Does everyone remember Steve McClaren’s Dutch accent after moving to Holland to manage FC Twente following his sacking as England manager? Of course you do. It was an odd mix of Goldmember and a Northerner attempting to sound somewhat continental.
As great as it was, unfortunately McClaren has been usurped as the idiot abroad. That accolade now belongs with Monsieur Joey Barton. The midfielder is currently on loan at Marseille for the season after a less than sterling end to the Premier League season.
Having finally completed his 12 game suspension, the Liverpool born star made his Ligue 1 debut during Marseille’s 1-0 win over Lille on Monday night and put in a solid, if not spectacular, performance against Les Dogues.
Nevertheless, it was his post-match press conference that had people applauding. Not to be outdone by McClaren, Barton proceeded to put on a French twinge during the presser, bearing striking similarities to a character off ‘Allo Allo!’
Barton, to his credit, has laughed off the hilarity associated with his words, tweeting ‘In my defence, it is very difficult to do a press conference in Scouse for a room full of French journalists. The alternative is to speak like a ‘Allo Allo!’ character which is choose. Its a simple case of you had to be there’.
Here is a hint for what you could do, Joey – learn to speak French. You’ve been at the club since August, surely it can’t be that hard? It’s not as though you’ve had to play football or anything.