Profile of Ron Atkinson on Famous Like Me

Ronald Frederick "Big Ron" Atkinson (born March 18, 1939 in Liverpool, England) is a British former football player and manager. In recent years he has 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.

Atkinson did not 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 1959. He went on to make over 500 appearances as a wing-half for the club, and earned the nickname "The Tank". He was United's captain through their rise from the Southern League to the Second Division, achieved in just seven seasons.

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.

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 an English team simultaneously fielded three black players 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 1979/80 before catching the eye of Manchester United, one of England's biggest clubs. In June 1981 he became their manager. Although the club won two FA Cups during his tenure, the dominance of the Merseyside clubs in this era meant that success in the league was elusive and Atkinson was sacked in 1986. He returned to West Brom for a year and then had a high-profile move to Atletico Madrid of Spain. This spell only lasted 96 days. In the 1990s, Atkinson was employed by several English league clubs, often in a "fire-fighting" role after a previously unsuccessful manager had been sacked. 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. He performed this role on two separate occasions for Sheffield Wednesday following the disastrous reigns of Peter Eustace and David Pleat, and it was on the first of these occasions that he guided the resurgent Second Division side to an unexpected League Cup victory. His last managerial job came with Nottingham Forest, whom he briefly managed in 1999.

Atkinson was already working as a pundit for ITV while still employed as a manager, and since leaving management he has continued in this role. In recent years he has 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 has led to "Ronglish" becoming known to a wider audience. With his permanent suntan and taste for chunky, gaudy jewellery, he has often been portrayed as a loveable buffoon in the U.K. media.

This changed on 21 April 2004, when Atkinson resigned from ITV after making a racist remark live on air about the black Chelsea 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, 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. Since the incident, Atkinson has claimed that the comment was an aberration and that he is not 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, has not diminished the condemnation he has 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 was not the first time he had used racist language. A BBC Radio documentary about the 'Three Degrees', due to be repeated on 16 May 2004, was cancelled owing to Atkinson's central contributions.

Ron then went on to surpass himself at a function for Sheffield Wednesday Football Club in January 2005 when he asserted that "the Chinese people have the best contraception in the world - but I can't understand why there's so many of them because their women are so ugly."

In his defence, Atkinson went on to say, "I cannot believe anyone has complained about anything I said. I went there to help them out and to raise money. I stayed for ages and did photographs. I just can't believe this. I can't say anything now. I've been ultra-careful about everything. It was an easy evening and everyone enjoyed themselves."

Some "Ronglish" terms

• early doors: early
• lollipop: a trick performed by a player, often a winger, consisting of passing the foot over the ball in an attempt to fool an opposition defender
• amusement arcade: a skilful but ineffective player
• reducer: a firm tackle made early in the game to reduce a skilled player's contribution
• Hollywood ball: an overambitious pass
• spotter's badge: plaudit given to a player who has made an accurate pass
• little eyebrows: a header made which glances off the player's forehead intentionally

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