With the Premier League foreign legion growing year-on-year, and with clubs preparing for another increase during the January transfer window, interpreters are becoming an increasingly common sight in the dressing room.
Whilst Fabio Capello has vowed to have mastered the English language by the time he meets his players ahead of the game against Switzerland, the FA are likely to have an interpreter on stand-by just in case.
But whilst there is no shortage of interpreters in football circles, finding the right man may not be as easy as you might imagine.
Some clubs go for the safe option, opting for a former player who happens to have knowledge of the necessary languages. Take Tottenham Hotspur as an example.
When Spaniard Juande Ramos was appointed to replace Martin Jol, the men at White Hart Lane decided to opt for an interpreter with all the necessary skills. He must be able to understand fluent Spanish, speak excellent English and understand the game of football. Step forward former Spurs favourite and Uruguayan international Gus Poyet.
But it doesn’t always work like that.
When Chelsea appointed Italian coach Claudio Ranieri at Stamford Bridge, they did so knowing that he, like Capello, knew very little English.
In preparation they appointed an Italian interpreter who by his own admission was not a football expert but no matter, that’s what Ranieri was for.
The pair then appeared on post-match interviews every week, more akin to a comedy double-act than a team trying to mastermind a Premiership title challenge and it soon emerged that football tactics was not the only area in which Ranieri’s lingual partner was lacking.
It turned out that Ranieri’s interpreter was not actually “interpreting” at all. Experts soon discovered that the answers that Ranieri was supplying to post-match questions were not the answers being provided by the English speaking sidekick!
The partnership didn’t last much longer, with a new translator drafted in to assist Ranieri, who continued to struggle with the language as well as the dressing room banter. Just as he did start to get to grips with English, four years after joining the club, he was sacked by new owner Roman Abramovich.
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