Graeme Souness defends calling football ‘a man’s game’ while sat next to female pundit Karen Carney

Graeme Souness has doubled down on his comments about football being ‘a man’s game’ and says he does not regret ‘a word of it’ despite causing outrage among past and present England women’s players.

The 69-year-old was sharing his thoughts on a fiery and ferocious clash between Chelsea and Tottenham on Sunday for Sky Sports, which saw a host of full-blooded challenges and two altercations between managers Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte.

Souness was delighted to see such aggression and intensity on show between the two teams, saying it showed football ‘is a man’s game all of a sudden now’.

His comments sparked a backlash on social media, with viewers slamming his choice of words given the England women’s victory at Euro 2022 earlier this summer and the fact he was sat next to fellow pundit Karen Carney.

Former Lioness Eni Aluko led the criticism, tweeting: ‘Awkward turtles, Graeme Souness talking about “it’s a man’s game again” sat next to an England centurion Karen Carney, two weeks after the Lionesses end a 56-year wait and win the European Championships. Come on. It’s not okay.’

A current member of that victorious squad, Bethany England, also hit out at Souness, writing: ‘Get in the [bin]. What a disgraceful thing to say after the summer this country has just seen.’

But Souness has hit back at the criticism and insists he was simply talking about the rough-and-tumble nature of the match he had watched, and the level of leniency applied by Premier League referees compared to European competitions.

Asked if he regretted what he said during an interview on talkSPORT on Monday, Souness replied: ‘Not a word of it. Let me explain. I’ve been advocating for years that the referees have such a major part to play in the success of the