
Karen Carney interview: I treat punditry for men's and women's football exactly the same
'It's long overdue,' says Karen Carney, reflecting with pride on her part in history and yet some disappointment that the soaring popularity of women's football has not been translated into another English Champions League winner.
Carney was one of the creative sparks for a trailblazing Arsenal team in 2007 that, even in the context of her own gilded career, she still regards as unique. 'I've never played in a team like it since… with such mental grit and determination,' she says.
'When I joined, I didn't realise how important that Champions League was to that group. They had been building towards it for so long. It may sound really arrogant but…we were just so good. There were egos in that team but, when you crossed the line, everyone did what they had to do. I've never seen a group conform to want to win as much. Sometimes egos seem a negative thing, but it was big, big characters and you had each other's backs.'
Few doubt that similar resilience and determination will be needed when a new Arsenal generation seeks to emulate that feat against the mighty Barcelona in Lisbon on Saturday. Barcelona's women are going for a fourth European title in five years but Carney, who was part of a Birmingham City team that shocked Chelsea in the 2012 Women's FA Cup final, believes that an upset is possible.
On the day we met, she had been watching videos of rare recent Barcelona defeats – against Real Madrid and Manchester City – and is now better known to a younger generation of football fans as a pundit across both women's and men's football.
Carney's preparation for each match spans multiple days and, after Saturday, she will switch her focus to the men's Champions League final for which she will also be working as a TNT Sports pundit.
'I love it: preparation is my favourite part… when I can sit at home, no one bothering me, and watch all the games back,' she says. 'I try to use as many clips as possible – I'm a visual learner so it's easier for me to explain. I watch a lot of the games with no sound on so I can concentrate on myself and what I see. I'm confident in what I see and believe in.'
So is there any difference in preparing to analyse women's and men's football, perhaps in terms of some of the decisive trends and nuances?
'It's go and look at all the teams; research them,' she says. 'I see football as football. How are you going to win a game? Who are the match-winners? Who is going to be the difference? What's the form going into it? Tactically look at the shape and the systems. I wouldn't even know the difference half the time when I'm watching the games. My preparation does not change.'
Carney's fascination with football's endless intricacies is obvious, but she actually became a pundit inadvertently after deciding that watching more matches, and studying opponents, could give her an edge. 'I started doing the punditry mainly to prolong my career as a footballer,' she says. 'Then I got into it, got the opportunity and I was like, 'I'll keep working hard and try and get better and better and better'. I enjoy it. It's a joy.'
So how does she compare this Arsenal team to the pioneering group that triumphed in 2007 and also included Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey, Alex Scott, Anita Asante, Lianne Sanderson and Faye White.
'Vic [Akers, the women's manager and long-time Arsenal men's kitman] drilled it into us about the Arsenal way, what it meant to play for the football club, what it meant to wear the badge, and respect for the football club,' says Carney. 'You didn't want to let them down. Vic was unbelievable – he was Mr Arsenal; sat next to Arsène Wenger at every match. He really tried to integrate the men's and women's teams to make it one football club.
'It was a special time. The team, personality and calibre of players were phenomenal. Obviously now it is more professional given the resources and given the recovery strategies – we didn't have that. But I do believe if that team had the resources, it would still have achieved what it had. It had everything you would want – strength, power, physicality, technical ability, the world's best players. The game has moved on and we want that… and we want it to keep going and going.'
To that end, Carney led a government review into women's football in 2023 that made 10 recommendations. She is upbeat about the progress but singles out minimum standards – in training facilities, medical support, salaries, parental packages, union representation – as of utmost importance. 'Without those minimum standards, we can't become the force that we want to be – we are going to that place and it is growing,' she says. 'I've been involved in meetings and conversations, everyone is really pulling in the right direction. We have got a massive summer coming up with the Euros. The world will be watching women's football – and we have to be ready that everything is moving in the right direction for that jump.'
Another English Champions League triumph would of course also only widen that platform. 'We were massively the underdogs [in 2007] – we had so much lady luck,' she says. 'You need a bit of luck, you need a good game plan. Barcelona will be favourites… they have got every element. But you only have to play them once. Sometimes you have to defend, be compact, do the things you don't want to do. It's been 18 years – I think it's long overdue given our league is so strong, given how well our national team has been doing. It would be great for an English club to win it – amazing for the game.'
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