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Comments made by Joey Barton back in 2017 have resurfaced in the midst of the former Manchester City and Newcastle player’s sexist rants against female players and analysts appearing on the coverage for men’s games.
Barton has taken to social media in recent days to voice his opinion that women should not ‘be talking about the men’s game’ and criticised any men that listen to what female pundits have to say.
The ex-midfielder shared a number of sexist posts on social media in a shocking tirade against the involvement of women in the men’s game, including slamming his old side Man City for hiring a female presenter.
Following this, comments he made praising Chelsea boss Emma Hayes back in 2017 have arisen, contradicting the very argument that he has seemingly made on social media in the last few days.
Joey Barton’s comments from 2017 have arisen amid his extraordinary rants on social media against women in men’s football
Emma Hayes responded to his initial rants with a four-minute monologue in which she discussed male privilege in football
‘Emma Hayes on talkSPORT every time I hear her speak, she impresses,’ he wrote on X, then known as Twitter, back in 2017.
‘Would love to see her cross over into the men’s game. I’m sure she’d be a success.’
Barton had previously posted on social media: ‘Any man who listens to Women commentary or co-comms needs their heads testing…’
After Barton’s comments resurfaced on social media, a number of X users were quick to point to the irony of his current stance having endorsed the input of one of English football’s most successful managers of all time in Hayes.
One user wrote: ‘The irony of this tweet,’ followed by a laughing emoji.
A second added: ‘This aged well.’
And a third posted: ‘Evergreen tweet, this.’
It comes after Hayes gave her own response to Barton’s rant on social media, having fielded questions on the former player’s opinions.
Joey Barton made an appearance on Piers Morgan: Uncensored on Thursday evening
Barton argued that he wasn’t ‘sexist’ but that he believed in a ‘meritocracy’ instead – which he believes isn’t being carried out
Hayes offered a four-minute monologue on the topic hitting out at Barton, although she refused to mention his named.
Barton has previously thrown his support behind the #HERGAMETOO initiative – which aims to fight against sexism in sport
‘The realities are that male privilege has been something that’s always been at the centre of football in this country,’ Hayes said in a press conference.
‘Women were banned playing football up until the 1970s. I don’t expect any individual personality to understand their privilege, nonetheless you only have to see scores of women across the internet or in the business, whether you’re a presenter, a coach or a player to realise that we’re routinely used to dealing with systemic misogyny, bullying, and behaviour that has been pretty normal for a large part of the football public.
‘The realities of it is that I find the debate interesting and we should have that debate without being personal about it and I’m not referring to any individuals.
‘But I feel that sport is the last place in society where that male privilege exists and so naturally if I go all Darwinism on us and speak evolution theory, the realities of it are that, when there is an existential threat, you either evolve or you die. It’s one or the other.’
Hayes also noted that football is not entirely representative of society when it comes to gender representation, especially with regards to punditry, playing and coaching.
She added: ‘If you haven’t experienced systemic misogyny like lots of us have, you can’t for one moment understand how detrimental some of these conversations are, knowing that anything anyone says just enables an absolute pile on, particularly on social media which, let me be clear, doesn’t take a lot for people to pile on women. It’s pretty normal for a lot of people that support football.
‘So it’s sad, a little bit, not that we are having this conversation, we should have the conversation about the broader issue of it.
Hayes is one of the most successful English managers in history, having won six WSL titles and five Women’s FA Cups, as well as two League Cups and a Community Shield with Chelsea
The former Premier League footballer sparked fresh controversy after hitting out at women being given jobs in men’s football
A number of posts referenced the ‘nonsense’ of women being handed roles in the men’s game
‘But I want to accentuate the positive, I want to accentuate the positive contributions that many of us, myself included, have made to the game of football and that unlike other professions.
‘I have to say this cause I’m always fascinated with it, rarely do we go into a hospital and if we have a female physician who is carrying out a surgical procedure on someone’s kidney, often we won’t turn around and say to that surgeon, “I hope she was a good patient once cause being a good patient means that you’re going to be a good doctor.” Well we know that’s not true.
‘Talent and experience might help and a good skill set. It’s the same about being a great banker. Does that mean you had to be a frugal spender to be a good banker?
‘Much in the same way, do you have to be a well-travelled passenger to be a good pilot? I think we become so unaware of our confirmation biases, but two, when there’s an existential threat, the things we do to make ourselves relevant create a lot of noise around a very, very, very interesting topic but perhaps we could do it better in another way.’
Football fans on X were quick to point to the irony of Barton’s previous comments from 2017
In his initial tweet this week before embarking on further rants – including doubling down on his words on Piers Morgan’s show, Barton caused outrage by claiming women ‘shouldn’t be talking with any kind of authority in the men’s game’.
‘It’s a completely different game. If you don’t accept that. We will always see things differently,’ he said.
‘The women’s game is thriving. Fantastic to see. I cannot take a thing they say serious in the men’s arena #namaste.’
He followed that up by writing just seven minutes later: ‘Any man who listens to Women commentary or co-comms needs their heads testing… #sticktoyourowngame.’
