Premier Skills English Podcast 15

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Rich: Hi everyone. I’m Rich and every week we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jack: This week, we’re going to talk about the transfer window, the language of buying and selling, and Rich is going to make another Premier League prediction.

Rich: But, before we start. We recently had a comment from Verdemead96 in Poland. When talking about Bournemouth she used the term expansion team and we were asked if this was the correct word to use when a team is new in the Premier League.

Jack: Expansion team is not a term that is used in the Premier League or European football in general. We describe new teams in the Premier League as ‘promoted teams’ or near the start of the season ‘newly promoted teams’ because they have just won promotion from the division below.

Rich: So, Norwich City, Watford and Bournemouth are the promoted teams this season.

Jack: Yes. The term expansion team is often used in sports in the United States. In American sports there is usually no promotion or relegation. When a new team joins a league it’s because a new team has been created often in a city that didn’t have a team before. The league expands to allow the new team to enter the league.

Rich: No relegation or promotion! I think that would make the Premier League much less interesting .

Jack: I know, sometimes on the last day, loads of clubs can still be relegated and it’s one of the most exciting days of the season.

Rich: Bournemouth got promoted last season for the first ever time in their history.

Jack: Winning promotion is one of the best feelings in football for lots of fans.

Rich: Let’s move on to this week’s football. What’s happening in the Premier League this week, Jack?

Jack: Next Tuesday is a big day in the Premier League. It’s transfer deadline day, which is the day the transfer window closes.

Rich: Yes, deadline is a word that is used to describe a point in time when everything has to be finished.

Jack: So all transfers between clubs have to be completed by midnight on the 1st of September.

Rich: Deadline is quite a common word for students. Students usually have deadlines for homework, essays and assignments.

Jack: And if a student misses a deadline their teacher might not correct their assignment or they might lose marks.

Rich: And we have a deadline too! To get this podcast out to our listeners! Didn’t we say 5 ‘o'clock today?

Jack: That’s right! So, with the transfer deadline getting closer there is certain to be lots of buying and selling in the next few days and we’re going to look at some of the language involved in transfers.

Rich: In any transfer, there are normally three steps in the process. Speculation, contact and negotiation.

Jack: You can see speculation online, in newspapers or on the TV every day. Speculation is when people, or more often the media, say what might happen without having all the facts.

Rich: Yes, you often see articles in newspapers saying this player is selling his house so he must be leaving the club or another player has been seen in this city so might be moving to this club.

Jack: Yes, newspapers love all the gossip and rumours. The next step in a transfer is for a club to make contact.

Rich: Yes, if a club wants to buy a player, and the player is under contract, the club has to ask permission to speak to the player.

Jack: You often see this phrase ‘under contract’ and it means a player has a contract with a club so can’t move without the permission of his current club.

Rich: And this usually involves a transfer fee. A fee is an amount of money you pay for a service or to a business. For example you might pay an entrance fee to go into a museum or need to pay legal fees to ask a lawyer for help.

Jack: And a club will not usually give permission to another club to speak to their player before negotiating a transfer fee.

Rich: Negotiation is a noun to describe a discussion between two people or two businesses who want to reach an agreement. The verb is to negotiate.

Jack: What usually happens is that one club will bid for a player, which means to make an offer, and then the other club will decide if the offer is acceptable.

Rich: If it isn’t, they will tell the other club they are not interested or will try to negotiate a better price.

Jack: This process often continues for weeks or even months.

Rich: But what is great about transfer deadline day is that this process often goes much faster and transfer negotiations are often completed very quickly.

Jack: And there’s usually a surprise or two, Radamel Falcao moved to Man Utd on deadline day a year ago and Danny Welbeck moved to Arsenal.

Rich: But it’s not only the negotiations between the clubs that are important but the buying club also has to negotiate with the player and his agent, who is the person that manages the player’s money and career.

Jack: Usually an agent will need to negotiate the length of contract, wages and a signing-on fee which is an amount of money a player receives for joining a new club.

Rich: And if one of these isn’t right it can cause a transfer to break down and stop.

Jack: But not all transfers will involve money changing hands between clubs.

Rich: No, you’ll see deals where clubs exchange players directly instead of money.

Jack: There are also loan deals where a player will join another club for a short period of time.

Rich: And there are also free transfers, when a club decides a player is not needed and can move to another club for free.

Jack: Make sure you watch the sports news on Tuesday because there’ll be lots of transfer activity.

Rich: Let us know in the comments section below if any players arrive or leave your club on transfer deadline day. Are you happy with your club’s transfer business?

Jack: Right, time for your prediction Rich. You got it wrong last week - Arsenal and Liverpool finished 0-0.

Rich: Yes, the goalkeepers were in great form but I suppose a draw was a fair result.

Jack: Let’s hear this week’s prediction.

Rich: This week I’m going to make a prediction for Swansea City v Manchester Utd. Both teams have made good starts to the season and neither team has tasted defeat yet. Swansea looked good against Chelsea and their Ecuadorian winger, Jefferson Montero, and French striker,           Bafetimbi Gomis, have been playing really well. Manchester Utd haven’t conceded a Premier League goal this season but have had some problems in attack. But after a hat-trick in the Champions League this week, Wayne Rooney looks like he is back in good form. I think Man Utd will concede their first goal of the season but I think the final score will be Swansea City 1-2 Manchester Utd.

Jack: If you’ve got a prediction for this match or any other Premier League match this weekend let us know in the comments section below.

Rich: Well that’s all for now. Thanks for listening.

Jack: If you’re listening to this on itunes or elsewhere, come back to Premier Skills English for some language activities, a quiz and lots more. You can find us at www.britishcouncil.org/premierskillsenglish      .

Rich: Don’t forget if you sign in, you can score points to see if you can get your club, your country and your name to the top of our leaderboard.

Jack:  Bye for now and enjoy your football.