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Shadowing practice: What Does a Football Captain Actually Do

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  1. Press?0:06
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  4. Press?0:13
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  6. Press?0:20
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  1. Press?0:21
  2. Press?0:21
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  4. Mae 'n gweithio 'r ticots o 'r gweithio 'r gweithio, efallai mae 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio0:30
  5. 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio0:39
  6. 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio' So mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae0:41
  7. 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team0:59
  8. ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae1:10
  9. 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team1:22
  10. ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae1:23
  11. 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team1:23
  12. ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r team ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:23
  13. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:27
  14. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:27
  15. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:28
  16. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:30
  17. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:31
  18. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:34
  19. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:35
  20. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:35
  21. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:36
  22. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:37
  23. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:38
  24. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:39
  25. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:40
  26. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:41
  27. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:43
  28. Pressur ac mae 'r cramgeis?1:46
  29. Mae 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r1:48
  30. gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r1:54
  31. gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio 'r gweithio mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad2:01
  32. ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae2:20
  33. 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad2:24
  34. ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cramgeisad ac mae 'r cram mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r2:29
  35. sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac2:43
  36. mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r2:51
  37. sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac2:52
  38. mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r sengeis ac mae 'r2:56
  39. sengeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac3:05
  40. mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r3:13
  41. cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac3:17
  42. mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramge Rwy 'n credu i chi 'n gwybod3:22
  43. FIP yw pryd yn Watford.3:37
  44. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 30 ladau, rwy 'n gwybod yw 30 ladau yn ymlaen.3:40
  45. Rwy 'n gwybod yw ddefnyddio 'r ddweud, rwy 'n gwybod yw Stoke, ac yn gwybod y llwyddoedd yn ymlaen.3:45
  46. Yr ysgol yw 'r ysgol, rwy 'n gwybod yw ddweud.3:52
  47. Rwy 'n gwybod yw ddweud.3:57
  48. Yn ymlaen, yw ddweud yw ddweud.4:01
  49. Yn ymlaen, yw ddweud yw ddweud.4:04
  50. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:06
  51. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:08
  52. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:10
  53. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:10
  54. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:11
  55. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:12
  56. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:14
  57. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:15
  58. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:16
  59. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:17
  60. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:20
  61. Rwy 'n gwybod yw 'r ysgol?4:22
  62. ac mae 'r cramgeis ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae4:25
  63. 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis'4:32
  64. ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae4:38
  65. 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis' ac mae 'r cramgeis John Terry.4:46
  66. He's got his own little car machine.4:56
  67. He's going round the changing room.4:58
  68. With his car machine.4:59
  69. Contactless, right, John?5:00
  70. That's fine, yeah.5:01
  71. What's the most ridiculous thing you could be fine for?5:04
  72. So you hear stories about players being fine for not wearing flip flops in the shower.5:06
  73. Yeah, that one was...5:10
  74. How much was that?5:11
  75. £500 for not wearing flip flops?5:12
  76. Yeah, like that much we'd go, yeah.5:14
  77. I mean it was just...5:16
  78. It was just trying to bring the discipline back basically, so just don't do it.5:17
  79. I mean it does build, but the captain's in charge of all of this, you know.5:21
  80. Does he have it in his phone?5:24
  81. Sorry, just because there's clearly so many fines.5:25
