“The good thing for us is that we’re in the mix to attract that calibre of player. We’ve had a fantastic window, that would have been an almost perfect window for us,” Barton told BBC Radio Bristol.

“We’ve still go enormous quality in our building. As I say, from our perspective to be able to bring those types of players to our football club I think is a good indication of the progress we’re making as a collective in the last few years.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get it over the line by inches, seconds by the sound of things. I thought it was done but that is life and that is football.”

How much of a blow was it for Bristol Rovers to miss out on Jonson Clarke-Harris?

FLW’s Bristol Rovers fan pundit Steve Hutson was incredibly disappointed that the Gas could not complete a deal for Clarke-Harris.

“I was massively disappointed that the Jonson Clarke-Harris deal fell through,” Steve said.

“It just seems like all three parties were playing games really, they had plenty of time to get the deal done.

“Whether it was the fault of Bristol Rovers, whether it was the fault of Peterborough, or, as some reports have suggested, whether it’s to do with the agent of Jonson Clarke-Harris, it’s just a sorry situation that could have been avoided really.”

What next for Bristol Rovers?

There is no doubt it was a huge blow for the Gas to miss out on Clarke-Harris, but as Barton says, it is a positive for the club that they are in the race for a player of his quality.

It has been a mixed start to the season for Rovers and they currently sit 17th in the table, so a prolific scorer like Clarke-Harris could have made a huge difference to their campaign, but they do still have a number of attacking threats, including Scott Sinclair, John Marquis and Aaron Collins.

As Clarke-Harris is in the final year of his contract, Peterborough will be reluctant to lose him for free next summer and they will likely look to cash in on him again in January, so the Gas could decide to make another move.