Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was left confused when asked if he was feeling the pressure of ‘squeaky bum time’.
The Cityzens head to Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night needing a win to overtake Arsenal in the Premier League standings heading into the last day of the season.
At his pre-match press conference, it was put to Guardiola that this time of the season was famously referred to by Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson as ‘squeaky bum time’.
“Translate,” Guardiola immediately said to his press officer before the room filled with laughter.
Other journalists then informed Guardiola the meaning of the phrase, and the Spaniard continued: “A lot of pressure? Lots of pressure. Why didn’t Sir Alex make an easier sentence?”
Finally getting to the question if he is feeling the pressure of ‘squeaky bum time’, Guardiola replied: “Not now, no.”
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Ferguson first coined the phrase in 2003 when his United side were, like City now, up against Arsenal in the race for the Premier League title.
The Gunners were also in the midst of a successful FA Cup run, which led to them playing a semi-final at Old Trafford against Sheffield United.
Prior to Arsenal’s quarter-final replay with Chelsea, Ferguson said: “They have a replay against Chelsea and if they win it they would face a semi-final three days before playing us in the league.
“But then they did say they were going to win the treble, didn’t they? It’s squeaky bum time and we’ve got the experience now to cope.”
‘Squeaky bum time’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2022, with its definition reading: “British colloquial (originally and chiefly in sporting contexts) a particularly tense period of time, esp. one leading up to the climax of a competition or event.
“The term was coined by Sir Alex Ferguson, then manager of the Association Football club Manchester United, with reference to his team challenging for the title in the closing stages of the English Premier League.
“The phrase has been explained as a reference to the sound of someone shifting restlessly on plastic seating during tense closing stages of a contest.”
