Everything about Ron Atkinson totally explained
Ronald Franklin Atkinson, commonly known as
"Big Ron" (born
18 March,
1939) is an
English former
football player and
manager. In recent years he's become one of Britain's best-known football
pundits. He is perhaps most famous for his idiosyncratic turn of phrase: his utterances have become known as "Big-Ronisms" or "Ronglish", the most famous of which is the term "early doors" (
English: early), which has worked its way into the English vernacular - although in recent times, he's also attracted a lot of controversy over a racist comment broadcast on a TV sports show when he believed he was off the air.
Playing career
Ron Atkinson, who was born in
Liverpool but moved to
Birmingham a few weeks after his birth, didn't achieve great heights in his playing career. He was originally signed by
Aston Villa at the age of 17, but never played a first-team match for them and was transferred to
Oxford United in the close season of 1959 on a free transfer. There he played with his younger brother
Graham Atkinson. He went on to make over 500 appearances as a wing-half for the club, earning the nickname "The Tank". He was United's captain through their rise from the
Southern League to the
Second Division, achieved in just six years, from
1962 to
1968. He was the first man to captain a club from the Southern League through three divisions of the Football League.
Managerial career
After retiring from playing, Atkinson became manager of non-league
Kettering Town in 1971. His success there led to a move to the league with
Cambridge United, going on to win the then
Fourth Division in
1977 and leaving them when they were on the verge of promotion to the
Second Division. At the start of 1978, Atkinson moved to manage
First Division West Bromwich Albion He soon signed black player
Brendon Batson from his former club, to play alongside the black pair of
Laurie Cunningham and
Cyrille Regis. Never before had a team in the top division of English football simultaneously fielded three black players on a regular basis and the
Three Degrees, as they became known in reference to the
contemporary vocal trio of the same name, challenged the established racism of English football and marked a watershed that allowed a generation of footballers to enter the game who would previously have been excluded by their ethnic background.
Atkinson led West Bromwich Albion to third place in the league in the season
1978–79 and also to the
UEFA Cup quarter-finals. On
30 December 1978 they achieved a famous 5-3 victory over Manchester United at
Old Trafford. The club were second in the table at the time, only beaten off top spot from Liverpool by goal difference. They finished fourth in
1981, and shortly after this Atkinson became manager of Manchester United on the dismissal of
Dave Sexton.
Atkinson was very much a manager with charisma and sparkle, quite the opposite to his predecessor (who had taken them to second place in the league in
1980 but never won a major trophy since his appointment in
1977). In all of his seasons with United they did well. In 1981–82 United finished third in the
First Division. In
1982–83 two appearances at Wembley, one of which was an FA Cup victory against
Brighton & Hove Albion, coupled with another third place finish in the league, fuelled speculation that United were back in a big way. In
1983–84, Atkinson's side reached the semi-finals of the
European Cup Winners Cup and finished fourth in the
First Division. In
1985 United again won the FA Cup and ten successive victories in the
1985–86 season put him well ahead of the pack. However, their form tailed off badly and they again finished fourth.
Although the club won two
FA Cups during his tenure, he'd spent heavily, paying over £8 million for new signings. He had recouped more than £6 million with the sale of players, amongst whom were
Ray Wilkins and
Mark Hughes. The
1986–87 season opened disastrously and in November 1986 with the club fourth from bottom, Atkinson was sacked. He returned to West Brom in the autumn of 1987 for a year and then had a high-profile move to
Atlético Madrid of
Spain. This spell lasted a little over three months (96 days).
He was manager of
Sheffield Wednesday from February 1989 to June 1991. Although the club were relegated in 1990 to the Second Division, a year later in 1991 he guided them back to promotion. They also won the
League Cup by beating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley. He offended some Sheffield Wednesday fans by saying on
31 May 1991 that he'd be staying as manager but a week later leaving to become
Aston Villa manager.
Taking over from
Jozef Venglos, he led Aston Villa to second place in the inaugural 1993
FA Premier League and to
League Cup victory in 1994. However, he was sacked on
November 10 1994. After this he became manager at
Coventry City. He brought in high profile players including
Dion Dublin,
Noel Whelan and
Gary McAllister but they continued to struggle in the
Premier League and by
November 1996 he'd become Director of Football, handing over managerial duties to former assistant
Gordon Strachan.
In
November 1997, he returned to Sheffield Wednesday following the sacking of
David Pleat. Wednesday had made a poor start to the 1997-98 season, including a 7-2 loss at Blackburn and a 6-1 loss at Manchester United. Under Atkinson, Wednesday's form picked up immediately and they pulled well clear of relegation trouble, but he wasn't rewarded with a permanent contract.
His last managerial job came with
Nottingham Forest, for the final four months of the
1998-99 season. This spell wasn't a success and at his first home game he even climbed into the wrong dug-out. He also managed to upset many Forest fans following an 8-1 defeat at home to
Manchester United, when he stated in an interview after the game that his team had given the fans a "nine-goal thriller".
