Iconic quips from Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho have made their way into the Oxford English Dictionary.
The legendary former Manchester United manager and uber-successful ex- Chelsea boss were both renowned for coming up with memorable phrases during their time in the Premier League, whether it was in the heat of angry post-match interviews or during witty weekly press conferences.
The Oxford English Dictionary has issued its quarterly update which includes a fresh batch of football-related terms ahead of this year's World Cup in Qatar. Acknowledging the additions, the OED said: "There's a World Cup kicking off in November, and while the OED already covered a large number of football terms, from catenaccio to nutmeg to water carrier , this select batch of fifteen additions fills a few gaps in our formation."
Both Ferguson and Mourinho's lexicon can be found among the 15 additions - and you're sure to recognise them. Ferguson's "squeaky bum time" was first said by now-retired Scot 19 years ago in a dig at rivals Arsenal, who were challenging for the Premier League title towards the end of the 2002-03 season.
Still used to this day by fans, players, managers and pundits, the OED's description reads: "A particularly tense period of time, esp. one leading up to the climax of a competition or event."
Ferguson's original use of the phrase came when he said of Arsenal's run-in: "They have a replay against Chelsea and if they win it they would face a semi-final three days before playing us in the league. But then they did say they were going to win the treble, didn't they? It's squeaky bum time and we've got the experience now to cope."
Have your say! What's your favourite Ferguson or Mourinho quote? Give us yours in the comment section.
Fast forward a few years when Mourinho had entered English football, the term 'park the bus' became rife when teams sat back in a defensive block like his Chelsea side often did. The OED explain it by saying: "To play in a very defensive way, typically by having the majority of outfield players close to their own goal and showing little attacking intent."
On top of the Premier League lingo, foreign phrases like rabona, tiki-taka, gegenpressing and trequartista have also entered the dictionary. Panenka, too, makes it in a tribute to Czech player Antonin Panenka, who put himself into football folklore with a famous chipped penalty against West Germany in the Euro 1976 final.
On the topic of international football, any fanatics of the expectational France side of the late 1990s and early 2000s will recall Eric Cantona 's use of "water carrier" when describing Didier Deschamps, who's one of only three men to win the World Cup as both a player and manager. "Deschamps gets by because he always gives 100 per cent," ," Cantona infamously declared. "But he will never be anything more than a water carrier." Ouch.
