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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark McDougall

The Gordon Strachan accent problem that forced Didier Digard to quit Middlesbrough

Being misunderstood is expected as a Scot when you're in England.

It's either the accent, you're speaking too fast or you're using words they've never heard in their life and they feel out of the loop.

But very rarely does it lead to someone actually packing their bags and moving away because they can't understand a thing you're saying.

That's exactly what Didier Digard did while he was at Middlesbrough after Gordon Strachan replaced Gareth Southgate as Boro boss.

Admittedly, the former Celtic manager didn't have the best of times on Teeside and was replaced after just a year in charge and didn't manage again until he got the Scotland job three years later.

But Digard was left so baffled by what Strachan was saying, that he decided he needed to get out of the club.

(SNS Group)

The Frenchman had joined from PSG and ended up returning to Ligue 1 with Nice before spells at Betis and Osasuna in Spain.

And speaking to l'Equipe, he said: "When I arrived in Middlesbrough, I was 22 years old, I was fighting to learn English, Gareth Southgate was the coach, it was fine.

"We went down, we restart the season, we are second, and I don't know what he took from them, they fired coach Southgate, who is now England coach. Gordon Strachan arrived, with a Scottish accent.

"I didn't understand anything.

"I signed in Nice because I understood absolutely nothing of what he was telling me. I can't even say if it was good or not, if it was English or not. It lasted almost two months.

"I had been in England for almost a year and a half, so I was starting to get by. But, honestly, I think he said anything. We were very good before he arrived and, with him, we only lost."

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