Joey Barton has continued his rant on women working in men’s football by claiming female staff had ‘sent naked pictures to players’ and had ‘full blown affairs’ at previous clubs he had worked at.
The former Man City player, currently out of work after leaving Bristol Rovers as manager last month, has come under fire this week for his controversial views that women ‘shouldn’t be talking with any authority’ in the men’s game – before doubling down on his opinion on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
The outspoken 41-year-old – known for stubbing out a cigar in the eye of young team-mate at a Christmas party – had hit out at the ‘woke agenda’ for the uptick in female professionals working in the men’s arena but insisted his thoughts were not to do with sexism.
However, since appearing on the TV show – where he was taken to task by female Sky Sports broadcaster Bianca Westwood – Barton, who was jailed in 2008 for affray, has continued to rant on social media, claiming ‘highly qualified men cannot get a job on TV because under qualified women fill these quotas’.
Now he has alleged that it is ‘dangerous’ to have women in certain departments of men’s teams and claimed there had been cases of naked photos being sent to players and affairs ‘costing people marriages’.
Joey Barton claimed female staff members sent naked pictures and had ‘full blown affairs’ at previous clubs he worked at amid his continued rant about women working in the men’s game
He alleged it was ‘dangerous’ to have women in male football departments
‘The amount of times in my professional life, I’ve seen women compromise themselves in the Men’s game is ridiculous,’ he wrote on X. ‘I’ve actually lost cost. Female staff sending naked pictures to players. To having full blown affairs and costing people marriages. You would have had to experience it to believe it.
‘It happens all the time. I think it is very dangerous to have women in certain roles in certain departments in Men’s football because ultimately, as my good friend PK would say, “They’re not made of wood lad!” It’s a recipe for disaster.’
He then called out Westwood and TNT host Laura Woods for not appearing on his upcoming podcast, where he aims to discuss the topic further.
‘@laura_woodsy and @beewestwood won’t come on the show. They’re not brave enough. Lots to say yesterday? You should have kept your heads down. Something to hide girls? Cat got your tongue today!’
Barton has come under fire for his controversial views on women working in the men’s game and doubled down on his thoughts while appearing on Piers Morgan’s show on Thursday
He also took a swipe at Laura Woods for refusing to discuss the topic on his upcoming podcast
JOEY BARTON
Clubs
Man City: 2002-2007
Newcastle United: 2007-2011
Queens Park Rangers: 2011-2015
Marseille (loan): 2012-2013
Burnley: 2015-2016
Rangers: 2016
Burnley (second spell): 2017
Managerial career
Fleetwood Town: 2018-2021
Bristol Rovers: 2021-2023
Controversies
In 2004 he started a mass brawl during a pre-season friendly between Man City and Doncaster after hacking down an opposition player.
Later that year he stubbed a lit cigar out in his Man City youth team-mate Jamie Tandy’s eye and was fined £60,000 by the club.
In 2007 he assaulted Man City team-mate Ousamane Dabo, who was left with head injuries and needing hospital treatment after a fight between the pair. Barton was given a 12-match ban and a £25,000 fine.
The following year he was jailed for six months in 2012 after admitting charges of assault and affray following a late-night attack on a teenager in Liverpool. He served 74 days.
Later in 2012 he was sent off against Man City for elbowing Carlos Tevez in the throat before squaring up to Vincent Kompany and Mario Balotelli.
In 2017 he was handed an 18-month ban from football after placing 1,260 bets over ten years.
Woods had scolded Barton for his words on Thursday – where he hit out at Man City after a female vlogger appeared in a video on their social media.
‘Usually avoid these conversations as I don’t like adding more oxygen. But throwing young vloggers to the wolves is wrong,’ she posted on X.
‘I started my career vlogging & I’ve always got on with Joey. He also sent me a lovely good luck message for TNT in June. Does that make him a eunuch too?’
He also took a swipe at BBC Football and Sky Sports presenter Alex Scott, saying she ‘isn’t qualified to talk with any authority about the men’s game in my opinion’.
