Eni Aluko says she feels a bit ‘gaslit’ amid her ongoing row with Laura Woods and Ian Wright.
Aluko has come under fire for her comments about Arsenal legend Wright and punditry in the women’s game.
She was critical of BBC and ITV’s coverage of the Women’s Euro final last summer, which saw England beat Spain.
Both broadcasters had one male and two female pundits on their panel, leading to questions from Aluko why male pundits were given the opportunity over her and other former Lionesses.
Laura Woods responded, saying caps do not guarantee you a place as a pundit in the game.
Now, Aluko joined talkSPORT and responded in further detail to the broadcaster’s comments.
She told White and Jordan on talkSPORT: “I respect Laura’s opinion and always have done. I think it’s helpful for her to outline a lot of the attributes that go into a brilliant pundit.
“Caps is part of that, as I explained, it’s not the decider, but it’s an objective way to say this person has enough experience to talk about this specific game.
“Now, it’s interesting because Laura is one of the people I would consistently go to, we got on like a house on fire, I’d got to her and say: ‘How do you think it went? What do you think?’.
“Laura consistently – and I had to look at the messages again and go hold on, I feel a bit gaslit here – said to me, ‘I think you’re a brilliant broadcaster, I think you’re a brilliant pundit’.
“So, I think there’s a little bit of serving an argument at this point, which I respect – she doesn’t agree and that’s fine – but I think there’s an insinuation in there, that you don’t meet the standard.
“Again, I’ve worked too hard for people to conclude that because you’re not seeing me on screen, I’m not good enough – that’s not true.”
Aluko added: “She mentioned about the camaraderie in the group, we had loads of that, that’s the funnest part for me.
“I’m not the person that’s difficult to work with behind the scenes, me and Laura got on, everyone gets on.”
Jim White then raised the ‘gaslit’ comment again, with Aluko saying: “Well, not gaslit, I don’t want to say that.
“She has a view and I appreciate her view…she mentioned about little boys being important as well, I agree, but when I see little boys coming to the games now, they’ve got women on their shirts, they don’t have men pundit names on their shirts.”
Asked about being gaslit for a third time, she added: “Well to the extent that I feel there’s an potential insinuation there, that if you’re sitting in the stands and not on screen then you don’t meet all of these things that make a brilliant broadcaster.
“But as I said privately, she’s told me many times and reassured me that she thinks I’m a brilliant broadcaster, which I will forever appreciate from Laura.”
What did Eni Aluko say?
The whole debate kicked off when Aluko appeared on the 90s Baby Show.
The 38-year-old explained: “Last year at the Women’s Lionesses final, I’m sat in the stands, I wasn’t on it for ITV for the final.
“Fara Williams was next to me. Fara Williams has 170 caps for England.
“The two broadcasters that had the rights, ITV, BBC. On BBC, you’ve got Ellen White, Steph Houghton and Nedum Onuoha.
“No offence to Nedum Onouha, nothing against him, I don’t know whether he played for England or not. You’re on the main panel for the final for England Women.
“Let’s go over to ITV, I’m in the stands with 105 caps, so you have got two women with 290 caps, something ridiculous right. ITV, it’s Ian Wright, Emma Hayes and Kaz Carney.
“So out of six spots, two have gone to men, meanwhile you have got 290 (caps) sitting in the stands. I have never done a final and I am probably going to struggle to think of any woman, female pundit, who has done a men’s major final.
“I am talking about as a pundit, so something is not right there. Why are people like me and Faz (Fara) not there? It is nothing against Ian and nothing against them, I am just saying broadly speaking we need to be aware of that.”
Aluko clarifies her comments
Asked about those comments, she told talkSPORT: “I think it’s more about clarifying and saying look, I think 270 caps represent experience and the insight you can bring to the game.
“What I wasn’t saying is that 270 caps justifies an instant pick, of course, you need a skillset to be a pundit.
“The point I was trying to make is, that in women’s football, my opinion is that where there’s a choice, I want to see that level of experience on the main panel for women’s football.
