Laura Woods hits back at Joey Barton with 'eunuch' putdown after sexist social media rant

Laura Woods has hit back at Joey Barton in the wake of his sexist rant on social media.

Former Manchester City and England midfielder Barton is facing a major backlash after airing his controversial views on female commentators and pundits.

In a bizarre rant which started on Wednesday night and continued into the following day, Barton claimed that too many women are working on television coverage of the men's football.

"Women shouldn't be talking with any kind of authority in the men's game," Barton posted on X.

"Come on. Let's be serious. 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."

He then compared women commentating on men's football to him talking about "knitting or netball".

"Girls to spectate and watch the far superior men players, play the game properly. I have no problem with that. None at all. We should really encourage it," added Barton.

"They also have a fantastic sport called, Women's football they can and should support as well. But the influencer nonsense. The takeover of comms, Co-comms and punditry stuff, it’s got to end mate. It’s becoming a joke."

Barton also responded to several men taking issue with his comments by calling them "eunuchs".

Barton later posted a clip of a female vlogger working for City's social media channels, commenting: "I mean look at the nonsense. You give them a f****** inch… Was going to use the hashtag #Getthemout but no doubt it will be taken out of context.

Woods has hit back at Barton (Image: Getty)

"Out the stadiums and off the concourses with the influencer f****** nonsense. Men surely, enough’s enough? Someone got to say something or it won't ever end."

Several female sports pundits and presenters have since hit back at Barton, including TNT Sports' Laura Woods.

"Usually avoid these conversations as I don't like adding more oxygen," she posted on X.

"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?"

Topics: Joey Barton, Laura Woods, Football

Rory O'Callaghan

Rory O'Callaghan is Editorial Lead at SPORTbible. He has previously worked for Sky Sports News, MailOnline and Reach covering football, cricket, boxing and MMA. Tested daily as a Liverpool fan in a Manchester office.

@rory_ocallaghan