Learn English Through Football

This short football language podcast looks back at an interview we did with a Manchester City fan from our second ever podcast from November 2007! There is a worksheet to go with this listening practice and you can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
 
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DF: Hello everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners and teachers of English. I’m Damian and I’m here in London a couple of days after Manchester City’s win in the 2023 Champions League final. And so we thought it might be a nice idea to go back into our archives and re-live an interview we did with a Manchester City fan (and friend of the podcast, Dave) from our second ever podcast in November 2007. We asked Dave to tell the listeners about his favourite side and why he ended up supporting them. Now, there is a transcript with this listening practice and there is also a worksheet which is great for checking vocabulary.
Now, back then City finished in 8th place in the Premier League but they had been playing in the third tier of English football only eight years previously. They were still the second-best team in Manchester and had not won the domestic league since 1968, nevermind a treble!
So, in this short listening report we listen to Manchester City fan Dave explain why he supports the Blues and not the Reds from his hometown of Manchester. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post.

* Download the worksheet here
* Listen to the interview here

DB: Hello. Why Manchester City? That’s a very good question. I know that in Japan and in many other countries most people know or have heard about Manchester United of course – a very famous team. However, you may be interested to know that there is another team in Manchester and the team is called Manchester City.
The main difference between United and City – apart from the fact that United are far more famous and successful – is that City wear sky blue, sky blue shirts and white shorts. I mention that because when I was a kid, when I was about maybe 10 or 11 years old, that’s the main reason why I chose to support Man City, as opposed to Man Utd. Or at least one of them. And the other main reason was not so much the team but the supporters of the club. For a lot of football fans in England it’s not only the actual team and the ...