In a 2007 interview,
Pierre van Hooijdonk, who was a Forest player at the time, said he sometimes got the impression the side was managed by
Rowan Atkinson.
Broadcasting career
Atkinson was already working as a pundit for
ITV and after leaving management he continued in this role. For a number of years he covered most of the channel's live matches, sometimes as a studio pundit, but more often as the "
ex-football insider" member of a two-man commentary team. This exposure led to "Ronglish" becoming known to a wider audience. With his permanent
suntan and taste for chunky, gaudy
jewellery, he was often portrayed as a lovable buffoon in the UK
media.
This came to an end on
April 21,
2004, when Atkinson resigned from ITV after he was caught making a
racist remark live on air about the
black Chelsea F.C. player
Marcel Desailly: believing the microphone to be switched off, he said, "...he [Desailly] is what is known in some schools as a fucking lazy thick
nigger". Although transmission in the UK had finished, the
microphone gaffe meant that his comment was broadcast to various countries in the
Middle East. He also left his job as a columnist for
The Guardian "by mutual agreement" as a result of the comment.
It wasn't the first time Atkinson had committed a microphone gaffe. His comments about
AS Roma player,
Francesco Totti were broadcast to amazed German TV viewers. His view that
"He actually looks a little twat, that Totti" however received very little criticism from the UK media.
Since the Desailly incident, Atkinson has claimed that the comment was an aberration and that he isn't racist, citing in his defence that his West Brom side was the first high-profile British club to have a significant number of black players. This, however, hasn't diminished the condemnation he's received from
anti-racist groups and the public at large, who question whether Atkinson would have resigned had the comment not been accidentally broadcast and note that it wasn't the first time he'd used racist language. In an article published in the
Sunday Times on
19 September 2004, Atkinson was referred to as "Racist Ron". A
BBC Radio documentary about the
Three Degrees, repeated on
16 May,
2004, was cancelled owing to Atkinson's central contributions.
Later in 2004, the
Daily Mirror reported how he sparked more hostility among fans by making
derogatory remarks about
Chinese women, proclaiming that "Chinese women were the unprettiest in the world..." He followed this with a joke by saying the population of China is such as it's because of their lack of knowledge of contraception; all of which he said during a meeting over a meal.
It was reported Atkinson was being brought in to support
Iffy Onuora at
Swindon Town in December
2005, and Atkinson and the club appeared to confirm this. However it later transpired that Atkinson's role was simply as part of a
Sky One documentary about the club being filmed at the County Ground. In late January 2006 Atkinson and Swindon parted company, with Swindon manager Onuora citing interference as the main reason for stopping the documentary from going ahead. Just a week later the cameras turned up at Peterborough United's ground, London Road, to begin filming for the documentary called
Big Ron Manager. It is believed Peterborough owner/acting manager Barry Fry was offered £100,000 to allow the filming to take place. Just three months later the club was thrown into turmoil as caretaker manager
Steve Bleasdale resigned just 70 minutes before kick off against Macclesfield Town (
22 April,
2006) citing interference from a number of people in the running of first team affairs, many believing the documentary involving Ron Atkinson had a major part to play.
Atkinson spent the 2006 World Cup recording an amateur video blog and distributing it through the UK-based video sharing site, SelfcastTV.com. He also provided commentary on the World Cup for the UK digital channel
UKTV G2.
Atkinson recently took part in the
BBC Two programme
Excuse My French. Atkinson, comedian
Marcus Brigstocke and television presenter
Esther Rantzen were immersed in the French language by staying in a remote town in the
Provence region, being compelled to adapt to the French lifestyle and speak the language. His assignment at the end of the course was to provide a match analysis on a football match (
Paris Saint-Germain -
AS Monaco) in French for a French radio station. Being a complete beginner to the French language, he found the experience a considerable challenge, although he succeeded. The assignment was made more difficult by the fact that the match concerned was a dull goalless draw, leaving him with little to talk about.
He briefly made a return to television, appearing as a pundit on Football Italia broadcast on Bravo. Since Serie A coverage has been shown on Channel 5 however, Atkinson hasn't been invited as a pundit.
Director of Football
On
January 23,
2007 Atkinson returned to
Kettering Town, the club he'd managed more than 30 years previously, as Director of Football. However it was announced on
April 19,
2007 that he'd left the post at the
Conference North club following his disapproval over the sacking of manager Morell Maison.
On
October 18,
2007, it was announced that the 68-year-old Atkinson would take over as consultant at
Halesowen Town, where he'd assist Morell Maison who would be appointed manager. Halesowen, who, when Atkinson took over, were 13th in the
Southern League, three divisions below the Football League, now lie 2nd with hopes of automatic promotion. As of February 2008, Atkinson has, apparently, left his role at Halesowen in order to pursue business interests.
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