Ian Wright reignites England Women’s World Cup bonus row as he slams ’embarrassing’ FA decision
IAN WRIGHT has reignited the row over England Women’s World Cup bonuses.
That’s by slamming the FA’s “embarrassing” decision to refuse the Lionesses’ requests before England's 1-0 final defeat to Spain.
England players were left stunned before the World Cup when they asked for a win bonus of £100,000 while competing in Australia.
The figure amounted to just a fifth of what was on offer for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions in Qatar last year.
But the FA did not agree to the sum, with no resolution found before the start of the tournament last month.
Talks over bonuses will resume this week following England’s World Cup final against Spain.
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But speaking before kick-off, Arsenal legend Wright addressed the situation head-on while working as a pundit for ITV.
He hit out at the FA for not working out issues over payments with Sarina Wiegman and her Euro champions.
And referring to the delayed talks over bonuses, Wright added that the situation was “embarrassing.”
He said: “Wiegman is staying, she’s got a world-class side, there’s no reason for her to go anywhere.
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“I hope she gets paid what she deserves and I hope the players get the bonuses they deserve.
“[Bonus situation?] It’s really quite embarrassing.”
England star Lucy Bronze had her say on the failed talks before the tournament started in July.
She said: “"The players are feeling very empowered.
"I think it’s the first time as a player group we’ve actually ever sent the message out ourselves that we’ve collectively done together.
"It's super sad that we have these issues. This was something that we spoke about as an England group.
"We're not only doing this for ourselves, we're doing it so that we can set a standard.
"People tend to focus on numbers. We're talking about the principle of pushing the game on, of keeping pushing the standards higher and higher.
"That it's not just about what the figures are, but about what this represents
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"It's unfortunate that it has come before the World Cup, but at the same time, it's because the World Cup gives us the big stage.
"It's when people want to listen to us, it's when things really matter."
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