Joey Barton suggests women football pundits hired to ‘tick boxes’

Joey Barton appears to suggest women football pundits are hired to “tick boxes” when he defended his controversial criticism of female broadcasters in men’s football.

The former Manchester City player appeared on Piers Morgan’s talk show on Thursday evening (7 December) after sharing a series of posts on social media on Wednesday, saying “Women shouldn’t be talking with any kind of authority in the men’s game”.

Barton called out what he believes is a “woke agenda” fueling the decision to hire women as pundits and commentators. He also argued that he wasn’t sexist.