Gary Neville wades into Joey Barton's female pundit 'serial killer' rant

Gary Neville has given his two cents after ITV's strongly-worded response to Joey Barton's comparison of two women football pundits to serial killers.

Barton said Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, who both covered a game on ITV on Thursday, were "the Fred and Rose West of football commentary".

The Wests are among the most notorious serial killers of the 20th Century, murdering 12 women and young girls over 20 years.

When a clip of pre-match analysis from Aluko was posted on X/Twitter, Barton wrote: "How is she even talking about men's football.

"She can't even kick a ball properly. Your coverage of the game EFC last night, took it to a new low. Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, the Fred and Rose West of football commentary."

ITV then responded: "For Joey Barton, an ex-professional player with a significant social media presence, to target two of our pundits, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, with such vindictive remarks based on gender and to invoke the names of serial killers in doing so is clearly contemptible and shameful on his part. Football is for everyone."

Neville tweeted in support: "Well done ITV. It’s gone too far this and mentioning serial killers is quite simply incredible.

"My daughters have watched Salford City with me for 10 years and like to comment on football, my mum was kicked out of the football team (boys in the 1960's) and stopped playing due to misogyny, my sister struggled for funding for her sport for years and my brother was mocked when he took over the England women’s team.

"I come from a family that has fought these issues for years and I’ve witnessed it first hand. All this does is just discourage and it’s not the way forward. It’s bloody hard work for Women to succeed in sport and media as it is without this stuff."

Ward has worked in commentary and punditry for the BBC since 2009, and was head of education and welfare at the Leeds United boys' academy from 1998 until 2015.

Aluko has more than 102 England caps, and also played for Chelsea and Juventus' women's teams during a glittering professional career.

Barton, meanwhile, played just once for England in a career marred by controversial incidents on and off the field. He spent several years in the Premier League, he received more cards than games won during his time there.

He has since held two managerial positions, at Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers, both of which he was sacked from.

Nonetheless, Barton's response was characteristically ridiculous.

He wrote: "Gary, please keep your head down or you will get emptied as well. I know they pay your wages and I don’t want to have to put you away.

"Worry about one of the other 3758 business things you’ve got going on. I’ll decide when it’s gone too far. Not you."

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