Newcastle’s new boss is determined to make a good impression, but before he can settle into life in the North East he decides there is one urgent problem to solve: the language.
At first, the challenge appears to be learning Geordie. Then somebody points out that half the dressing room speaks French, turning a simple language lesson into another piece of Storybook confusion.
Time to Find a Language Tutor
The new boss has barely had time to settle into his office before deciding that communication must become a priority.
His conclusion is straightforward.
He needs a language tutor.
Managing a new club is difficult enough without struggling to understand the people around you.
Could the Welsh Boy Help?
The manager begins searching for somebody who might be able to help.
Perhaps the Welsh boy knows a suitable tutor.
After all, he has played abroad and should understand the challenge of adapting to another language.
The boss remembers that Spanish lessons were once involved.
Surely Geordie cannot be any harder.
Geordie Is Not the Problem
Unfortunately, the situation is more complicated than expected.
The manager quickly discovers that learning Geordie is not necessarily the biggest communication challenge at Newcastle.
Half the squad appears to speak French.
Suddenly the lesson plan needs rewriting.
A Multilingual Dressing Room
Modern football dressing rooms bring together players from across the world.
Coaches regularly work in several languages, while teammates develop their own mixture of football terminology, gestures and dressing-room shorthand.
Newcastle’s strong French influence during this period provides Storybook with the perfect setup.
Why learn only one new language when the entire squad can offer several?
Allez, Allez
The solution eventually becomes wonderfully simple.
Forget complicated lessons.
One French phrase should be enough to get started.
Allez, allez.
Judging by the reaction, perhaps the new boss has already learned more than he expected.
The Football Inspiration Behind the Comic
This episode was inspired by Newcastle United’s managerial change and the club’s notably international squad, particularly the large number of French-speaking players who featured during the period.
It also plays on the distinctive Geordie dialect, which has long been part of Newcastle’s football identity.
Storybook combines the two ideas by imagining a manager arriving in the North East and discovering that learning the local dialect is only the beginning.
Characters Featured
The New Boss
Eager to settle quickly, the new manager decides that better communication is the first step towards success.
Unfortunately, he soon discovers there may be more than one language to master.
The Welsh Boy
His experience abroad makes him an obvious candidate to recommend a tutor, even if the exact language required remains uncertain.
The French Connection
Newcastle’s French-speaking contingent becomes the heart of the joke, transforming a Geordie language lesson into a multilingual football problem.
Behind the Gag
The joke begins with the assumption that a new Newcastle manager needs to learn Geordie.
Then the squad changes the rules.
Geordie becomes French.
Spanish lessons are mentioned.
And eventually everybody settles for allez, allez.
It is football communication reduced to its most practical form.
Looking Back
Originally published in 2016, Time to Find a Language Tutor captured the increasingly international nature of Premier League dressing rooms.
It also used one of English football’s most distinctive regional identities to show how quickly a manager can discover that communication in modern football goes far beyond simply speaking English.
