... there was a rather short oriental guy in grey football kit out on the pitch on the half way line and while not directly working with the players he was fetching footballs and generally being helpful. When the players went in he helped collect all the footballs together. I can't find him listed as staff on the OS site so I am wondering who he is. He did seem to be pretty good at trapping a ball and flicking it up so that he could catch it. I wondered if he was an interpreter but then I thought that Maya Yoshida speaks quite good English and Tadanari Lee wasn't playing. Does anyone know who he was?
I asked an official who he was and was told he was the interpreter who is teaching Lee English...........
Thanks. Strange as it may seem but I have been puzzling over who he is ever since I saw him yesterday. The big question now is what do his initials stand for?
He has been there for every home game this season. He was asked to collect the long balls that Gazza was kicking in the warm up, practising that kick out to Ricky which was used to good effect at times, I mentioned it in another thread earlier.
I think he's just a general helper in training and the warm ups as well as being Lee's translator. Also I think he has a lot to do with the japenese media.
He joined as Chung's interpreter back in January. Since pre season he has been given a tracksuit and I've seen him on several occasions on the training ground footage and during pre match. Mourinho started off as an interpreter so maybe he is getting a little work experience in return for some fetching and carrying.
He has some coaching badges apparently, and was a youth coach. The whole Japanese media side of it makes a lot of sense, and is probably what will keep him at the club
