Former England international’s views on punditry have sparked replies from Laura Woods and Simon Jordan

UEFA Womens Euro 2025

Former England international Eni Aluko has called UK broadcasting, “very toxic,” as the row over women’s football punditry rumbles on. 

Speaking on Talksport, she said, “I think in the UK… it’s a very toxic space for me. And I’m fighting now to just even have an opinion.

“There is a feeling that I can’t say anything without the instant backlash that comes with the fact people have already decided they don’t like you.”

She then said she will avoid the industry: “I’m a fighter, I’m a resilient person and I go ’no, I want to say my opinion’ but I don’t feel welcome. That was my point. I don’t have skin in the game anymore, I’m not trying to get people out of the way so I can get in.

“You’ve got to recognise the environments you can thrive and really do your thing. I just don’t feel (that in) the UK at this moment in time. You never know what will happen in the future, but I’ll always be passionate about women’s football.”

She added, “My last conversation with ITV was, I’m taking a break from broadcasting. That was after the comments about Ian Wright. We had a conversation. At that point, I’d already decided, I’m taking a break from this environment. This is no longer something that I think is serving.”

Aluko reignited the conversation when speaking on the 90s Baby Show podcast last week, while speaking about how two men, Nedum Onuoha and Ian Wright, were included in the BBC and ITV’s coverage of the women’s Euros final last summer. She had previously criticised Wright for taking punditry spots in women’s football in 2025 too. 

She said, “In the women’s game, the opportunities are even more limited, so the main characters of the show should be the women. 

“Men should be part of that. I’m not saying anybody should be excluded. I believe in diversity wholeheartedly, but the same way we’ve played a role in the men’s game, that’s a supporting role, you’re part of the ensemble, you’re never going to get the premium final games, it should be the same way for women’s football.”

She also claimed that she had spoken with Wright’s agent after the Euros, and asked for help with getting back on screen after ITV had ended her contract. She said, “I had that meeting with his agent, a month went by and I was like ’what’s going on?’ so I messaged him and said: ’Did you manage to have a chat with ITV?’ He was very dismissive, didn’t really want to help me, was a bit like: ’Listen, it’s not going to work.’ I fully expected Ian to use his influence to keep me in the game. I’ve seen him do it with others, he did it with Gary Lineker at the BBC.

“There’s nothing that would make me think he wouldn’t do that for me, because you’re the ally, you’re ’Uncle’. So the question to you is, why didn’t he do that for me? I say all this to say, you don’t want to help me, you don’t want to use your influence, you don’t want to be an ally for me in the most difficult time in my career and that’s fine, that’s cool.

“But nine months later, when I’ve been off screen and I’ve seen that you’re doing the games and you’ve cracked on, the fact of the matter is you have the level of influence to say: ’I don’t need to do every game, what Eni means to women’s football is much more important than me doing all of these games. Eni is one of the main characters of women’s football, I know that this is bigger for her. It’s going to be harder for her to get this opportunity in men’s football.’

“That’s what I expect from an ally - sacrifice. You can’t have it both ways, you can’t have this brand that says ally, that’s not my experience of you. When it comes down to it, you never really tried.”

Following criticism online, Aluko then went further, the Daily Mail reports she posted two videos where she said, “When I apologised to Ian Wright publicly and privately, he had an opportunity to show the grace and allyship that he showed to many other people, and to prove that he is the ally that he says he is. 

“Unfortunately, my sincerity, my humility, was met with disrespect.”

Laura Woods, who presented ITV’s coverage, then replied on X, “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 idea that] ‘the women’s game should be by women for women’ is one of the most damaging phrases I’ve heard. 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 gatekeep 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.

“We won best production at the Broadcast Sport Awards 2025 for our coverage of the women’s euros. Seb Hutchinson won best commentator too. So I think ITV got it just right.”

Aluko responded to Woods, “I believe that women’s football should prioritise women as the faces of the sport - it’s as simple as that.

“I think women should be the dominant force in the women’s game in the same way that men are the dominant force in the men’s game. That means men should play more of a supporting role.

“That’s all I’m saying - and people are quite free to disagree whilst respecting my right to an opinion too.”

She added to that on Talksport, where presenter Simon Jordan regularly spoke over her and criticised her punditry, saying of working with Woods, “I would consistently go to Laura and say, ‘How do you think it went? What do you think? How did it go?’

“I had to look at the messages yesterday and think, hold on, I feel a bit gaslit here. Laura consistently said to me, ‘I think you’re a brilliant broadcaster. I think you’re a brilliant pundit’.

“So I think there’s a little bit of serving her argument at this point, which I respect. She doesn’t agree, and that’s fine. But I think there’s an insinuation in there that you don’t meet the standard.

“I’ve worked too hard for people to conclude that because you’re not seeing me on screen, I’m not good enough. That’s not true.”