Joey Barton has slammed Sadiq Khan’s £6.3million project for all six London Overground rail lines to have new names and colours.
In recent months, Barton has been widely condemned – even by Rishi Sunak – for his attacks on female pundits, even going as far as invoking the names of serial killers Fred and Rose West when making vindictive remarks online.
On Thursday, he continued that trend as he took aim at Khan’s new project for a major rebrand regarding the Overground rail lines and, in particular, the decision to name one line after the England women’s team.
The Lioness, Mildmay, Windrush, Weaver, Suffragette and Liberty lines were revealed by the Mayor before Barton made a remark regarding the naming.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Barton queried: ‘Will the “Lioness” Line go at a slower speed and be error strewn to make it more realistic? Asking for a friend’.
Joey Barton has slammed Sadiq Khan’s £6.3million project for all six London Overground rail lines to have new names and colours
London Mayor Khan hailed the ‘brilliant’ names that will save passengers from ‘nightmare’ journeys, after making the announcement on Thursday morning
The new Lioness, Mildmay, Windrush, Weaver, Suffragette and Liberty lines on the Overground
Barton queried whether the Lioness line will ‘go at a slower speed’ than the others
Barton has previously taken aim at the Lionesses, as he claimed he would score ‘100 out of 100 penalties’ against England goalkeeper Mary Earps.
The former Man City and QPR midfielder also took aim at Earps when she claimed BBC Sport Personality of the Year award in December.
He wrote: ‘Sports Personality of the Year, more f***ing nonsense. Well done to all involved. So the best sports person this year is… A women [sic] goalie.
‘Lost in a couple of finals this year. Not won a sausage. So popular that Nike didn’t even sell a replica jersey before tournament.
‘You telling me all those who jumped on that bandwagon, haven’t voted in the BBC nonsense. Good luck to Mary. Hope she make a few quid.’
Barton has also previously claimed that England’s men team would beat European champions, the Lionesses, 30-0 inside one half of football.
Former Premier League midfielder Barton has been widely condemned for his attacks on female pundits and players in recent months
Barton has previously claimed that England’s men team would beat European champions, the Lionesses, 30-0 inside one half of football
Back in December, Barton reposted a video of a team of former members of the USA women’s team losing 12-0 to a team of ex-Wrexham players, accompanied by another seemingly sexist caption.
’12-0 Retired men on a smaller pitch!’ the former Bristol Rovers boss wrote.
‘But yeah let’s just keep pretending it’s the same game shall we? Last thing we want is people to get their knickers in a twist.
‘The Women’s game is growing and that is amazing. Stop trying to ruin ours!’
One account then suggested that England’s men would beat the Lionesses 30-0, to which Barton replied: ‘First half…’ followed by a thumbs up and a laughing emoji.
Barton lambasted the decision to hand England star Mary Earps the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award back in December
Barton claimed in a follow-up post he would score ‘100 out of 100 penalties’ against Earps
Barton wasn’t the only one to take issue with Khan’s £6.3million project with further critics highlighting the high rebrand cost given TfL had been on the verge of bankruptcy before securing last-minute Government funding.
The announcement also comes four days before a major Overground strike will hit services from next Monday – and in the context on ongoing Underground chaos on the Central line due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Mr Khan, who is standing for re-election on May 2, caused fury with his Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) expansion last August – and is now battling for votes with his recent decisions to freeze Tube fares and make Fridays off-peak from next month.
Overground lines have all been orange since the network was created in 2007 when Transport for London (TfL) took control of services on four suburban rail lines.