  82. How does the captain stay across?5:28
  83. Yeah, every captain I've seen has had a little log book.5:30
  84. He's got a physical, like a book, a little black book.5:33
  85. A fine book?5:36
  86. I love the way you say it like it's the most...5:37
  87. Where's your whip that out of, Flay?5:38
  88. Does he keep it down his shorts in the game?5:40
  89. No, I mean this is standard stuff.5:42
  90. I went to...5:44
  91. It's not.5:45
  92. Is it not?5:46
  93. No, no one else.5:47
  94. Working any other job other than what you've been doing has a little fine book like this.5:48
  95. I love your outfit.5:52
  96. I love it.5:52
  97. There'll be more discipline.5:52
  98. Is there an enforcement, like the disciplinary if you don't pay him?5:54
  99. Magistrates court, small games court?5:58
  100. Yeah, we used to have a court system.6:00
  101. So let's say you want to appeal a fine.6:02
  102. What do you mean by court?6:05
  103. So on a Friday before training you'll all be around in the change room and the captain will stand up and he'll read the fines out.6:06
  104. So he's the prosecuting person, isn't he, judge?6:14
  105. He will read out every single...6:16
  106. He'll read...6:18
  107. He'll have his page down.6:18
  108. He'll go crouchy, flip flops in the shower.6:20
  109. Date time.6:21
  110. Date.6:23
  111. And then fine.6:24
  112. Do you accept?6:25
  113. And then I'll obviously go, that's a joke, not fuming, but usually you'd accept.6:26
  114. But if you challenge and lose...6:31
  115. Can your fine go up in the same way as if you plead guilty?6:33
  116. Yeah, you're fine with double.6:35
  117. You told me at Radio One, right?6:38
  118. You walk in there, Grimshaw's late, right?6:40
  119. Grimshaw is late.6:42
  120. He's had a big night.6:44
  121. You know what he's like.6:45
  122. And he rolls in five minutes past.6:46
  123. Fine him for every minute.6:48
  124. Yeah, suddenly...6:50
  125. He won't do it again.6:50
  126. Greg pulls a pencil from behind his ear and it's like thumbing through this little black book, Grimshaw, £10 ,000.6:51
  127. Greg James is just in charge of it.6:57
  128. Would he be the radio one skipper?6:58
  129. This is easy at Radio One.7:00
  130. It's Annie Mack.7:02
  131. She's been there a long time.7:02
  132. That's what I mean.7:03
  133. Everyone respects her.7:04
  134. She's Radio One's Gary Neville.7:05
  135. So Gary Neville will shop Stuart, isn't he?7:06
  136. So that's...7:08
  137. That's what I mean.7:09
  138. Yeah, so...7:09
  139. But I think with Gary Neville, the thing that fascinates me is...7:10
  140. So Beckham is the glamour post captain.7:13
  141. He's the facer team.7:15
  142. He's the one who sells the England team to sponsors.7:16
  143. And everyone...7:20
  144. Let's say you're a blue chip company and the captain's David Beckham, you're falling over yourself to give that team an endorsement, whether it's suits or cars, whatever.7:20
  145. But was the power behind the throne actually Gary Neville?7:29
  146. Like, I can't see Beckham to be fair to him getting his hands dirty with a fine system isn't really very Beckham, is it?7:32
  147. The difference when David Beckham took over as England captain was...7:38
  148. I mean sponsorship -wise and stuff.7:44
  149. Everything came in.7:47
  150. And to be fair to Beckham, he brought most of it in, but he made it all equal, really.7:47
  151. So whatever came in, it was shared in the players pool, which was an amazing thing to do.7:55
  152. What do you mean?8:00
  153. So the money that came in by all the sponsors and things like that would be divvied up between all the players, no matter who you are.8:00
  154. That was groundbreaking.8:09
  155. So how does he organise that?8:10
  156. Is that something that...8:11
  157. When you say he's people, I'm just fascinated about how these conversations happen because or is it just people around you?8:12
  158. I remember Simon Fuller came in, very much.8:19
  159. Yeah, would he create the Spice Girls?8:22
  160. Yeah, him.8:23
  161. So he was Beck's man.8:24
  162. He came in, we had a meeting and they created a company that started all this brand stuff.8:26
  163. Yeah, and I was lucky to be part of the Beck's era, really, because we got a few quid out of it and we played for England.8:30
  164. It was great.8:36
  165. But yeah, he brought all this stuff in and he started monetising it, really, and making it a brand, like you say.8:37
  166. So on a personal level, you did well out of it at that point, and that's what Beck and Bort in is a captain.8:44
  167. Yeah, yeah, yeah.8:49
  168. But was he...8:49
  169. This isn't a loaded question.8:51
  170. Was he actually a good captain?8:52
  171. Yeah, no, I thought he was really good because what he was was not as vocal as someone like John Terry, for instance, but what he did was delivered with8:54
  172. his performances and it wasn't just his performances, it was his training, it was his conduct.9:03
  173. And people see probably the celebrity side and stuff of him as a person now, but as a footballer, there was no one more dedicated and professional as Dave Beckham,9:08
  174. but I've seen.9:21
  175. We talked about staying behind after training and how important that was for players.9:22
  176. You only see a snippet of it when you're away of England because I wasn't playing on a day -to -day basis with Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham.9:27
  177. They were the ones that stayed behind every single training session no matter what and what the weather was.9:34
