Mateu Alemany (with added Alberto Benito and Pablo Rodriguez)

[Brazilian Villain]

“It was two weeks ago we were speaking about the possibility for him to come here, it was positive and, in the end, he’s not coming,” he told reporters, as per VillaTV. “We will continue in our project and build up as a club and a team. He is a very good professional with experience. I know him, I sometimes meet with him. But we’re very focused here with the project we have in front. We will try to analyse someone to help us. But now, Mateu Alemany will stay in Barcelona.

“He is in Barcelona and he will continue there. What is the reason? I think Barcelona is a very good team. We were speaking about the possibility but he decided to continue in Barcelona. He’s very respectful with us and, with his decision, we are respectful as well.”

See you next year, Mateu.

[Nev]

Does anyone else read our Managers comments with his accent and rhythm of speaking in their head? At first I found it slightly tricky to decipher but now I relish it and can't help myself when I read his written comments.

I think I'm going mad.

[Steve67]

Does anyone else read our Managers comments with his accent and rhythm of speaking in their head? At first I found it slightly tricky to decipher but now I relish it and can't help myself when I read his written comments.

I think I'm going mad.

No you're not.  I do exactly the same, only because I want to be like him though.  The man is a genius, although I was shocked when he actually admitted that he takes a couple of days off to empty his head and think about non-footballing matters, which he is perfectly entitled to do, but I had him down as a machine!

[OCD]

Does anyone else read our Managers comments with his accent and rhythm of speaking in their head? At first I found it slightly tricky to decipher but now I relish it and can't help myself when I read his written comments.

I think I'm going mad.

No you're not.  I do exactly the same, only because I want to be like him though.  The man is a genius, although I was shocked when he actually admitted that he takes a couple of days off to empty his head and think about non-footballing matters, which he is perfectly entitled to do, but I had him down as a machine!

He didn't say which days they fall on though. My guess would be the 17th and 18th June.

[Brend'Watkins]

Does anyone else read our Managers comments with his accent and rhythm of speaking in their head? At first I found it slightly tricky to decipher but now I relish it and can't help myself when I read his written comments.

I think I'm going mad.

You're not.  I'm the same.  The same to the point I've scratched the side of my face with my index finger.

[pauliewalnuts]

Does anyone else read our Managers comments with his accent and rhythm of speaking in their head? At first I found it slightly tricky to decipher but now I relish it and can't help myself when I read his written comments.

I think I'm going mad.

You're not.  I'm the same.  The same to the point I've scratched the side of my face with my index finger.

I'd also add to that the frequency with which non mother tongue English speakers refer to "the project".

[Steve67]

Does anyone else read our Managers comments with his accent and rhythm of speaking in their head? At first I found it slightly tricky to decipher but now I relish it and can't help myself when I read his written comments.

I think I'm going mad.

No you're not.  I do exactly the same, only because I want to be like him though.  The man is a genius, although I was shocked when he actually admitted that he takes a couple of days off to empty his head and think about non-footballing matters, which he is perfectly entitled to do, but I had him down as a machine!

He didn't say which days they fall on though. My guess would be the 17th and 18th June.

Surely not around the time that the new fixture list comes out?  The man has no commitment at all does he?

[Bad English]

I'd also add to that the frequency with which non mother tongue English speakers refer to "the project".

I think that could be because they do it a lot in their mother tongues. "Le projet sportif", "El proyecto deportivo", "El projecte sportiu",  "il progetto sportivo"...

[AV82EC]

I'd also add to that the frequency with which non mother tongue English speakers refer to "the project".

I think that could be because they do it a lot in their mother tongues. "Le projet sportif", "El proyecto deportivo", "El projecte sportiu",  "il progetto sportivo"...

Well at least we’ve moved on from the Benitez “clooob” which I think we can agree is a step in the right direction.

[Monty]

I'd also add to that the frequency with which non mother tongue English speakers refer to "the project".

I think that could be because they do it a lot in their mother tongues. "Le projet sportif", "El proyecto deportivo", "El projecte sportiu",  "il progetto sportivo"...

Well at least we’ve moved on from the Benitez “clooob” which I think we can agree is a step in the right direction.

Hey at least that makes sense! In Italy they try and pronounce it 'correctly' and end up with this weird e-sound instead.

So 'club' becomes 'kleb', for instance, or 'curry' becomes something like 'kaerry'. Makes me shiver every time I hear it.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'd also add to that the frequency with which non mother tongue English speakers refer to "the project".

I think that could be because they do it a lot in their mother tongues. "Le projet sportif", "El proyecto deportivo", "El projecte sportiu",  "il progetto sportivo"...

Well at least we’ve moved on from the Benitez “clooob” which I think we can agree is a step in the right direction.

Hey at least that makes sense! In Italy they try and pronounce it 'correctly' and end up with this weird e-sound instead.

So 'club' becomes 'kleb', for instance, or 'curry' becomes something like 'kaerry'. Makes me shiver every time I hear it.

I listen to the CDS english football podcast and that cleb thing gets me every single time.

Almost as much as 'le Big' referring to the big 6 (plus Newcastle these days, even more annoyingly).

[Monty]

Christ alive the use of 'i big' or 'le big' is objectively one of the very worst horrible anglicisms Italians love to drop in.

It's everyone too. I remember Meloni, supposedly the big traditionalist who wants to ban English in official documents, during the campaign calling for 'un meeting dei big' of the right. I screamed when I heard that.

[pauliewalnuts]

I was talking to an Italian friend recently and realised just how much more the English language has polluted italian since i moved back here 25 years ago.

[pablo_picasso]

In years to come, the historians of Aston Villa Football Club will remember Mateu Alemany with the same reverence as Joe Bryan and David Unsworth.

Who the fuck is Joe Bryan?

[Monty]

Yeah I hate it so much. If I know the equivalent Italian word I'll usually say it pointedly like my name's Bad Italian (Male Italiano I suppose).

It's especially the educated sort, people who work in marketing (sorry, 'il marketing') in Milan etc, who are virtually speaking some unspeakable, unholy hybrid thing. They genuinely think it makes them sound cooler. I keep telling them it makes them sound really, really, really, really, really naff.

Maybe that's what Alemany was afraid of, didn't want to dilute his pristine Mallorcan Catalan. Moving to Barcelona was risky enough.