An English soccer manager is facing widespread condemnation after comparing his team playing badly to the Holocaust

• Joey Barton, manager of British soccer team Bristol Rovers, compared his team playing badly to the Holocaust.
• Barton said many of his players sometimes "have a Holocaust" – meaning a poor game.
• Barton has avoided any official rebuke for the comment, but has been slammed by Jewish groups.

An English soccer coach has attracted widespread condemnation after comparing his team playing badly to the Holocaust, but has escaped formal punishment.

Speaking after his team's 3-1 defeat to Newport County in League Two – the fourth tier of English soccer – Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton used the term "Holocaust" to describe individual players playing poorly.

"I said to the lads during the week, 'the team's almost like musical chairs'," he said in a post-match interview, as reported by the BBC.

"Someone gets in and does well but then gets suspended or injured.

"Someone gets in for a game, does well but then has a Holocaust, a nightmare, an absolute disaster."

The Holocaust refers to the murder of six million Jewish people during the Second World War. It is widely considered one of the worst genocides in human history.

The Telegraph reports that despite the comments, Barton will avoid a fine or a ban from the FA as they do not break the governing body's rules.

Regardless, Barton has come under fire for his comments from the Jewish community and the community in the city of Bristol.

Fabian Breckels, a Bristol councilor and associate member of the Jewish Labour Movement, called Barton's comments "appalling."

Breckels also told the BBC that Bristol Rovers "ought to provide a considered response fairly soon."

The Rovers manager was also urged to "learn about these tragic events."

Elsewhere, a local newspaper ran a scathing column accusing Barton of "ignorance," and calling his comments "dangerous."

"The Holocaust was not a game," Dame Helen Hyde, a trustee of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, told the BBC.

"I don't think Mr. Barton knows what the word means and he is certainly not aware of the huge sadness and offense he has caused.

"Might I suggest he is encouraged to learn about these tragic events."