Joey Barton backs Kevin Keegan's stance against female footballers discussing men's football | Controversy explained
Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton has supported Kevin Keegan’s assessment that he doesn’t enjoy female footballers talking about men’s football.
Talking to an audience at a Bristol event recently, the former manager of Newcastle, Fulham, and England national team said that he doesn’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 backs Keegan
Barton tweeted a few lines of support, seemingly in agreement with Keegan’s sentiment that former Lionesses shouldn’t be joining in the assessment of men’s action.
What did Kevin Keegan say?
Praising Gabby Logan as the top example, Keegan said that he was a fan of women’s football in general and backed the presenters themselves as being of the highest caliber.
But at the same time, he also said, «But if I see an England lady footballer saying about England against Scotland at Wembley and she’s saying, ‘If I would have been in that position I would have done this,’ I don’t think it’s quite the same. I don’t think it crosses over that much.»
Barton's earlier controversies
Barton has made headlines many times for his on-field as well as off-field behaviors. Many years ago the Fleetwood manager, said that women’s football was essentially a “different sport” and should be tailored accordingly with smaller balls and goals, to avoid it remaining “an inferior product”.
He told the FA last year to “stop rewarding failure” and sack Gareth Southgate from the England national team job. Before that in 2021- 2022, he was cleared of assault against both another football league manager. In a separate case, he was cleared of the assault case against his wife.
In yet