When asked about Scott commentating on men’s games, Barton said: ‘She hasn’t played in it’.
He added: ‘One is 200 years old and one is about 40 years old… it’s the same rules but football is about a lot more than rules… The games are at two different speeds.
On Morgan’s show, Barton explained that he did not want to be seen promoting sexism, but that he was against ‘unqualified opinions’.
‘I don’t want to see sexism in football, but if we don’t debate (the role of women in football broadcasting) properly, this is just going to rise and rise, and ruin the experience of watching elite-level men’s football,’ Barton said when asked by Morgan if the language of his social media posts had been deliberately inflammatory.
‘Everywhere you turn now, there’s an unqualified opinion pontificating about the sport I love, and it’s ruining my experience – to fuel this woke agenda, and it’s going to increase sexism massively, because it has to be a true meritocracy. We have to have people who are qualified to do those roles.’
When prompted on why he didn’t feel women were qualified, Barton stressed that it was ‘absolutely not about’ women having not played at the top level of the men’s game.
Instead, he argued, he was against ‘tokenism’ before adding: ‘Obviously it helps to talk about the men’s game if you’ve played at a higher level, because it gives you a unique experience.’
Barton claimed Alex Scott ‘shouldn’t comment on men’s football’ amid his ongoing tirade
Sky Sports presenter Bianca Westwood later took Barton to task on his claim that women were unqualified to speak on the men’s game
‘There’s a lot of similarities between both sports, but the men’s game is played at a completely different speed, with a different skillset needed. For someone to stand there and say ‘I would have done this’, or ‘He’s made a mistake’ – who have no experience of that…
‘It’s not just one or two, it (football broadcasting has) been taken over.
‘I don’t want to come across as sexist, I’ve got a wonderful wife, wonderful daughter, grandmother.
‘We want it to be diverse and inclusive, but it’s got to be credible.’
After his one-to-one with Morgan, Barton was then joined by Sky Sports presenter Bianca Westwood, as well as female sports hosts Kait Borsay and Pearl Davis.
Westwood decided to take him to task on his view that women weren’t qualified.
‘Who is qualified to speak on football then? I’ve been watching football for 40 years, my first game at West Ham was before Joey was even born.
Barton has previously thrown his support behind the #HERGAMETOO initiative – which aims to fight against sexism in sport
‘I’ve been watching hours and hours of football,’ she said. ‘I worked behind the scenes at Sky for 10 years before I was even given a shot on camera, watching my male colleagues who maybe weren’t as good as I was, getting chances I was never given.
‘I don’t really understand what we need to know, how long we need to work behind the scenes before we are allowed on camera. To be a pundit, the laws are the same. Emma Hayes and Sarina Wiegman can both read the game, are you saying they can’t offer an insight?
‘Sounds like to me that Joey has a problem with particular pundits who haven’t done enough in the game, but how does he know? And how do we quantify that? There’s EFL players who are commentating, co-commentating on Champions League games. So what level – as far as Joey Barton is concerned – do you have to get before you can be an expert on the ‘men’s game’?’
It was Barton’s initial tweet that caused outrage, insisting he ‘couldn’t take a thing they say serious’ if it’s in the men’s arena.
‘Women shouldn’t be talking with any kind of authority in the men’s game. Come on. Let’s be serious.
Barton’s initial tweet had caused outraged and triggered huge debate and anger online
‘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 say serious in the men’s arena.’
Barton’s posts come after he had previously thrown his support behind the #HERGAMETOO initiative.
This is a campaign which aims to fight against sexism in sport, with Barton posing with a promotional card for the cause when he was Bristol Rovers manager.
Back in October, he also generated controversy after sharing his apparent backing for former Newcastle and England manager Kevin Keegan’s comments that he doesn’t enjoy female footballers talking about men’s football.
At a live event in Bristol, Keegan had said: ‘(I don’t like) listening 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.’
In response to that, Barton had posted on X: ‘Kevin Keegan. Ballon D’or winner 1978. England manager. He’s bang on.’
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