Pie Chart of Owen Hargreaves’ Accent

Owen Hargreaves is settling nicely into Manchester United’s midfield, with a solid enough display in today’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal. But for the longest time he wasn’t popular popular in England. Partly because of his piss poor 80th minute substitute performances in an England shirt and partly, I suspect, because he talks funny.

It’s not English exactly, and it’s not German or Canadian either. It’s a weird mix of all three, probably with some other influences thrown into the mix. It doesn’t have a name. But purely in the interests of science, let’s try and break it down in pie chart form:






Hargreaves’ accent is a strange mix of parentage and location. His Dad was from Bolton (and actually played for the Wanderers youth team) and his mom from Wales. The family moved to Calgary, Canada where Hargreaves grew up, before heading to Germany to play for Bayern Munich aged 16. I’m also speculating that – dialect sponge that he is – Hargreaves picked up a few phrases while sitting on the England bench with Sven, a bit of Lahndan from training with the likes of Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard, and just a touch of Glaswegian thanks to the human hairdryer we call Fergie. All of which gives us the unique and interesting noise that Hargreaves’ vocal chords make when they vibrate.

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Category: Bundesliga, English Premier League