Graeme Souness sought to clarify his comments after refusing to apologize for calling football a “man’s game” as he expressed his views on Tottenham’s Premier League draw at Chelsea on Sunday. The former Liverpool player and manager’s comments as a pundit on Sky Sports were met with backlash, especially given he was sitting next to former England midfielder Karen Carney at the time and came in the wake of the Lionesses’ success at Euro 2022 last year. month. “It’s a man’s game all of a sudden,” Souness said in his analysis of referee Anthony Taylor’s performance after a torrid 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge that saw both Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel and his Spurs counterpart Antonio Conte . “I think we’ve got our football back, as I would enjoy football – men at it, knock for knock, and the referee lets them get on with it.” Three-time Women’s Super League winner Eni Aluko and Beth England, a member of the Euro-winning team at Wembley, criticized the comments on social media. In a statement given to the PA news agency via Sky, Souness said: “To clarify my comments from yesterday, I was referring to the two Premier League games I watched live on Sunday afternoon, rather than the sport of football. Football is a game for all to enjoy.” Asked earlier on talkSPORT if he regretted his comments, Souness replied: “Not a word. “I have argued for years that referees have such an important role to play in the success of the Premier League. “We have to be careful what we say today and I wasn’t very good at it, but we were becoming like the other leagues. “They were whistling all the time and it wasn’t a good watch. Our game has always been unique, meatier, more in your face and more intense and we got away from that. “My comments yesterday were that we’ve got our game back. That’s the kind of football I remember playing.” The Chelsea, England, forward said on Twitter that Souness’ comments to Sky were a “shameful thing to say after the summer this country has just seen”. Aluko, capped 102 times by England and now Angel City FC’s sporting director, posted: “Clumsy turtles, Graeme Souness talking about ‘it’s a man’s game again’ sat next to England centurion Karen Carney, two weeks after the @Lionesses have ended a 56-year wait to win a European Championship.’ A few minutes later, Aluko added: “Football is football. It is played by women, men, boys and girls. Simple as that.”
