Eni Aluko speaks in response to Laura Woods’ comments and continues feud with Ian Wright

Eni Aluko speaks in response to Laura Woods’ comments and continues the feud with Ian Wright about male pundits covering women’s football.

In an episode on the 90s Baby Show podcast released at the weekend, Eni criticised broadcasters ITV and BBC for choosing male pundits like Wright and Nedum Onuoha for the Euro 2025 final instead of female ex-players such as herself and Fara Williams.

It comes after last year’s accusations that Wright was “blocking” pathways for women in punditry, Eni Aluko said sorry, Wright didn’t accept the apology.

Her recent comments led to a response from Laura Woods defending against the idea of “gatekeeping” women’s football coverage for women only.

Laura Woods hits back after Eni Aluko’s comments over male pundits in women’s football

Eni Aluko said, in a statement shared to talkSPORT, after Laura Woods’ comments:  “I respect Laura’s opinion as I have always done. For eleven years I have worked alongside the likes of Laura and all those considered the best pundits in the game. It’s therefore clear I was considered one of the best too if I was part of the same punditry team.

“No one who has ever hired me as a pundit has said I wasn’t good enough or did not have all the attributes Laura referred to. Quite the contrary. 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.

“No one is saying any man should be excluded but the roles do need to be defined. That’s all I’m saying – and people are quite free to disagree whilst respecting my right to an opinion too.”

A second episode of the 90s Baby Show podcast dropped on Monday, with Eni saying that Ian Wright is not a true “ally” of women’s football.

In a second episode released on Monday morning, Eni Aluko accused Ian Wright of not being an ally.

“ITV, at the end of the men’s Euros, came to me and said we can’t extend your contract,” Aluko said. “I met with Ian’s agent, I had a face-to-face coffee with him. I met with him and said: ‘Listen, this is the situation, I can’t believe this is happening.’ I said: ‘They’ve told me that Ian is the priority, they’ve told me that his contract is the priority for them, and they’ve also said to me when Ian is not available, you might get a call-up.’

“So I said ‘how can we work together so I can stay in the game? How can we work together when Ian is not available, you give me a call or what can we do?’

“This is what I think black people should do, at the highest levels we need to strategise, we need to really help each other. We can get sidelined very quickly. I went to him and I was vulnerable, I said: ‘Listen, I need your help, I need Ian’s influence.’

“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.”

Appearing on talkSPORT, Eni was asked by Jim White if she stood by her comments, to which she replied: “Yeah look I think it’s more about clarifying and saying look you know I think 270-odd caps represents experience right on the pitch.

“Represents how many times you’ve played in the Euros, how many times you’ve played at a World Cup.

“Represents the insight you’re able to bring to the game that helps the audience go right okay she scored in a whatever whatever that experience might be.

“So what I wasn’t saying was 270 caps justifies as an automatic pick.

“Of course it goes without saying you have to have the skill set as well you know to be a pundit of course so and me and Farrah have that skill set. We’re both experienced pundits.

“The point I was trying to make is in women’s football my preference and my opinion is that where there’s a choice I want to see that level of experience on the main panel for women’s football. That’s not at the exclusion of obviously I mentioned Nedum, obviously I mentioned Ian Wright.

“That’s not at the exclusion of them. I’m saying can we have a situation where the women are the main faces of women’s sport and then the men play more of a supporting role.

“What does that look like? That might be Ian Wright doing pitch side hits 10 minutes before the game. It gives a bit of colour, a bit of context, goes to the main studio and bang you’ve got the faces of the game whoever the three female pundits are right. That is a tried and tested proof of concept really in the men’s game right.

“So the premium opportunities in the men’s game when I think about men’s finals I’ve never done one because there’s so many you know big guys that you know I think should be ahead of me but in the sort of exceptional cases got someone like Karen Carney who’s brilliant before the game she’ll do it she’ll do a final she’ll do a 10 minute hit before the game with Laura Woods and it you know gives it a bit of colour context.

“It’s a supporting role, goes to the main studio and then bang you’ve got Roy Keane, Ian Wright, Gary Neville. I see where you’re going with it. So I’m not saying it’s at the expense of anyone.

“What I’m saying is can we start to prioritise the sort of big positions for women and have sort of the men support that.”

Jim: Well you were part of ITV’s punditry team for Euro 2025 but you didn’t work on an England game and you weren’t involved in the final. Why do you think that was?

