Simon Jordan reveals exactly what he told Eni Aluko off-air in furious pundit row | Football | Sport

The former Lionesses forward was then invited by talkSPORT to discuss her comments with Jim White and Jordan, clashing with the ex-Crystal Palace owner on the airwaves.

Jordan pulled no punches in his criticism of Aluko, outlining the reasons why he wasn’t fond of her as a pundit. During an ad break, he took the opportunity to explain to Aluko why she did herself no favours by calling out Wright.

Opening up on their conversation, Jordan said: “What I said was: ‘You were foolish to have a go at Ian Wright. He’s a national treasure, you were silly to have done that. You shouldn’t have done that. You should have left that alone. It’s your own fault. You’ve brought it on yourself.”

Aluko initially clashed with Wright last year, when she accused him of blocking opportunities for female pundits in the women’s game. The former Arsenal striker was left outraged by those claims and refused to accept Aluko’s subsequent apology.

During her appearance on talkSPORT, Aluko suggested that she had turned her back on punditry after being left disillusioned by the events of the past 12 months.

She said: “I think in the UK, it’s a very toxic space for me and I’m fighting now to just even have an opinion. There is a feeling that I can’t say anything without the instant backlash that comes with the fact people have already decided they don’t like you.

“I’m a fighter, I’m a resilient person and I go: ‘No, I want to say my opinion’, but I don’t feel welcome. That was my point. I don’t have skin in the game anymore. I’m not trying to get people out of the way so I can get in.

“You’ve got to recognise the environments you can thrive and really do your thing. I just don’t feel [that in] the UK at this moment in time. You never know what will happen in the future, but I’ll always be passionate about women’s football.”