ITV presenter Laura Woods has taken to Twitter to respond to Ian Wright's notable exchange with her live on air during coverage of France's World Cup clash with Denmark.
The ITV host was the subject of criticism from iconic television presence Des Lynam earlier on in the tournament in his column analysing the work of all the pundits and presenters out in Qatar so far. He took issue with the fact that Woods referred to Wright as "Wrighty", which clearly hasn't gone down well with the Arsenal legend.
He addressed the situation live on air on Saturday night, after Woods asked: "Is that another example, Ian, of where some people aren't impressed by it?", he replied: "You know what Lozza, it doesn't matter, you don't have to call me Ian. Look, how long we've known each other? Call me Wrighty like you normally do."
Wright has since uploaded a clip of that exchange and uploaded it to Twitter, prompting Woods to reply with a handshake emoji and love heart smiley face.
Lynam's assessment of the situation raised eyebrows, as he wrote in the Daily Telegraph : "This was the first live match for ITV [Netherlands vs Senegal] and was presented by the ever–smiling Laura Woods. She has done quite a lot of presentation work on both radio and television and comes over as both confident and capable.
"She called Ian Wright ‘Wrighty’ which sounds comfortable coming from the likes of Lineker but it made me slightly wince. I may be wrong and perhaps they are close friends but the over-familiarity made me a touch uncomfortable.
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"The other pundits were Gary Neville and the former Dutch international Nigel de Jong. Laura refrained from calling them Gaz or Nige."
In the aftermath, Woods hit back with her reply as she wrote on Twitter: "Jeez. Of all the things covered this is what made Des wince?"
Wright echoed a similar sentiment at the time, adding: "How’s Des vexed that Laura called me ‘Wrighty’!!! Looking for something negative to write," alongside a GIF featuring the text "I know a hater’s voice when I hear it."
Woods remains a popular figure among viewers, many of whom defended her on social media in light of Lynam's review of her presenting earlier on in the week.
One wrote: "Big fan of Laura Woods continuing to refer to Ian Wright as 'Wrighty' despite what another pundit has said about that recently feels blatant. Here for it."
Another added: "How can Woodsie, an Arsenal fan, even contemplate calling Wrighty anything else, love you both!!"
