After five nail-biting matches, one of which saw England beat Sweden on penalties, the Lionesses made their way to the Euros 2025 final against Spain and won for the second time in a row. It goes without saying that most England teams are not prone to victory – except this one. Aside from lifting the coveted trophy and altering the trajectory of women's football, this team consistently inspires the whole country.
Well, the whole country bar a few bitter apples still hellbent on undermining the Lioness's achievements, mocking their talents and embarrassing themselves. Enter Joey Barton. After complaining he had been 'overlooked' for punditry gigs because he is a man – not, as is more likely, for his lack of valuable football analysis – the former Manchester City player and ex-Bristol Rovers manager has landed himself in the headlines for calling the Women's Euros a 'Nonsense Pottery Trophy'.
He posted on X after the final to write, 'Don't ever ask for equal pay again. Youse are miles off it.' Barton seems unable to distinguish the concept of closing the (inconceivably huge) gender pay gap from asking for 'equal pay'. The average Premier League player earns £67,000 per week, with some earning significantly more, while Lioness captain Leah Williamson is thought to earn £150,000 per year playing for Arsenal.
Despite women's matches increasingly filling out stadiums, drawing international attention, and in England's case, taking home more trophies than the men's team, it's still inadequately underfunded on every level. As things stand, top female players like Williamson would have to work for 23 years to earn what the average male player makes in a year. Female footballers are indeed 'miles off' pay parity, but not for the reasons Barton suggests.
In another rant, he then exposed how little he has been paying attention to the events of the tournament or the players in the Lioness team, despite claiming to be an expert. Barton tweeted that he could score '1000/1000 penalties against Mary Earps' (who is no longer the England goalkeeper, Hannah Hampton is), not with his foot, but with his 'd**k'. He then added a zinger that must have been lifted from a post-war comic book, telling the players to 'stick to knitting'.
This isn't the first time Barton, whose career as a manager and pundit has been on a steady decline for years, has taken a swipe at women's football. In 2023, he claimed 'women are not qualified' to talk about men's football' and have 'no authority on the subject'. It's curious to understand by that logic why he feels he has the authority to talk about women's football.
'I'm bothered about the female footballers who aren't good enough players to comment on the male players because they don't understand the game,' he continued on X. 'They are taking men's jobs that our good enough [sic]. They are taking their opportunities. Taking food out of their families' mouths. When those men have done the hard yards.'
If the room you're in has just filled with fog, it's probably the stench of Barton's bitterness. Sadly, he joins a rank of men who feel ownership over the game and refuse to recognise or accept that women have been watching, playing and commenting on the sport since it began.
Luckily Alex Scott and Jill Scott, who ran the coverage of the Euros final, along with Gabby Logan and Jeanette Kwakye, are all proven professionals in their fields and do not need an endorsement from someone who has been fired from multiple jobs in football, a history of making sexist and racist remarks and a criminal record.
While the virality of Barton's comments exposes that these misogynistic, regressive opinions still exist, the overwhelming condemnation of said comments show that Barton is part of a woeful minority – one that is slowly losing its influence. As his career illustrates, no one is entitled to be a leading voice on football just because they once played the game professionally, nor because they are a man.
As Barton taps away on his keyboard posting sexist vitriol on X, the Lionesses are preparing to fly home from Switzerland ready to parade the Euros trophy through central London to an army of fans old and new. It's safe to say they've had the last laugh.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across entertainment, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things pop culture for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow with equal respect).