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Harry Redknapp says TV football bosses feel they 'have to have a woman on', as Kevin Keegan sparks punditry row
6 October 2023, 09:52 | Updated: 6 October 2023, 10:00
Harry Redknapp has said TV football shows feel they "have to have a woman on" to cover men's football, after Kevin Keegan said he didn't like listening to female pundits talking about the male game.
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The former Tottenham and Portsmouth manager, 76, told LBC's Nick Ferrari that he can "listen to whoever" whether the pundit is a man or a woman.
"To be honest, I don’t really get too bothered what their opinions are after the game, at half time," Redknapp said. "I watch it through my own eyes."
Redknapp added: "I see what I see, probably half the time I don’t agree what they’re saying. So yeah, I don’t mind really, I’m not too bothered about who’s doing the commentary.
"I think it has gone a long way the opposite way, it has almost become ‘we have to have a woman on now to balance it all up’.
Read more: Kevin Keegan says he "has a problem" with female pundits commentating on men's football
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Harry Redknapp on Kevin Keegan's comments about female pundits
He added: "I just want to see the best people, I don’t care if they’re men, women or whatever."
It comes after former England manager Keegan declared he didn't like to hear “an England lady footballer" providing expert analysis of a match involving Gareth Southgate’s side.
Keegan, 72, made the remarks to an audience of around 250 people who bought tickets to An Evening With Kevin Keegan OBE in Bristol.
In comments reported by The Times, he said: “I’m not as keen, I’ve got to be honest, and it may not be a view shared. I don’t like to listen 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.
Asked about Keegan's comments, Redknapp said: "It’s Kevin’s opinion, he’s entitled to his opinion that’s for sure.
"The problem we have now, I think as soon as you voice opinions and certain people don’t agree with it, you’re bang in trouble".
Redknapp said he was most interested in what his fellow managers said when interviewed after matches.
"But even that now has become more and more difficult to understand the managers because some of them [speak] very broken English," he said. "So it’s not quite as easy".
"It’s not like back in the day when the manager would come on and say ‘I’m over the moon' or something," he joked.
Asked about the quality of the women's game, Redknapp said: "No disrespect, if you played the women’s team against the men’s team they’d get slaughtered, wouldn’t they?
"But the women’s game has been fantastic, I watched every game in the World Cup and absolutely loved it, you know, and so you've only got to look at the crowds now that are flocking to the football to watch the women’s game - it’s here to stay.
"It’s only going to get stronger."
While making his own remarks, Keegan insisted he was fully behind the development of women’s football.
The former Newcastle and Manchester City manager added.“But if I see an England lady footballer saying about England against Scotland at Wembley and she’s saying, ‘If I would have been in that position I would have done this’, I don’t think it’s quite the same. I don’t think it crosses over that much.”
Keegan insisted his view was not intent to belittle women's football and women's pundits.
He added: “The presenters we have now, some of the girls are so good, they are better than the guys. It’s a great time for the ladies.
"It is a great time for the ladies’ game. When I was England manager [from February 1999 to October 2000], I went to coach the England ladies and I had this perception of what the quality would be like and they were so much better than I thought they were going to be.
"I joined in and then I thought, "I’m getting out of this". I couldn’t get the bloody ball and one of them nutmegged me, that finished me off."
Keegan who managed England between February 1999 to October 2000 and scored 21 goals in 63 appearances for the national side between 1972 and 1982 also accused modern pundits of 'talking too much' and suggested analysts of his generation were no longer wanted by broadcasters.
"I worked with Brian Moore, who was the best. At a World Cup final he would say, 'Kevin, don’t talk too much, let the pictures do the talking'," he said..
"A lot of the pundits now talk too much. Don’t keep talking, talking, talking. They don’t want people like us any more, our day is gone, it’s time for the next generation."