“That’s not at the exclusion of Nedum Onouha or Ian Wright, I’m saying, can we have a situation where women are the main faces of women’s sport and then the men play more of a supporting role.
“That might be…Ian Wright could do ten-minute hits before the game, a bit of colour, bit of context, then back to the main studio and bang, you’ve got the faces of the game, whoever the three female pundits are.”
Wright relationship
Aluko also spoke about her relationship with Wright and hoped they could one day reconcile.
“I would love to speak to him,” Aluko admitted.
“I haven’t spoken to him…I just think that, based on what I said, I don’t think it warrants this, people have weaponised his name against me for the last nine months and I’m a bit fed up of it.
“I’ve done all I can, privately and publicly, to try and reestablish a relationship, without having any skin in the game.
“I don’t need to be picked at this moment in time.”
She added: “I apologise for the interview that I did where I said that Ian was aware of how much he is doing in the women’s game and that we have to be conscious that the path for women isn’t blocked.
“That was the sort of headline comment, that was what I apologised for…that [the comments on Wright not using his influence at ITV] was nine before those comments when there was an opportunity for me to stay in the game.
“You will never find a quote of me saying Ian Wright shouldn’t be in the women’s game, people are trying to make that was this is.
“All I’m trying to suggest is, is there a way that the main punditry spots can be prioritised for women, where Ian plays more of a supporting role rather than a main character role.”
Clash with Simon Jordan
Jordan laid into Aluko and took her to task over some of her comments.
The former Crystal Palace owner said: “The language that you use, it’s steeped in a sense of entitlement, the sheer weight of the entitlement that you appear to have would re-sink the Titanic.”
She replied: “It’s an opinion, which we’re all entitled to. I put value on them, everybody has them.
“I’m not going to listen to a mob on X who have never put themselves in a situation to do anywhere close to what I’ve done.
“I listen to the professional, the people who have hired me for the last 11 years, the biggest broadcasters in the world.
“By default, if I’m working with the people who are considered brilliant broadcasters, if I’m next to them, then by default I’m considered also a brilliant broadcaster.
“I appreciate what you’re saying, but in reality, I’ve been good enough for 11 years and as I said, I’m the person to go and seek out feedback, for someone to go: ‘I think you’re struggling’…it’s never happened.”
Laura Woods’ response
On Monday morning, Woods wrote at length message on X in a seemingly pointed post about Aluko’s comments.
She had hosted ITV’s coverage of the final in July, which England won on penalties.
She said: “Caps don’t win automatic work and they don’t make a brilliant pundit either. The way you communicate, articulate yourself, do your research, inform your audience, how likeable you are and the chemistry you have with your panel are what makes a brilliant pundit.
“’The women’s game should be by women for women’, is one of the most damaging phrases I’ve heard. It will not only drag women’s sport backwards, it will drag women’s punditry in all forms of the game backwards.
“If you want to grow something, you don’t gate keep it. We want to encourage little boys and men to watch women’s football too, not just little girls and women. And when they see someone like Ian Wright taking it as seriously as he does – they follow suit. That’s how you grow a sport.
“Here’s a picture of our team at ITV. We won best production at the Broadcast Sport Awards 2025 for our coverage of the women’s Euros. Seb Hutchinson won best commentator too. So I think ITV got it just right.”
Eni Aluko statement
Aluko then responded to Woods in a statement shared with talkSPORT.
She said: “I respect Laura’s opinion as I have always done. For 11 years I have worked alongside the likes of Laura and all those considered the best pundits in the game. It’s therefore clear I was considered one of the best too if I was part of the same punditry team
“No one who has ever hired me as a pundit has said I wasn’t good enough or did not have all the attributes Laura referred to. Quite the contrary. I believe that women’s football should prioritise women as the faces of the sport – it’s as simple as that.
“I think women should be the dominant force in the women’s game in the same way that men are the dominant force in the men’s game. That means men should play more of a supporting role.
“No one is saying any man should be excluded but the roles do need to be defined. That’s all I’m saying – and people are quite free to disagree whilst respecting my right to an opinion too.”