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Ron's
picture in the World of Soccer Stars album 1970-71
Big Ron
Back in
1970 Big Ron was little better known to the football
world than Craig Boardman (who hell he?) Ron was almost
at the end of a long playing career in which his main
achievement was to help Oxford United rise from the
Southern League up to (the old) Division Two - winning
two Southern League Championships (1961 and 1962) and a
Third Division Championship (1968) on the way.
Ron
with the 3rd Division Championship Trophy
Ron
played at Oxford United with his brother, Graham, and
both brothers were present in the club's first ever
League match in 1962 (when Graham got a goal in a 3-2
defeat), and scorers in their 7-0 record League victory
in 1964 (both games were against Barrow !)
 
Ron and
Graham Atkinson at Oxford United
But it
was as a football manager that Ron left his indelible
mark on the world of late 20th Century English football.
Ron was big in stature, and larger in lifestyle - being
infamous as the greatest of the Champagne and cigar
managers.
Ron cut
his teeth in football management at Kettering Town,
Cambridge United (where he won the Fourth Division
Championship in 1977) and West Bromwich Albion. But the
big time finally came when he was appointed manager of
Manchester United, at a time when the club was attempting
to return from also rans to Super Club status. That was
later achieved by Sir Alex, but during Ron's five years
in charge, Man U. did win the F.A.Cup twice in 1983 and
1985 - the club's only trophies that decade - and were
League Cup runners up in 1983 also.
It wasn't
enough, Ron was sacked and had to rebuild his managerial
career back at West Bromwich Albion. A very brief move to
Athletico Madrid was followed by a more successful one to
Sheffield Wednesday which culminated in winning the
League Cup in 1991, Wednesday's first major trophy in 56
years. Next, there was a prodigal return to Aston Villa,
the club that first signed him as a player, but did not
give him a League game.
Villa's
reward was a League Cup win in 1991 and their highest
Premier League place to date as runners-up in 1992-93. In
the twilight of his career, Ron has acted in largely
emergency roles at Coventry City, back at Sheffield
Wednesday, and ultimately at Nottingham Forest. At Forest
the press portrayed Ron rather more as a parody of
himself than a serious appointment to rescue the club
from the drop. Flown in from his holiday in Barbados the
sun - tanned Ron made the headlines, but inevitably
failed to turn round the club's fortune. Ron announced
his retirement at 60 on the Forest team bus after the
team's defeat against Villa.
Ron
presided over 201 Premiership matches, which at the start
of the 2000-2001 season was more than all but 4 other men
(Ferguson, Kinnear, Graham & Redknapp), but surely his managerial
career is behind him. New generations of football fans
have come to know Ron as a football expert-commentator,
t.v. celebrity, newspaper columnist, and hero of the
computer game, 'Football World Manager'!
However,
in 2004 Ron's pundit career came to an abrupt end
following the use of the racially sensitive 'n' word
during a live broadcast on a microphone he believed was
switched off. Ironic for a man who famously played so
many black players as a football manager long before it
was common to do so.
Slowly
Big Ron ate sufficient humble pie to be allowed back onto
our tv screens. Over the 2006 World Cup he launched a
series of Podcasts in which he offered his comments on
the games, and in July 2006 he starred in the BBC 2
television series Excuse My French
in which he publically learnt French from scratch. In
August 06 Yorkshire radio station, Real Radio gave Ron a
regular show as a phone-in host. There followed a
successful television series Big Ron
Manager, in which Ron offered his
vast experience to a couple of unwilling managers in
League football. This largely ended in tears for the
managers, but made great telly for those of us hooked on
the show.
The
comeback now seems to be complete as Ron, at the age of
67, has returned to Kettering Town of the Conference
North as Director of Football, proving what we all
already knew anyway: 1) you can't keep a good man down;
and 2) no-one can give up the drug that is football...
 
League
Appearances :
| Team |
Source |
Signed |
Played |
Games |
Subs. |
Goals |
| Aston Villa |
B.S.A.Tools |
05.56 |
|
|
|
|
| Oxford United |
Transfer |
07.59 |
62-71 |
383 |
1 |
14 |
| Total : 384/14 |
|
|
|
383 |
1 |
14 |
For further links on this site see ...
Sons and Daughters : Brothers
Commentators
See Ron on
Johan Cruyff in December 2000 News
Big Ron is
the 'King of the Clichés' -see August
2001
Ron is on
'Johnny Vaughan Tonight' and has a CD out, September
2002
More on the
CD, see October 2002
Ron
releases a single, see December
2002
Appears in
'Beano', see February 2003
Appears on
Patrick Kielty Almost Live, see August 2003 - this also includes
a profile of Ron
Ron resigns
from everything following alleged racist comment, see
April 2004
Ron does
his own World Cup Podcasts, see Summer
2006
Ron stars
in the BBC 2 television series Excuse
My French, see Summer 2006 (2)
Ron has his
own phone-in on Real Radio, see August 2006
Real-life
or television show? Ron's progress as a
troubleshooter for Peterborough United is captured on
Sky One's Big Ron Manager,
see September 2006
Ron becomes
Director of Football at Kettering Town, see January
2007
Books
For links on other
sites see ...
Find some
career details at Ron Atkinson,
Read his
regular colunm for the Guardian at Guardian Unlimited
Football Columnists
Ron is
ITV's senior commentator, see ITV Football
See Ron's
Podcasts at Blinkx Selfcast
Hear Ron on
Real Radio at Real Radio 106~108fm
See Big Ron
Manager at Sky One
Thanks to Ian Corry for sending the 2nd picture as
you scroll down.- 'Big Ron'.
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