Strictly star Karen Carney says football punditry criticism ‘crushed’ her | OneFootball

Former England Women footballer Karen Carney has revealed the reason why she joined the cast of Strictly Come Dancing this year.

The Lionesses star, 38, has been paired with professional dancer Carlos Gu in the 23rd series of the hit BBC dancing programme.

Since retiring from football in 2019, the former Chelsea and Arsenal player has become a regular football pundit, appearing on TNT Sports, Sky Sports and ITV Sport.

But after facing backlash over her role, she said she has joined the show to “rebuild” her confidence.

Carney spoke about the criticism she faced as a woman talking about men’s football and told Women’s Health’s podcast Just As Well: “I think I had it quite bad about four years ago, that was very, very challenging.

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Carney has regularly appeared as a pundit on TNT Sports, Sky Sports and ITV Sport (The FA via Getty Images)

“But since then, whether you like it or not, you have to build resilience. And I think, for me, my attitude – put my athlete hat on – is to be the best version of myself, work as hard as I can, be a great team player, and actually what we learned in football was never to impress your manager, impress your teammates.

“So for me, if I’m next to someone like a Roy Keane or an Ian Wright, or whoever it might be, if they’re happy with me and they know I worked hard, they know I’ve done my research, they know I’ve done my prep, then that’s all that matters to me.

“The rest, I can’t control what people think about me. I genuinely can’t. I’ve had to just go with that mindset.

“But Jesus Christ, it has knocked my confidence… it’s why I wanted to do Strictly as well, to rebuild my confidence again, because the negativity has crushed me.”

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Since the new series of Strictly started a few weeks ago, Carney said she was “absolutely loving it” and is most looking forward to the Couple’s Choice week.

She said: “Honestly, I’ve just got a massive smile on my face. It’s such an honour and privilege to be on the show.

“I’ve watched it for so long and follow it every week. You fall in love with it and, yeah, I can’t believe I’m actually on it, it’s bizarre.

“Hopefully my fitness comes through. I’m not gonna put myself under too much pressure. Like, genuinely, I love the show and I’m just so happy to be part of it. And no matter how short or long it is, I just wanna really enjoy it.

“I went to a live show last year, followed it for years and years, and it’s just an honour.”

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Carney has been paired with professional dancer Carlos Gu for this series (BBC)

Carney recently became the first footballer to top the Strictly leaderboard in 18 years after the pair’s jive to Blondie’s One Way Or Another received a score of 31 during the first live show.

She also emphasised the importance of having appropriate facilities for women footballers.

Carney said: “I was speaking to some of the dance pros the other day – imagine if they didn’t have the right dance floor, the right dance shoes, the right nutrition, the right training environment, the right S&C (strength and conditioning) – would they be the best dance pros? No they wouldn’t.

“So for us (footballers) that’s really, really important… and then kick on from there. And look what’s happened now with the women’s football… double European champions and the league’s going from strength to strength. So it really isn’t rocket science.”