  178. Rhywun used to work on his finish in.9:39
  179. David Beckham used to take ten free kicks.9:41
  180. Frank Lampard would take ten penalties.9:43
  181. Just so professional.9:46
  182. And I think if you're a young lad coming in, if you're a FIA walk -out walking into that dressing room, right?9:48
  183. And David Beckham is out in the rain, you're sitting on the bus and he's taking free kicks and you're just sitting there waiting for him.9:53
  184. You go, oh, hold on a minute.10:01
  185. They're the three players doing that.10:04
  186. It's just not...10:05
  187. It's a different way of being a captain.10:07
  188. It's just going, this is the way to do it.10:09
  189. That's what Beckham was so good at.10:11
  190. He did have Gary Neville.10:13
  191. Never was a wingman.10:14
  192. It's all the other side of him.10:16
  193. All the other side of...10:18
  194. Basically, they're giving the tickets out and stuff like that.10:20
  195. He just palm it off to Gary Neville.10:22
  196. Was Gary Neville employed by Beckham?10:25
  197. Beckham...10:27
  198. What happened?10:28
  199. Let's say you weren't happy with the FA.10:29
  200. Is Beckham going in there to speak to whoever it was or is he just going, Gary, do us a favour?10:31
  201. Do you mind?10:37
  202. No, you've got it spot on here.10:38
  203. Gary Neville was fantastic at arguing, basically.10:40
  204. He just enjoyed the confrontation and things like that, whereas probably Beckham wasn't quite as much.10:44
  205. So, yeah, I mean, he'd send him in for any kind of meeting with the FA or hierarchy or anything that needed to be done.10:51
  206. Anything awkward?10:58
  207. Anything awkward?10:59
  208. So, was he like Gareth in the office?11:00
  209. So, right?11:04
  210. I'm a shubble percent.11:04
  211. I'm a shubble percent.11:05
  212. I'm a shubble percent.11:05
  213. I'm a shubble percent.11:05
  214. I'm a shubble percent.11:06
  215. No, he was very, very, very good.11:09
  216. You know, if players wanted something, you'd send Gary Neville in to get it, and he was brilliant at it.11:12
  217. Was it Beckham that decided Gary Neville would be that role?11:18
  218. Gary Neville wanted to be that role.11:21
  219. Gary Neville decided it, yeah.11:22
  220. They're just mates, aren't they?11:24
  221. So, they've got a great idea.11:25
  222. They would...11:26
  223. It's an absolute purpose.11:27
  224. It's the yng and the yang, isn't it?11:28
  225. Yeah, it's perfect.11:29
  226. Absolutely perfect.11:30
  227. Can I be assistant captain?11:31
  228. You can be assistant to the captain.11:32
  229. For instance, Robbie Keane was captain of Tottenham at the time, and he just had an offer to his boring mundane jobs.11:35
  230. So, he basically said to Michael Dawson, I'll Dawson, you know, like, I think, you know, my time's coming to an end.11:43
  231. I think maybe you could be captain of Tottenham.11:48
  232. I said, I'll just drip feed you a couple of roles that you can sort of act and, you know, people can see you'd be a captain.11:51
  233. You deal with the tickets.11:56
  234. You deal with this and that.11:58
  235. So, Keane was...11:59
  236. Robbie was going out on a Saturday and being captain, and Dawson was doing all the crap jobs.12:00
  237. Did he get the job afterwards?12:04
  238. Yeah, he did.12:06
  239. He was a good captain.12:06
  240. Michael Dawson, fantastic captain.12:08
  241. Oh, he strikes me as a good captain.12:09
  242. Nice, great captain.12:11
  243. Yeah, I mean, what a top man.12:12
  244. Good player, like, really good player as well, you know.12:14
  245. He's a fantastic centre off at Tottenham.12:16
  246. And a great captain.12:18
  247. When you're playing football in the kitchen, do you have a commentator on yourself?12:22
  248. Well, I used to.12:25
  249. Growing up, that was massive around the house.12:26
  250. I used to have a little football when I was a kid, and you'd always commentate them, really, because that's how much I enjoyed the game, was just the imagination12:28
  251. of beating players.12:36
  252. I wasn't using shoes or sofas.12:37
  253. I was treating them like players.12:40
  254. It's bringing back memories for me.12:42
  255. We used to have radiator goals for our one.12:44
  256. We'd take penalties against that, and there was a plant pot to the left, which sometimes would go over, and then we'd have to try and clean it up quickly.12:46
  257. I remember my mom going mental.12:54
  258. I remember we had a penalty comp up in my mom's bedroom, because she had the best sort of goal, because it was quite a long wall, and it was12:55
  259. quite a low windowsill.13:03
  260. So it was a perfect sort of five -a -side penalty comp goal, and we used to take penalties.13:06
  261. Me and my cousins used to come around for Christmas.13:11
  262. But I remember whipping one too hard, going too far left, and taking out every single perfume on my mom's dressing table.13:13
  263. Smashing them, or just knocking them?13:21
  264. Five or six perfumes that went, and then the final one was wobbling on the end.13:22
  265. I knew it was bad anyway, because the perfume was all over the carpet.13:28
  266. But then the last one just dropped, and I remember Sam, my cousin, trying to jump for it, and smashed his head on the dressing table, and just confirming the13:33
  267. fall, and it just smashed again.13:44
  268. The smell of mixed perfume was incredible.13:48
  269. Five full bottles of mixed perfume.13:50
  270. Yeah, yeah, yeah.13:52

