe there’s only one thing for it and that means I’ll have to go back to Scotland and take charge of Hibs, Aberdeen, or Hearts — and ram it down the Old Firm’s throats.”

READ MORE: Rangers urged to target former player by ex-Ibrox director of football

He also insists the club would have won their 55th title long before Steven Gerrard arrived if he had been backed over Warburton at the time.

“You know what you’ve done and I don’t need anyone to tell me that I was a brilliant player," he added. “I know better than anyone else what I contributed when I pulled the shirt on and that’s all that matters to me.

"If the papers or the propaganda that clubs put out is favourable to you, then you see there is a good rapport when you go back. The only exception is with Rangers.

“My time at Ibrox is the only black mark I’ve got in my copybook as a player. I can’t count myself successful as a Rangers player because I fell out with the manager there and wasn’t allowed enough time to prove myself.

“But look at what’s happened to Mark Warburton since we went our separate ways. It’s been a case of sacked, sacked, sacked. Now he’s a first-team coach at West Ham and look what’s happened to David Moyes since he arrived.

“But if the powers-that-be had got rid of Warburton and stuck by me, they would have won their 55th title a lot sooner than they did under Steven Gerrard. But Rangers made a bed for themselves with Warburton and they had to lie in it.”