Women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova stepped into a social media debate in defense of famed “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling over biological males in women’s spaces on Thursday. 

Rowling responded to an X thread by English columnist Dan Hodges, who was condemning what he considered “hostile” treatment of biological male transgender people who enter women’s spaces. 

Rowling sarcastically wrote in response to Hodges, “A man explaining to women that they should pretend some of his fellow men are women because that’s ‘respectful’ is exactly what this debate needed. Thanks for your bravery.”

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Rowling later wrote, “What you, and many other men, fail to grasp, possibly because you’re so used to women coddling men’s feelings you see it as the natural order of things, is that while a trans-identified man is absolutely and rightly free to dress and refer to himself however he likes in our society, that doesn’t give him rights over women’s beliefs and speech.

“I don’t believe a man literally becomes a woman when he identifies as one, and as I have freedom of speech, I have the right to call him a man. The verifiable truth of sex forms the legal basis for women’s rights and for safeguarding. Nothing reveals your inability to grasp this issue, or your fundamental sexism, more than the fact that you, a man, are assuming the right to dictate to women how they should speak about men.” 

Another user then responded to Rowling, arguing that the topic of trans people invading women’s spaces is a “fringe issue.” 

Navratilova then entered the debate in defense of Rowling. 

“Fringe for you maybe. Not so fringe for the women who are affected by males in women’s sex based spaces . Compelled speech is not ok either,” Navratilova wrote. 

AOC RIPPED BY WOMEN’S SPORTS ACTIVISTS IN RESPONSE TO ‘TRANSGENDER AWARENESS WEEK’ POST 

Tennis legend and female rights activist Martina Navratilova blasted The New York Times for a controversial description of biological women. (Angel Martinez/Getty Images for Laureus)

Navratilova has been a polarizing figure on social media for her conflicted support for liberals and opposition of Trump. She regularly slams Democrats for allowing biological males in women’s sports.

Last December, she said she was “mad” Republicans have tackled the nationwide controversy of trans athletes in women’s sports instead of the Democrats. 

“And I am so mad that the Republicans captured this issue – shame on all the elected Democrats who keep silent on this!!! #whataboutthewomen,” she wrote on X.

The tennis legend appeared at the Independent Women’s Forum’s Take Back Title IX rally in June to address the issue.

“Initially, being the Democrats and the women that we are for the most part, we in this group were trying to find every single possible way to include trans-identified men, males who identify as women, into women’s sports,” she said. “And the more we try to find a way to mitigate the advantage, to handicap, to somehow to include, the more we figured out it’s not possible. It’s not possible to do it in a fair way, and here we are in a much different position.

“As I got deeper into the issue, I also saw the connection between women’s sex-based spaces and women’s sports. They are totally interconnected, and I’m sure the swimmers at Penn could tell you all about that. You heard about Lia Thomas, right?

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Martina Navratilova in September 2022 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

“Now, it’s, ‘Oh, you’re a homophobe.’ Go figure. I’ve been out since ’81. Yeah, I’m a homophobe,” she said, rolling her eyes. “‘You’re a bigot, you’re a transphobe, you’re a Nazi, you’re a fascist, you’re a communist,’ everything and everything in between. And this is coming from the left. I am the left! My people are turning on me. They’re turning on us women who speak up for women’s sex-based rights.”

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It’s one of the biggest jobs in football, a club that has — as their supporters sing at every game — won it all, but to be head coach at Chelsea, top-level experience and a proven track record are not required, so don’t expect an elite managerial name to replace Enzo Maresca. If you think that makes no sense — a view taken by many confused Chelsea fans right now — it is the reality of the “new” Chelsea under the control of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali’s Clearlake Capital.

So don’t be surprised that former Hull City manager Liam Rosenior, now coaching Chelsea’s Ligue 1 partner club Strasbourg, is a leading candidate to take over from Maresca at Stamford Bridge. Rosenior is talented and well-regarded, but his last job in English football ended with the sack at Hull, so his appointment is unlikely to be well-received by the Chelsea fan base, just as Maresca’s arrival was met with a lukewarm reception in 2024.

Maresca parted company with Chelsea on New Year’s Day after just 18 months in charge, despite delivering success in last season’s UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup, and also securing UEFA Champions League qualification with a fourth-place finish in last season’s Premier League.

But winning is no longer the primary consideration at Chelsea. It is also about fitting in with the ownership’s blueprint, and that involves young coaches with potential just as much as it revolves around recruiting the best emerging playing talent from all over the world.

It is a club with two owners, two sporting directors — Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart — and a raft of other prominent figures in its so-called “integrated football leadership structure,” including former Liverpool director of scouting and recruitment Dave Fallows and talent scouts Sam Jewell and Joe Shields. It is also a team that requires the head coach to heed the advice of medical staff rather than merely take it under consideration, so managing the team at Chelsea is a job that would likely lead an experienced manager to say, “Thanks, but no thanks” if an offer came his way.

