Piers Morgan has come out to add fuel to the current debate of female soccer pundits and presenters. The controversial speaker used his experience to address the issue by using the example of the renowned TNT Sports presenter, Laura Woods.
Morgan took it to ‘X’ to share his opinion on the current debate. He wrote: “Been a lot of debate in the past week about female football presenters & pundits in the men’s game. All I’d say is that after watching Laura Woods tonight, I’d say she’s better than most of the men.”
Been a lot of debate in the past week about female football presenters & pundits in the men’s game.
All I’d say is that after watching @laura_woodsy tonight, I’d say she’s better than most of the men. pic.twitter.com/0lCL7660Ix— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 12, 2023
The controversial British speaker was impressed by Woods’ presentation on TNT for match day six of the UEFA Champions League group stage. Being a television personality himself, Morgan‘s opinion carries weight in this discussion.
The debate around females in soccer punditry started when former QPR player, Joey Barton, tweeted on December 7. As per his remarks, Women shouldn’t comment on men’s soccer as it is a completely different game. These initial remarks faced backlash from fans and media for being s*xist with Alex Scott, a former player, and renowned soccer pundit responding to the remarks on live television.
Absolutely this – total class @AlexScott 🙌🏽👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/P8sIkwu27E
— Chris Chohan (@ChrisChohan) December 10, 2023
Barton followed it up by offering a match against the winner of the FA National Sunday Cup (a men’s tournament) and either the winner of the Women’s Super League or the Women’s National team of England. The former midfielder claimed that he would take back all his remarks if the women’s team could win this proposed ‘friendship cup’.
This new debate has been criticized for being a weak attempt by Barton to create controversy around his name. The midfielder has been out of a job since getting fired from Bristol Rovers in October, and is allegedly using this debate to thrust himself into the mainstream news cycle.
Laura Woods snapped back at Joey Barton with a “eunuch” response
Laura Woods was among the people who clapbacked at Joey Barton for his recent online remarks. The TNT presenter tried to stay away from this debate altogether. However, she lost her temper when Barton tried to put down a young vlogger.
Barton criticized Manchester City by sharing a video of their Instagram story where a female ‘influencer’ was giving a preview of a UCL fixture. The former midfielder claimed that this type of presentation should be weeded out from the game.
I mean look at the nonsense.
You give them a fucking inch…
Was going to use the hashtag #Getthemout but no doubt it will be taken out of context…
Out the stadiums and off the concourse’s with the influencer fucking nonsense.
Men surely, enough’s enough?
Someone got to say… pic.twitter.com/ROGBdaZ9CE
— 👑 Joey Barton 👑 (@Joey7Barton) December 7, 2023
Woods saw the tweet and responded: “Usually avoid these conversations as I don’t like adding more oxygen. But throwing young vloggers to the wolves is wrong. 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”?
The eunuch reference came from the fact Barton responded to many fans, who pushed back against his initial remarks, by calling them “eunuchs.” Woods flipped Barton’s response to her argument and presented her side of the argument.