Joey Barton repeated his view that women shouldn't commentate on men's football during an interview with Piers Morgan on Thursday evening.
Former Premier League midfielder and Bristol Rovers manager Barton, 41, shared his thoughts on Piers Morgan Uncensored after writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "women shouldn't be talking with any kind of authority in the men's game."
His post on Wednesday evening precipitated a social media frenzy, attracting 8.8 million views and more than 7,000 likes at the time of writing.
He continued posting about the subject — and engaging in furious debate about it — throughout Thursday.
As reported by the Daily Mirror, Barton compared women commentating on men's football to him analysing "knitting or netball". He also labelled those who support women's punditry "eunuchs" — males who've been castrated.
Women shouldn’t be talking with any kind of authority in the men’s game. Come on. Let’s be serious.
— Joey Barton (@Joey7Barton) December 6, 2023
It’s a completely different game.
If you don’t accept that. We will always see things differently.
The women’s game is thriving. Fantastic to see.
I cannot take a thing they…
Barton, who was sacked as Bristol Rovers manager in October, later told Morgan on his TalkTV show: "You have to be there on merit. You can't be there to fit this woke agenda.
"The men's game is just played at a completely different speed with a completely different skillset needed. And for someone to stand there and say I would've done this in this situation, or he's made a mistake there, who have no experience of that … it ruins the experience for most men."
Barton continued to deny misogyny claims when asked whether famous female football pundits such as Alex Scott were qualified to comment on men's games.
"When you say what you are thinking, it can lead to a reaction," the former Manchester City, Newcastle, Rangers and Burnley midfielder said. "I've seen in my game where — I do feel I have enough credibility to say I’m a bona fide expert — I’ve seen tokenism creeping in, and it’s ruining my experience and the journalistic standards. It’s nothing to do with sexism at all.”
Former Sky Sports commentator and presenter Bianca Westwood, YouTuber Pearl Davis, and host of 'The Offside Rule' podcast, Kait Borsay also appeared on Morgan's show. During an open debate, Borsay questioned why people did not demand the same footballing experience from presenters such as Jake Humphrey, given they have never played professional football.
This is not the first time that Barton has criticised female football pundits.
In October, he backed former England manager Kevin Keegan's remarks about how "I don’t like to listen to ladies talking about the England men’s team at the match because I don’t think it’s the same experience. I have a problem with that.”
Barton said on X: "Kevin Keegan. Ballon d’Or winner 1978. England manager. He’s bang on."
