Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani has condemned the abuse directed at Karen Carney by his fans — but stopped short of apologising for the club’s tweet which led to a torrent of sexist comments.
Following United’s 5-0 win at West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night, their official Twitter account shared a video of Amazon Prime pundit Carney suggesting Marcelo Bielsa’s side ‘got promoted because of Covid’, with the club adding mocking emojis in their post.
That caused the former England midfielder to receive an avalanche of abuse from Leeds supporters on social media, including some vile sexist abuse.
Leeds United have released a statement slamming those condemning Karen Carney on Twitter
Carney claimed Marcelo Bielsa’s side benefited from the Covid-19 hiatus earlier this year
The club’s tweet has been roundly criticised, including by the Women in Football group, who said: ‘Whether you agree with the comment or not, singling out and ridiculing an individual on an official club account is not what we’re here for. Karen Carney is a well-informed pundit. This tweet is inciteful and inappropriate. Not a good look now, or at any time.’
Leeds contacted Carney on Wednesday and invited her to their training ground to carry out a TV report before their FA Cup third-round clash with Crawley on Sunday week. But the club have refused to delete their tweet, which was defended by owner Radrizzani before the Italian explained his position last night.
Speaking to talkSPORT host Jim White, he said: ‘I’m very sorry Karen was abused on social media. I wanted to defend my club and our players from a comment, which I felt was harsh from Karen on air. Our tweet wasn’t offensive — simply stating that we won the league by 10 points.
Leeds responded to Carney’s claims on Twitter in a move that has itself been criticised
‘We honestly didn’t expect such a reaction and we are sorry she experienced that. I respect her as a person and a pundit and I hope she understands that we just want to defend our club, we are a family. I hope the abuse stops and we can move forward and I hope Karen will be our guest at Elland Road soon.’
In a statement, Leeds added: ‘Leeds United completely condemns any abuse received by Karen Carney on social media following last night’s Premier League game with West Bromwich Albion. Everyone at our club respects Karen greatly for all she has achieved in the game, as well as her work in the media and the charity work she undertakes.’
Rio Ferdinand called on his former club to delete the tweet while another ex-player, Danny Mills, warned clubs have a ‘responsibility’ and must ‘be careful’.
Women in Football have hit out at Leeds for their inflammatory tweet about Carney
England and Chelsea forward Bethany England, a former team-mate of Carney’s, tweeted: ‘Atrocious behaviour by your social platform. Cyber bullying a female pundit and opening her up to mass online abuse for doing her job and having her opinion.’
Carney, 33, is England’s second most capped woman with 144 appearances. She has previously opened up on her battle with depression and in 2018 she received death and rape threats on social media, which she described as ‘abhorrent’ and ‘very upsetting’. The abuse was reported to police and prompted England manager Phil Neville to contact Instagram on his player’s behalf.
Carney retired after the 2019 World Cup and has since forged a career as a pundit. The clip of her commenting on Leeds’ win has been viewed more than five million times.
She said: ‘They outrun everyone and credit to them. My only concern would be — will they blow up at the end of the season? We saw that the last couple of seasons. I actually think they got promoted because of Covid, in terms of it gave them a bit of respite. I don’t know whether they would have got up if they didn’t have that break.’
Leeds returned to the top flight after a 16-year hiatus by winning the Championship last season
Carney won 144 caps for England – the third highest ever – and now works in the media
Later on Tuesday night, Leeds owner Radrizzani admitted he was ‘responsible’ for the tweet, insisting he wanted to defend the club after her ‘disrespectful’ comments.
He wrote in a post on his own Twitter account: ‘I take the responsibility of the Club tweet. I consider that comment completely unnecessary and disrespectful to our Club and particularly to the fantastic hard work of our players and coaches whom were understanding on the pitch for the last two championship seasons by all stats.’
The Italian businessman was not the only member of the Leeds camp to condemn the comment made by Carney – who last year went public about her battle with depression – as Leeds players made their feelings clear on social media.
Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani (above) defended their tweet by claiming Carney’s comments were ‘disrespectful’ to the club – and he too has been condemned by Women in Football
Midfielder Mateusz Klich and defender Ben White – who was on loan at Elland Road last season – posted emojis below the club’s response to signal their opposition to her views.
Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling also chimed in, criticising Carney for a lack of accuracy in her claims.
In the five games before the first coronavirus lockdown, Leeds won every single game without conceding a single goal. Bielsa’s side even lost the first game after the coronavirus hiatus against Cardiff City, implying Leeds did not benefit from a break at all.
Stelling tweeted: ‘Leeds so lucky that Covid intervened. They had only won five in a row before the season was suspended. Clearly running out of steam !!!’
Carney was criticised for the comments by Leeds player Mateusz Klich, Ben White – who was on loan there last season – and Sky Sports’ Jeff Stelling (above)
Leeds fans piled on with one Twitter user posting: ‘She’s really not helping the cause of female pundits is she?’ followed by a laughing emoji while another tweeted: ‘And they wonder why women pundits get such a bad reputation… embarrassing.’
There was also one which read: ‘Oh dear lord, she really shouldn’t be reporting on football, what a ridiculous thing to actually say particularly out loud on TV.’
‘This is why women shouldn’t be pundits,’ posted another Twitter user while there were several ‘back in the kitchen’ type digs and one calling Carney a ‘s***’.
But some decided to step in and leap to Carney’s defence after Leeds’ post, with former England and Manchester United defender Ferdinand urging them to delete it, while others claimed it only encouraged the ‘vile abuse’ from other fans.
‘Poor from the @LUFC social team,’ wrote one fan. ‘Trying to embarrass a hard-working pundit who will now be subject to vile abuse from #LUFC fans! Disgrace.’
Another wrote: ‘This is disgusting. Leeds United should be ashamed. Clubs shouldn’t directly target people like this, especially when it’s just routine punditry. The replies are what would be expected.’
And one, replying to the Leeds owner, asked: ‘Do you also take responsibility for some of the horrendous abuse Karen Carney is receiving as a result of the tweet?’
Many – including Rio Ferdinand (above) criticised Leeds for calling out on Carney on Twitter
Manager Bielsa is known for his hard-working training regimes and in-game tactics, which Carney paid tribute to in her coverage.
However, the Leeds boss has often been attributed with the phrase ‘Bielsa Burnout’, which stems from the Argentine’s teams running out of steam due to fatigue.
An example was during the 2014-15 season with Marseille where the French side led the league after 19 games and being branded the ‘autumn champions’ that term. Bielsa’s side went on to finish fourth after a steep drop in form.
Bielsa’s Leeds are performing well in their first season back in the top flight since 2004, with three wins in their last four games – including a 5-0 win at West Brom on Tuesday – lifting them up to 11th in the table and 12 points above the relegation zone.