But that’s Chelsea, and whether it is working or not is another matter. Measuring success at the modern Chelsea is no longer as straightforward as it used to be, and that is a big reason why Maresca is no longer in a job.

For almost 20 years, under the ownership of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, Chelsea were all about big spending and ambition to match, with José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel some of the blue-chip coaches hired by Abramovich.

Abramovich demanded success, and he recruited the biggest names in coaching to deliver it. And it was an approach that worked, with Chelsea winning two Champions Leagues and five Premier Leagues during the Abramovich era (2003-2022) before U.K. government sanctions forced the oligarch to sell the club in May 2022.

Maresca would never have been hired by Abramovich, so his arrival as head coach at Stamford Bridge defined the changes at the club. At the time of his appointment, the 45-year-old had been a head coach for less than 18 months: six months with Parma in Italy’s Serie B before being fired for failing to put the team in contention for promotion, and then a full season with Leicester City, guiding the Foxes to the EFL Championship title and a return to the Premier League.

By hiring Maresca, Boehly and Clearlake reverted back to their original plan of identifying a bright, young coach who would develop a team of equally bright and hungry players.

The first attempt with Graham Potter, who replaced Tuchel just seven games into the new regime’s first season, was a short-lived failure, while the more experienced Mauricio Pochettino lasted just one season before leaving his post due to his call for older, more season players being rejected by the ownership group. But when Chelsea turned to Maresca, after considering the similarly inexperienced but highly rated Kieran McKenna from Ipswich Town, it signaled the determination of the club to do it their way.

An Abramovich-era coach would quickly push back on the requirements of the integrated football leadership structure and demand to be given the tools with which to do the job of winning. But by giving a young coach a huge opportunity ahead of his time, the thinking would be that he would be so grateful to have the chance of managing an elite club such as Chelsea that the frustrations of a more senior coach would not be aired, and he would happily embrace the collegiate approach laid down by the owners.

That works for only a short time, though, and Maresca perhaps felt emboldened enough by last season’s successes to push a little bit harder for the players that he felt he needed to take the team into title contention. That was what ultimately led to Pochettino leaving the club, just as Tuchel was gone within weeks of a chaotic summer transfer window that resulted in him urging the club not to make a move for Cristiano Ronaldo.

So when Chelsea hire a new coach, young, up-and-coming and malleable will be the key criteria for the successful candidate. The days of Chelsea hiring the cream of coaching are firmly in the past.

Chelsea confirmed on Thursday they have parted ways with manager Enzo Maresca ahead of Sunday’s game against Manchester City.

Maresca’s 18-month spell at Stamford Bridge comes to an end after a run of one win in seven Premier League games that left his side fifth in the table, though sources have told ESPN the primary reason for his exit is a breakdown in relations with the club’s hierarchy.

His exit was confirmed in a 99-word statement following talks about his future.

Chelsea’s official wording stopped short of saying that Maresca had been sacked, rather that “Enzo and the club believe a change gives the team the best chance of getting the season back on track.”

Sources said the club’s hierarchy had become concerned by Maresca’s behavior, with the 45-year-old having been increasingly public with his displays of dissent toward Chelsea’s ownership.

Maresca claimed last month he had experienced “the worst 48 hours” of his time at the club in the buildup to a 2-0 win over Everton.

Maresca repeatedly declined to explain that outburst, but sources told ESPN that this due to ongoing issues he had with medical advice over player loads as opposed to a one-off bust-up behind the scenes.

Sources also said that Maresca’s public comments took members of his own staff by surprise.

Chelsea have not confirmed who will be in the dugout for Sunday’s key clash against City, though Under-21s head coach Calum McFarlane will speak to the media on Friday at a pre-game news conference.

For the long term, sources told ESPN that Liam Rosenior, in charge of the BlueCo-owned Strasbourg, is a contender — while Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner is not in the running.

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Maresca’s last game was a 2-2 draw against AFC Bournemouth on Tuesday, when they were booed off at Stamford Bridge after the final whistle. Maresca faced chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” from fans when opting to substitute Cole Palmer.

He also did not appear at his postmatch news conference. The official explanation given at the time was that Maresca was “sick.”

Maresca, who joined Chelsea in July 2024, guided the club back to Champions League football in his debut season by finishing fourth in the Premier League, as well as lifting the Conference League title and the inaugural Club World Cup.

His contract was due to run until 2029, with the club holding an option for an additional year.

Sources told ESPN that despite reports linking Maresca to Manchester City in the event of Pep Guardiola’s departure as manager, the club regards the links as nothing more than speculation as it has no vacancy to fill.

Information from ESPN’s Mark Ogden was used in this report.