Comparing female pundits to depravity of serial killers is an obscene new low for deluded, sexist thug Barton
NONE of us who had the professional duty to sit through the trial of Rosemary West at Winchester Crown Court will ever forget the utter depravity of the matronlylooking murderess standing in the dock and the crimes of her equally wicked, late husband, Fred.
In the Autumn of 1995 I spent seven weeks covering the prosecution of West which, in terms of horror, is without parallel during my 30-year crime reporting career at the Daily Mail. It featured some of the most harrowing evidence ever heard in a British courtroom and redefined my understanding of the word ‘evil’.
The mother-of-eight was a sexobsessed psychopath who was rightly convicted of murdering 10 young women and girls, including her daughter Heather and stepdaughter. Her builder husband and co-accused took the easy way out and hanged himself in prison while awaiting trial.
Journalists covering her trial were offered counselling, and if I had been a parent then, I might have requested some.
Some victims were kept alive for just hours, others for days, during which, bound and gagged, they endured repeated sexual assaults. Then they were brutally murdered, their bodies hacked to pieces and buried under the kitchen and cellar floors or in the garden of their ‘House of Horrors’ in Gloucester.
Why is this relevant on the sports pages of The Mail on Sunday?
Well, following the latest misogynistic outburst from the pseudointellectual ex-Premier League star Joey Barton, who has compared two female football pundits to serial killers Fred and Rosemary West, it is important to remind people of the couple’s sickening place in criminal history.
Merseyside-born Barton, who was only 11 years old when the Wests’ offences came to light in February 1994, has rightly sparked widespread condemnation on social media after criticising commentary by Eniola Aluko and Lucy Ward in ITV’s coverage of an FA Cup game. Ms Aluko and Ms Ward were pundits during ITV’s coverage of Crystal Palace’s 0-0 draw with Everton in the FA Cup third round on Thursday.
Barton, who played for Manchester City and Newcastle United during his highly controversial career and more recently was manager of Bristol Rovers, took to Twitter/X to criticise the pair.
Responding to a clip of Ms Aluko, who won 102 caps for the Lionesses during her playing career, he posted: ‘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 should be applauded for quickly condemning Barton’s highly defamatory attack on the respected pundits, saying to ‘invoke the names of serial killers in doing so is clearly contemptible and shameful on his part. Football is for everyone’.
Barton, 41, then responded with another foul-mouthed statement and also sent a menacing message to Gary Neville, who had backed ITV’s stance, telling him to ‘please keep your head down or you will get emptied as well.’
I believe in freedom of speech and thought long and hard about writing this column, fearful of giving oxygen to Barton’s vulgar, illinformed and obscene views.
But his latest publicity-seeking tirade marks a new low in his oneman campaign against women and as someone who sat through every day of the West trial, and got to know some of the victims’ grieving families, they are comments I cannot ignore, especially after his other recent broadsides.
On Boxing Day he attacked Amazon for including former Liverpool goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis as a pundit for their 2-0 win in the Premier League over Burnley, saying her inclusion was ‘nonsense’ and ‘tokenism’.
After Lionesses goalkeeper Mary Earps won the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Barton said he would score ‘100 out of 100 penalties’ against the Women’s World Cup Golden Glove holder, calling her a ‘big sack of spuds’.
BBC Sport TV presenter and pundit Alex Scott has not escaped his bile, either, saying she ‘shouldn’t commentate on the men’s game’ in a rant on X.
As a life-long Manchester City supporter, I have followed Barton’s career with close interest for two decades. I was in the away end when he was stupidly sent off at half-time in an FA Cup replay at White Hart Lane in 2004, when City were losing 3-0. Kevin Keegan’s depleted team famously scored four goals in the second half, to beat Spurs 4-3.
I was also at Etihad Stadium for City’s incredible last-minute title win in 2012, when Barton — playing for QPR — was red-carded after elbowing Carlos Tevez and, as he left the pitch, kicked Sergio Aguero before aiming a head-butt at Vincent Kompany. QPR later stripped him of the captaincy and he was suspended for 12 games by the FA.
One of his most infamous acts was a training ground fight with former City team-mate Ousmane Dabo, which saw the midfielder hit with a six-match ban by the FA in 2008.
He was also given a four-month suspended sentence after admitting assault after Dabo was left with cuts and bruises as well as a detached retina.
In 2008, Barton — whose brother Michael is a convicted racist murderer (a case I covered for the Mail in 2005) — was sentenced to six months behind bars for common assault and affray during an incident in Liverpool City Centre.
While, 20 years ago, he was fined six weeks’ wages after he burnt the eyelid of City academy product Jamie Tandy with a cigar during the club’s fancy dress Christmas party.
I am truly ashamed that Barton played for City and hope the club will airbrush him from the club’s history, as they have done with Adam Johnson, the disgraced convicted sex offender.
Nobody who knows Barton seriously believes he will shut up and admit he has done anything wrong. The deluded, sexist thug is clearly enjoying his new found notoriety — one which, however, will surely see him never work in football management again.
But should he have an attack of decency and common-sense, he might wish to consider how offensive his ‘serial killers’ slur on the ITV pundits may be greeted by those who lost their loved ones to the Wests in the most horrific way imaginable. Having listened first hand to many of their tragic stories, I know their pain.