Joey Barton has congratulated Mary Earps after the Manchester United and England goalkeeper won the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award on Tuesday night.
The Lionesses goalkeeper has enjoyed a stellar 2023 and played a key role as her country reached the final of the Women's World Cup earlier in the year.
Earps fended off competition from cricket and athletics rivals Stuart Broad and Katarina Johnson-Thompson to secure the accolade.
She was visibly delighted on stage and has become the second England women's player to be recognised, with Beth Mead winning the prize 12 months ago.
Mary Earps was delighted after winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award
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Barton, meanwhile, has caused controversy with his views on female pundits and presenters.
But he's shown he's a fan of Earps' by saying on X: "Well done Mary."
Barton, who had spells with the likes of Newcastle, Manchester City, Rangers, QPR and Marseille during his playing days, also reacted after Kenny Daglish won the Lifetime Achievement award.
"Congratulations Kenny. A hero to the families of the @HillsboroughSu1," he added.
Earps, meanwhile, joked she felt a bit 'sick' after receiving her prize at the ceremony in Salford.
"I feel a bit sick actually," remarked the England and United star.
"I would like to say how humbled I am to be among incredible athletes.
"Sport is a fantastic thing that brings the world together and to hear your stories is unbelievable.
"Thanks to everyone for voting for me, I'm very honoured and humbled.
"This is the ultimate all-round sporting accolade, us Lionesses and Manchester United have had an amazing couple of years. But this is wow."
She added: “I am going to try this Christmas to get some time to reflect and think about it all.
“It has been an incredible couple of years and I just feel really, really grateful to have been given an opportunity to fulfil my wildest dreams.
"It is beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I cannot believe I am standing up here – and I had a long walk in this dress and these heels.
"It’s a bit ridiculous.
“I think what I’ve learned over the last couple of years is you’ve got to show a lot of resilience in life, a lot of character.
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Well done Mary. 👏👏👏 https://t.co/vg5nehICOM
— Joey Barton (@Joey7Barton) December 19, 2023
“It’s never easy. We all go through hard times.
"And in whatever walk of life we’re in, I think football is a vehicle, and we can all change the world in some small way.
"So that’s kind of what I’m trying to do.”
As for Dalglish, the Liverpool icon said he'd 'treasure' his award 'dearly'.
"I'll treasure this dearly," Dalglish said on stage.
"All we did in football was to try and make people happy and the best way to make them happy was to get results.
Mary Earps couldn't stop smiling after winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award
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"Fortunately we managed to do that a few times and if they enjoyed us winning it's only a fraction of the enjoyment we got from the support they gave us."
Dalglish added: "To go from the dressing room to the manager's office, I wasn't always the most comfortable, but I had fantastic support from senior people at Liverpool.
"The most comfortable place for me as a player was in the dressing room.
"I missed the dressing room, but you've got to move on in your life and that is what destiny was telling me, move on."
