Seeing Sir Alex Ferguson rabbiting away with Gerard Houllier on French TV's comprehensive European Championship programme on Wednesday got me wondering about the language of football.

The conversation between the two managerial heavyweights was, of course, conducted in English, save for perhaps half a dozen French words rustled up by Sir Alex, who was in the most genial mood I have ever seen him.

The tittle-tattle went on for perhaps ten minutes, with a voiceover translating the two men's musings over Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, mutual wine tipples and Houllier's next job back into French for the benefit of viewers and the plethora of studio experts.

'Claudio Ranieri struggled at a bit at the start - but within 12 months of taking over at Chelsea he was chuntering away with the best of them'


As an Englishman who speaks some French and Spanish (seemingly a rare breed, even though I am certainly not fluent in either), I found myself questioning if ANY of today’s crop of British managers speak anything but their native tongue.

Could that be the reason, I wondered, that not a single big-name Brit is currently playing his trade with the big clubs of Europe? And why the Premier League is riddled with foreign bosses who without exception have a good working knowledge of English - and are in most cases more fluent than any of the players on their staff, and including, perhaps, the British ones?

In fact, apart from Bobby Robson, Terry Venables, Graeme Souness and John Toshack, I struggle to remember another British boss making it on the continent. And while I would imagine that those guys all picked up the local language at least to a workable level - I found myself laughing at the likelihood of dyed-in-the wool Brits like Fergie, Sam Allardyce and Harry Redknapp extending their language skills to European tongues.

Glaswegian, Boltonian or Pearly Kingish, perhaps - but a REAL second language? No lo creo (I don't believe it), as my Spanish friends would say. (To be honest, I also find it difficult to imagine Souness speaking Turkish, Italian and Portuguese, but that's another story).

The fact is that the British as a nation are arguably the world’s worst linguists. The logic seems to be: ''Everyone else speaks English, so why should we bother to learn their languages?'' You only have to go on holiday to Spain or Italy to discover the cringe-worthiness of their efforts. I actually heard a Brit go up to a Spanish barman and, in all seriousness, order ‘’Dos beers please’’ - thinking he really was speaking the local lingo.

It amazes me that friends think I am some sort of genius because I can order food in a French or Spanish restaurant in the language of the natives. Yet 90 per cent of Europeans speak far more English than I do either of those languages.

The arrival of Juande Ramos at Spurs was a prime example of the language skills of Europeans compared to us Brits. Here was a  man whose entire career had been spent in Spain and who no one could realistically have expected to babble more than a smattering of English. Yet there he was, communicating in our language with no problem at his initial press conference at White Hart Lane and giving the impression he could get his message over to even the thickest of English players.

When I think back to all the foreign managers who have graced these shores (ignoring the doubtful abilities of some of them), the one thing they all had in common is that they spoke reasonably good English when they arrived - and in most cases were fully fluent. OK, Claudio Ranieri struggled at a bit at the start - but within 12 months of taking over at Chelsea he was chuntering away with the best of them, albeit somewhat quaintly at times.

Which brings me on to the TV chuntering of the pundits over the midweek European Championship games. I've not watched the French version before, but their coverage seemed so much more complete than our mixed bag in the UK. Full live coverage of the Lyon-Stuttgart tie, lengthy studio links with with two of the Lyon stars and coach Alain Perrin after the  game - plus full highlights and after-match interviews from the clash between Lyon's group rivals Barcelona and Rangers. Not to forget coverage and analysis of all the night's other Champions League games.

Arsene Wenger spouted forth about Arsenal's tame draw with Slavia Prague, while Manchester United defender Patrice Evra waxed lyrical about the 4-0 thumping of Dynamo Kiev. I didn't see British coverage of the big games, but if any of our channels were anywhere near as comprehensive, I'd be staggered. I turned the TV off after nearly four hours...and the programme was still going strong!

For me, the revelation that Fergie speaks French (well, un petit peu) was the highlight of the evening...if only because I would have put money on him not speaking a single word of any alien language. You've proved me wrong, Sir Alex - now all need is for someone to convince me that Charlie Nicholas can speak English.

Do you find it embarrassing that foreign players and managers all seem to speak English, while out guys are invariably mono-lingual? Post your comments below or write an article of your own for Sportingo.