'This is what people across the country think' - Man Utd and Lionesses star Mary Earps addresses misogyny in football after coming under fire from out-of-work Joey Barton

The United and England goalkeeper addressed recent comments made by former Manchester City player Joey Barton, who said that women should not talk with "authority" about the men's game. He has personally targeted Earps following her BBC Sports Personality of the Year award win, saying: "No offence to Ms Earps, but shouldn't it have been given to someone who actually won something in 2023?"

Earps believes opinions like Barton's are widely held across the country, telling Women’s Health UK: "Sport is a vehicle for change, but it’s also a representation of society. The [sexist] comments on that [video of Chelsea coach Emma Hayes] are really telling. This isn’t just what one person thinks, this is what people across the country think – probably in the world. And that’s the biggest disappointment to me."

Earps feels that an aggressive response to such attitudes does not help the situation, adding: "That’s the irony of the whole situation,” she said. “And I think anyone who’s a woman knows that; it’s not just football. I don’t think there are many women in the world that will have not experienced sexism and misogyny of some kind."

Earps' comments come in the wake of Chelsea coach Emma Hayes, who spoke out against the misogyny directed at women's football and said: "Yes, we do, we live in a more sexist society in England [than the US] with regards to football."

She also said: "We’re routinely used to dealing with systemic misogyny, bullying and behaviour that has been pretty normal for a large part of the football public."

Earps will go back to doing her talking on the pitch when her United team take on Southampton in the Women's FA Cup on Sunday. They will then meet Arsenal in the Women's Super League the following week.