Signing a veteran free agent after a miserable campaign of perpetual decline that led to relegation into League Two doesn't exactly immediately set the pulses racing.
But the anticipated arrival of Paul Coutts to Bristol Rovers, and the subsequent reaction from Gasheads at the prospect of the 32-year-old donning the blue and white quarters says a lot about what was lacking in last season's squad.
Coutts is a player well-known to Barton and the EFL in general, with his time at Fleetwood Town the fifth club on his CV having played at Championship and League One level.
Available on the open market having not been retained in the north west, after spending the second half of last season on loan at Salford City, the Scot brings experience, leadership and dressing room presence.
Even though they finished rock bottom of League One - and deservedly so - it wasn't a Rovers squad devoid of talent. There were plenty of individual promise, it's just that as a collective they lacked guidance.
Coutts would be precisely the sort of player to bring a streetwise attitude to the squad and to "raise standards" as Barton said two years ago when he signed him for Fleetwood.
All being well, history will repeat itself at Rovers as Barton has frequently bemoaned a lack of professionalism and direction at both The Quarters in Almondsbury and on matchdays.
A senior professional like Coutts is the best remedy for that and, as Rovers fans have displayed on social media, his signing is very much something to get excited about.
Barton has openly stated he's hopeful of completing multiple signings in the coming weeks as he looks to make a mark at the Mem in shaping a squad more in his image.
Given the relatively low age of the Rovers squad, the likelihood is that more experience is likely to be introduced to help find that lost sense of balance within the first-team group.
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