With the whole footballing world going global, to the extent that even the England Manager only speaks through an interpreter, ASIB on the WEB thought that it was about time we got into the act and started catering for the world wide audience that is bound to be attracted to this web site as soon as the Premier League sends Wigan and Fulham to play in Burkino Faso.  So, as Signore Capello has made sure that Italian is the flavour of the month, here is a recent interview with first team Manager Mark Jacobsen which is also presented in the England Supremo’s native tongue.

How long have you been able to speak Italian?

Da quanto e' che parla Italiano?

I have no idea, because I didn’t realise that I could.  But if you look below, there it is, the thoughts of Mark Jacobsen in Italian, so it would seem I must be fluent.  This will come in really handy when it comes to telling Stefano that he has no chance of playing in the first team.

Neanche sapevo di parlare Italiano finora. Ma se guarda qui sotto, ecco qui i pensieri di Mark Jacobsen in Italiano. Penso quindi di essere abbastanza bravo. Comunque sara' molto utile quando dovro' dire a Stefano che non ha possibilita' a giocare per la prima squadra.

Do you agree that all Managers these days need to be multi lingual?

E' d'accordo con me che tutti gli allenatori dovrebbero per lo meno parlare due lingue?

I would – it is absolutely essential.  We have, in the past, had numerous nationalities in the first team.  Of course, most of them, such as Alberto Abenza a couple of years ago, speak English so well that it really isn’t necessary to learn their language, which was Spanish in his instance.  However, I really do wish that I could have communicated better with some of the other non-English lads – Neil Skelton for example, although I would been compelled to work out what language it was that Skelters was speaking first!  Come to think of it, that would have been handy with some of the English players, too – I mean, I never could grasp what Mike Brogden was saying and as for Garry Lozynsky, I don’t think anyone ever has a clue what he is talking about.

Si senza dubbi. Nel passato abbiamo avuto numerose nazionalita' rappresentate nella nostra squadra. E' chiaro che molti di loro, tipo Alberto Abenza due anni fa', parlava Inglese molto bene e quindi non era necessario apprendere la sua lingua, in questo caso Spagnolo. In ogni caso, penso che se avessi avuto a suo tempo una migliore conoscenza delle lingue sarebbe stato piu' semplice comunciare con alcuni dei giocatori non di nazionalita' britannica. Per esempio Neil Skelton, anche se in primis sarebbe stato opportuno capire quale lingua realmente Skelters parlava. Ma ripensandoci, parlare un altra lingua sarebbe stato utile anche per alcuni dei giocatori britannici. Per intenderci, non ho mai capito cosa Mike Brogden dicesse e per quanto riguarda Garry Lozinsky la situazione e' estesa a tutto il gruppo che continua a non capire il concetto dei suoi dialoghi.

What about Frank Ashworth?

Che mi dice di Frank Ashworth?

Well, unfortunately, everyone can understand what Frank is saying, even though most of the time it isn’t really worth the effort.  What would be really useful would be if Frank, himself, could only speak a foreign language, then perhaps he wouldn’t get into quite so much trouble with referees.  I can never understand why foreign players in this country can always be seen swearing in English – I mean, surely it would make more sense for the likes of Berbatov, at Spurs, for example, to tell the referee exactly what he thinks of him in Bulgarian, so that he has no chance of understanding it.  To tell him to “F**K off” in his best Anglo Saxon just seems like a wasted opportunity to me!

Mah, fortunamente tutti capiscono Frank quando parla, il problema e' che la maggior parte delle volte non vale realmente la pena ascoltarlo. Personalmente penso che sarebbe opportuno che Frank parlasse un'altra lingua in modo tale da evitare problemi con gli arbitri. Non capisco perche' i giocatori stranieri qui in Inghilterra vengano beccati a dire parolacce in Inglese. Mi sembra tanto uno spreco, tanto per dire e come se Berbatov, giocatore del Tottenham dicesse all'arbitro in perfetto accento londinese  di andare a "fanculo". Io utilizzerei un dialetto bulgaro

Finally, what do you really think about your first team co-manager, Andy Herbert?

Alla fine, in tutta sincerita', che ne pensa di Andy Herbert come allenatore in seconda?