Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Laura Woods, Ian Wright
Josh Lawless
Paddy Kenny has reopened his war of words with Eni Aluko after her recent comments prompted former colleague Laura Woods to blast the ex England international.
Aluko, who played 105 times for the Lionesses, caused controversy last year when she said that Ian Wright, a regular pundit on the women's game, had been guilty of "blocking opportunities for women" when it comes to media roles.
The 38-year-old, who has worked for the likes of ITV, BT Sport, Amazon Prime and Fox Sports, said that the interview with BBC’s Woman’s Hour brought "clickbait media headlines" which did not give full context to her comments.
Aluko's apology was rejected by Wright, who received support from former England women's captain Steph Houghton among others.
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A similar storm has occurred after Aluko appeared on the 90s Baby Show podcast and said "we need to gatekeep the women’s game in a way that the men’s game is gatekept".
Aluko expressed frustration that Wright and Nedum Onuoha were on punditry duty for ITV and BBC respectively at the Lionesses women's Euro final win over Spain in Basel.
The former Chelsea and Juventus player took issue that two of the six punditry spots for the British broadcasts were taken by men whn she and the Lionesses record appearance maker Fara Williams were in the stands.
The comments caused a huge stir online and former Sheffield United and QPR goalkeeper Kenny was among those to respond.
Kenny has had a long-standing feud with Aluko and previously shared messages he received on Instagram after criticising her comments made on talkSPORT regarding Arsenal and Manchester City courting Declan Rice in 2023.
Aluko stated that City did not actually want to sign Rice even though they reportedly bid £90 million - claiming, |I think what's going on here is Mikel Arteta has picked up the phone to Pep and said 'listen, Arsenal are going to do the incremental bid approach. If you put a higher bid in that will push my owner'".
The former Aston Villa Women and Angel City FC sporting director said she had used the tactic in her position. In response, Kenny wrote: "Never heard owt like it in my life. How does she get airtime?? Biggest load of bull I’ve ever heard".
That led to Aluko branding him "bitter and jealous" in screenshots. Now, after the latest controversy, Kenny took to X to quote a clip of Aluko talking and wrote, "Can I be honest and shoot me down if I’m talking s***e, she’s not on bbc or itv cos she is w**k simple as".
He had earlier wrote, "Here we go again" on his page after seeing Aluko's comments.
Woods, who has regularly worked with Aluko on multiple channels, had a brief reaction to the video online but later followed up with a series of posts where she hit back and how her suggestions would be "damaging" for the women's game.
She said that appearances are meaningless when it comes to what is required being a television pundit and staunchly defended Wright for his role in supporting women's football.
On X, the ITV presenter wrote: "Caps don’t win automatic work and they don’t make a brilliant pundit either.
"The way you communicate, articulate yourself, do your research, inform your audience, how likeable you are and the chemistry you have with your panel are what makes a brilliant pundit."
“The women’s game should be by women for women,” is one of the most damaging phrases I’ve heard," Woods continued.
"It will not only drag women’s sport backwards, it will drag women’s punditry in all forms of the game backwards.
"If you want to grow something, you don’t gate keep it. We want to encourage little boys and men to watch women’s football too, not just little girls and women. And when they see someone like Ian Wright taking it as seriously as he does - they follow suit. That’s how you grow a sport."