Ron Atkinson

Ron "Big Ron" Atkinson, born 18 March 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 never achieved 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.

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. The next season he was signed by First Division West Bromwich Albion, leading them to third place in the league in season 1979/80. This caught the eye of Manchester United, one of England's biggest clubs, and in June 1981 he became their manager.

Although the club won two F.A. 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. His last managerial job came with Nottingham Forest, whom he briefly managed in 1999.

Atkinson then became a pundit for ITV, acting in the "voice of experience" role in most of the channel's coverage of major live football matches. This exposure has led to "Ronglish" becoming known to a wider audience.

On 21 April 2004, Atkinson resigned from ITV after making a racist remark live on air about the black Chelsea player Marcel Desailly; calling him a "fucking lazy nigger". Atkinson believed that the microphone was switched off at the time. Although transmission in England had finished, his comment was broadcast to various countries in the Middle East.