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Ronald ‘Ron’ Atkinson is a football player-turned-team manager, who went on to become a pundit with his own trademark phrases known as ‘Big-Ronisms’ or ‘Ronglish’.

After retiring from playing, Atkinson became manager player of non-league Kettering Town in 1971, at the age of 32. His success there led to a move to the league with Cambridge United, going on to win the then fourth Division in 1977.

At the start of 1978, Atkinson moved to manage First Division team West Bromwich Albion, and he later managed clubs including Manchester United, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry City Aston Villa, Nottingham Forrest and Atletico Madrid. Throughout his career Ron picked up a number of trophies, including two FA Cup wins.

Atkinson was already working as a pundit for ITV Sport, and after leaving management he continued in this role. For a number of years he covered most of the channel’s live matches. His commentaries with Clive Tyldesley provided the basis for the late-1990s and early-2000s ITV Champions League nights. He also fronted two series of Extra Time With Ron Atkinson for Central ITV, with Ron interviewing football personalities like Kevin Keegan, Terry Venables and Martin O’Neill.

Ron Atkinson’s media work came to an abrupt halt on 21 April 2004, when he was forced to resign from ITV after he made a racial remark live on air about the black Chelsea player Marcel Desailly. Believing the microphone to be switched off, he said, “…he [Desailly] is what is known in some schools as a f***ing lazy n****r”. Although transmission in the UK had finished, the microphone gaffe meant that his comment was broadcast to various countries in the Middle East. He also left his job as a columnist for The Guardian ‘by mutual agreement’ as a result of the comment.

Since the Desailly incident, Atkinson has claimed that the comment was an aberration and that he is not racist, citing in his defence that his West Bromwich Albion side was the first high-profile British club to have a significant number of black players. However, this did not diminish the criticism he received from anti-racist groups and the public at large.