English speaking practice with a fast British conversation about football fines

This clip is a conversation between the hosts of That Peter Crouch Podcast, talking through football's unwritten disciplinary system: fines for turning up late, for wearing the wrong thing, all tracked in a captain's little black book. The accent is British, the level is B1, and the clip runs to 282 lines.

At 236 words per minute it is faster than 89% of the clips in this catalogue, so it rewards close listening before you try to speak along. This is not a scripted lesson dialogue, it is two people interrupting each other, laughing, and building a story about a teammate's fine, which is exactly the everyday english you meet outside a classroom.

The language in this clip: British english pronunciation practice through banter and questions

The interest here is in rhythm and intonation, not new vocabulary. Three lines show how this conversation swings between disbelief, description and mock formality.

  • "£500 for not wearing flip flops?" the pitch climbs on the number, then drops on the last word, a good pattern to copy for sounding genuinely surprised rather than reading a question flat.
  • "Yeah, every captain I've seen has had a little log book." the casual "Yeah" opener runs straight into the explanation with no pause, which is how daily english conversation practice actually sounds, not one clean sentence at a time.
  • "So he's the prosecuting person, isn't he, judge?" the tag question "isn't he" lifts at the end, and courtroom words like "prosecuting" and "judge" are borrowed on purpose to make a changing room sound like a trial, worth hearing for how far a British voice can push a word for a joke.

How to shadow this line by line, from the fine book to the courtroom bit

Work through this recording in short stretches, since the pace does not slow down to wait for you.

  • Start at line 84, where the topic is set up: "So you hear stories about players being fine for not wearing flip flops in the shower." Then shadow line 87, "£500 for not wearing flip flops?", to get the rising question shape into your own voice.
  • Loop lines 92 to 96, the back and forth about whether the captain uses his phone or a physical book, until "Yeah, every captain I've seen has had a little log book." comes out without a pause before "log book."
  • Move to the courtroom section, lines 113 to 124, and repeat "Do you accept?" a few times on its own, matching the short rising pitch, before running the whole stretch in one go.
  • This part of the clip is solid english shadowing practice for a B1 speaker who wants to speak english fluently in quick exchanges rather than long prepared turns.
  • Finish with the Grimshaw story, lines 129 to 138, where the pace builds toward the punchline figure, and run it three times before you move on to the next clip.
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