Eni: “I think that’s just their choice I think they wanted to go with other pundits that they felt were better for the final.”

Jim: “But you would have wished to have been involved in it. You wanted that gig obviously.”

Eni: “Yeah of course but I think by the time I worked on the Women’s Euros last year we’d already had a conversation that you know I wouldn’t be working with ITV as much and so there was already a conversation about you know my role changing slightly.

“I was disappointed but the reason was never that you know you’re not good enough to do a final.

“The reason actually that was given to me was that you know we’re cutting budgets and you know we’re reducing from three pundits to two and you know your contract is not the priority. Ian Wright’s is the priority. That was the reason given to me.

“So to clarify for everybody who sort of want to make a conclusion that I’m just not good enough it’s just not the case.

“You know in the 11 years I’ve been working as a professional pundit I’ve never ever had you know a top producer, a director of TV and anyone say you’re just not good enough, you’re struggling, you can’t put your sentences together. Quite the opposite.

“I’m the geek that goes to the producer and goes to the stats guy and goes how can I improve? What can I do better? And I’ve got text messages and emails and all sorts of you know support saying you were brilliant today, great point today. That was this, that could be better.”

Aluko on Woods’ comments

“I respect Laura’s opinion and always have done. I think it’s helpful for her to outline a lot of the attributes that go into a brilliant pundit.

“Caps are part of that, as I explained, it’s not the decider, but it’s an objective way to say this person has enough experience to talk about this specific game.

“Now, it’s interesting because Laura is one of the people I would consistently go to, we got on like a house on fire, I’d go to her and say: ‘How do you think it went? What do you think?’.

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

“So, I think there’s a little bit of serving an 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 the standard.

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

“She mentioned about the camaraderie in the group, we had loads of that, that’s the funnest part for me.

“I’m not the person that’s difficult to work with behind the scenes, me and Laura got on, everyone gets on.”

Aluko replying as Jim White mentions the ‘gaslit’ comment: “Well, not gaslit, I don’t want to say that.

“She has a view and I appreciate her view…she mentioned about little boys being important as well, I agree, but when I see little boys coming to the games now, they’ve got women on their shirts, they don’t have men pundit names on their shirts.

“I think that there’s an insinuation there that if you’re sat in the stands then you don’t meet the things that make a brilliant broadcaster.

“But as I said, privately, she’s told me and reassured me that I’m a brilliant broadcaster, which I thought I’d forever appreciate from Laura.”

Aluko on about her comments towards Ian Wright and him not ‘using his influence’ to keep her at ITV.

“No, he doesn’t [owe me anything].

“In a very difficult time in my career, where I felt really determined to stay on screen, during a really difficult time, going through the lawsuit with Joey Barton, I wanted to lean on somebody to help keep me in the game and on screen.

“I just want to make clear that my relationship with Ian has been that he’s always on the end of the phone, he’ll help you, he’s supportive, he’s the uncle, he’s the ally.

“That’s always been the way I’ve seen him, so that’s why I went to him and his agent for help, to see if he can use his influence to see if we can work together, with shared appearances, or when he wasn’t available to put me forward. I wanted to work with him.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out and I was gutted about that.

“I was probably naive to think that because we had a good relationship, he would do that for me.

“That’s not saying he has to do that for me, I’m saying that I was hoping that he would do that for me.

“Now he didn’t do it, and that’s absolutely fine, but my disappointment came from…I’m not going to be on screen, we couldn’t figure it out.”

On trying to rebuild a relationship with Wright

Eni said: “I would love to speak to him. I haven’t spoke to him…I just think that, based on what I said, I don’t think it warrants this, people have weaponised his name against me for the last nine months and I’m a bit fed up of it.

“I’ve done all I can, privately and publicly, to try and reestablish a relationship, without having any skin in the game.

“I don’t need to be picked at this moment in time.”

“I apologise for the interview that I did where I said that Ian was aware of how much he is doing in the women’s game and that we have to be conscious that the path for women isn’t blocked.

“That was the sort of headline comment, that was what I apologised for…that [the comments on Wright not using his influence at ITV] was nine before those comments when there was an opportunity for me to stay in the game.

“You will never find a quote of me saying Ian Wright shouldn’t be in the women’s game, people are trying to make that was this is.

“All I’m trying to suggest is, is there a way that the main punditry spots can be prioritised for women, where Ian plays more of a supporting role rather than a main character role.”