Joey Barton shares a series of sexist posts on social media as he claims women 'shouldn't be talking about the men's game' and that men who listen to them 'need their heads testing'

Joey Barton launched a misogynistic rant on social media on Wednesday evening.

The hugely controversial Barton - who is currently unemployed after being sacked by Bristol Rovers in October - seemingly took offence to the number of female presenters and commentators on Amazon Prime's coverage of the Premier League this week.

Some of the highly-experienced broadcasters who were working included the likes of Eni Aluko, Siobhan Chamberlain, Gabby Logan and Robyn Cowen.

However, Barton, took to X, formerly Twitter, in an astonishing set of posts.

Barton first said: 'Women shouldn’t be talking with any kind of authority in the men’s game. Come on. Let’s be serious.

'It’s a completely different game. If you don’t accept that. We will always see things differently. 

'The women’s game is thriving. Fantastic to see. I cannot take a thing they say serious in the men’s arena #namaste.'

Just seven minutes later, he then added: 'Any man who listens to Women commentary or co-comms needs their heads testing… #sticktoyourowngame.'

Barton's posts come after he had previously thrown his support behind the #HERGAMETOO initiative.

This is a campaign which aims to fight against sexism in sport, with Barton posing with a promotional card for the cause when he was Bristol Rovers manager. 

Back in October, he also generated controversy after sharing his apparent backing for former Newcastle and England manager Kevin Keegan's comments that he doesn't enjoy female footballers talking about men's football.

At a live event in Bristol, Keegan had said: '(I don't like) listening to ladies talking about the England men’s team at the match because I don’t think it’s the same experience. I have a problem with that.'

In response to that, Barton had posted on X: 'Kevin Keegan. Ballon D'or winner 1978. England manager. He's bang on.'

His sexist remarks also come just a week after he appeared to downplay his brother Michael Barton's role in a 2005 racially-motivated murder as a 'f***ing scrap'.

Barton was playing for Manchester City when Michael was convicted of murdering Anthony Walker, with his brother serving 17 years of a life sentence for his part in killing the black 18-year-old in McGoldrick Park in Liverpool before being released from prison in September 2022.

Walker was returning home with his girlfriend Louisa Thompson and cousin Marcus Binns when Michael - accompanied by his cousin Paul Taylor - began hurling racist epithets at Walker, saying: 'walk, n*****, walk' as the trio passed by. 

The pair later stalked and ambushed Walker and Taylor drove an ice axe in his skull which left the teenager brain-dead within moments. 

Michael and Taylor fled to Amsterdam, but later returned to be charged with his murder, and later tried at Liverpool Crown Court.

Barton appeared to play down the severity of his brother's crime in promotional material for his appearance on the podcast Anything Goes with James English which circulated on social media on Thursday. 

'My brother lost 17 years of his life from 17,' Barton said. 'Because his mate who was his cousin at the time thought it would be a fantastic idea when they were having a f***ing scrap to pull an ice axe out, and swing it into somebody, and he's stuck it into somebody's head.'

As the clip gained traction on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) a number of users highlighted the insensitivity of Barton's description of racist assault that preceded Walker's ambush and murder a 'scrap', labelling his description as 'disgusting'. 

A statement shared by the Anthony Walker Foundation with Mail Sport stated that they considered the description 'factually inaccurate' and 'lacking in any sensitivity given the serious nature of the incident'.