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Weekly Football Phrase: Sacking Season
In this football phrase of the week we look at the cliche, ‘the sacking season‘ after two high-profile manager sackings in the Premier League this week. You can read the transcript for this post below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us here.
DF: Hello everyone. This is Damian from the Learn English Through Football team and I hope you are all doing well. I am in a really cold London where we have ice and frost and a good chance of snow later on this week! Freezing here!
Welcome to this week’s football phrase – apologies for the slight delay – and this is of course when we look back at some of the football language from the past week. And today we look at a cliche connected to getting the sack in football and this is, ‘the sacking season‘.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (from a Swedish listener)
DF: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast and that message was in Swedish.
The Sacking Season
DF: Right, many of you will know that two high-profile managers in the Premier League have lost their jobs this week: Chelsea and Enzo Maresca parted ways, while Ruben Amorim was sacked by Manchester United. In Scotland, Celtic sacked their manager Wilfired Nancy after only 33 days in charge, while Championship club West Brom sacked Ryan Mason and this means four managers have lost their jobs in the space of only a few days. When a lot of managers lose their jobs in a short space of time we can hear the phrase or cliche, ‘the sacking season‘ to describe this situation.
Usually, the first international break in October is a common time for the sacking season as clubs feel that this is a good time to change their managers as it is still relatively early in the season. The clubs may be near the bottom of the table or going through a bad run which is what happened in West Brom’s case (10 away defeats in a row) and also Celtic who lost six out of eight games with Nancy in charge, including a cup final and the Old Firm derby. Both managers lost their posts because of bad performances from their clubs.
The two Premier League sackings were slightly different. Yes, neither team was playing very well, but there was clear tension between the owners and the managers which led to their dismissals; their sackings. Both of the managers (Maresca from Chelsea and Amorim from Manchester United) used press conferences to show their disagreement or their unhappiness with the board (or the club) and when this happens at clubs usually there is only one outcome: the dismissal or the sacking of the coach.
So, four managers losing their jobs early in the new year means the sacking season is back. I wonder who might be the next high-profile manager to be shown the door; to be sacked?
Here is how the BBC website reported the four sackings this week:
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Enzo Maresca has left his role as Chelsea manager with the club sitting fifth in the Premier League.
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Manchester United have sacked manager Ruben Amorim, with the club planning to appoint a caretaker manager for the remainder of the season.
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Celtic have parted company with manager Wilfried Nancy, with Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by Rangers his sixth loss in just eight matches and his 33-day reign the shortest in the club’s history.
- West Bromwich Albion head coach Ryan Mason has been sacked by the Championship club following Monday’s defeat at Leicester City.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (a Greek fan)
DF: That message was from a football fan in Greece. It would be great for more fans to send us on a stinger (or a message) for our show; just say ‘you are listening to Learn English Through Football.com’ in English or in any language that you know! We’d love to hear from you.
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast
DF: So, on today’s football expression of the week we looked at the cliche, ‘the sacking season‘ which refers to the fact that many football managers have lost their jobs this week. We have also heard different ways to talk about these sackings, including: ‘part ways‘ and ‘shown the door‘ and ‘dismissal‘. What other phrases do you know that describe a football manager losing their job? How about in another language that you know? Again, let us know by coming along to Learningenglishthroughfootball.com.
Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll see you soon with another football-language podcast this weekend. And we’ll be looking ahead to the third round of the FA Cup – one of the big, traditional weekends of football in England. Until then, bye bye.
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