London (AFP) – Former England women’s international Karen Carney has deleted her Twitter account three days after Leeds United’s official account mocked her analysis of the club’s Championship-winning campaign last season.
Carney claimed the Yorkshire club were promoted last season “because of Covid”, as the pause in the season action due to the pandemic allowed their players a rest from manager Marcelo Bielsa’s notoriously exhausting demands.
A clip of Carney speaking during Leeds’ 5-0 win at West Brom on Tuesday was tweeted by Leeds’ official Twitter handle along with emojis and the caption “‘Promoted because of Covid’, Won the league by 10 points”.
Leeds’ post prompted an angry response from some fans and Carney received a barrage of abusive messages, many of them sexist in nature.
The following day Leeds issued a statement condemning the abuse but did not apologise for the tweet, which was not deleted.
On Friday, Carney’s own Twitter account was no longer active.
The club’s actions were widely criticised, with Women in Football saying the tweet was “inciteful”.
Former Leeds defender Rio Ferdinand branded it a “disgrace” that was “trying to embarrass a hard working pundit who will now be subject to vile abuse from LUFC fans”.
A Leeds statement said the club “completely condemns any abuse received by Karen Carney on social media” but owner Andrea Radrizzani defended the club’s right to criticise her comments.
Radrizzani, who himself retweeted the club’s tweet, said: “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.”
