In honour of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement from Manchester United this week after more than a quarter of a century in charge we look at five Fergie-inspired posts from the Languagecaster.com archives. Click on the links below to read these posts, while vocabulary support (in bold) appears at the foot of the report.
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5 Ferguson-inspired Languagecaster Posts
1. Fergie
Hardly the most intimidating of nicknames – it’s no ‘Psycho’ (Stuart Pearce) or even ‘The Baby-Faced Assassin’ (Ole Gunnar Solskjær) – but the shortened form of Sir Alex Ferguson: ‘Fergie’ still resonates around the football world, particularly when it comes before the word ‘time’. Fergie-time has been the bane of many an opposing manager as the referee appears to add on extra seconds or even minutes at Old Trafford, while Sir Alex points to his watch.
2. The Hairdryer Treatment
It is hard to imagine the modern footballer with their trappings of wealth and disdain for authority to be in any way afraid of an elderly gentleman but when Fergie gets going then that is indeed what happens. Come to think of it, an old man screaming in my face is quite a scary proposition. One that would make even me perform slightly better in the second half.
3. Mind Games
Perhaps Sir Alex Ferguson’s best ever example of playing mind games was convincing us all that he was indeed a master of the psychology of the sport. Over the years he got under the skin of many of his adversaries such as Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger as he attempted to gain the upper-hand before a big game. Sure enough they would take the bait and Fergie’s mind games would begin again.
4. Squeaky-bum time
Ferguson coined this phrase to describe the excitement of the business end of the season and by 2005 it had become so well known that it appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary.
5. A Profile of Sir Alex Ferguson (from 2011)
In this post from 2011 we profile some of Sir Alex Ferguson’s great moments in football complete with vocabulary support for learners of English.
Vocabulary
intimidating: To put under pressure
resonates: Echoes; sounds
the bane of: The cause of trouble
trappings of wealth: Showing their wealth/riches
disdain for authority: Lacking in respect
a scary proposition: A scary idea
he got under the skin: To irritate; to annoy
coined this phrase: To invent the phrase
