Football as the mother tongue

It was hardly surprising when a French-speaking voice answered the phone in one of Chelsea's hotel rooms last week. In the global world of the Premiership there is no more cosmopolitan club.

Fervently supported by the Prime Minister, they have embraced the European concept with boundless enthusiasm. You can now take your pick from Dutch, French, Italian, Romanian, Norwegian, Russian and possibly some form of Gaelic. It turned out to be an Englishman on the phone. Scott Minto was born in Cheshire and began his career at Charlton.

"Yes, well we're all having a go at our foreign languages now," his team- mate Gavin Peacock said in well-modulated English a little later. "There's every opportunity to try with all the different nationalities in the changing room and Scott likes to think he's Frank Leboeuf."

Leboeuf is the French connection in the London club's squad, one of the exotic continental names recruited by the new manager, Ruud Gullit, this close season. Roberto Di Matteo and the most exotic of them all, the shaven- headed, lethal-footed Gianluca Vialli were the others.

They have merely extended the foreign contingent and the joke, or rather the likelihood, has been that this most swinging-English of teams would shortly not have an Englishman in it. This may be an issue to concentrate the minds of the indigenous players but Peacock emphasised that it has broadened all their horizons.

The man of Kent said of his colleagues from mainland Europe: "Technically, they do wonderful things. They are a joy to see and you can only learn from that. We know we can be better players because they're here. Perhaps we can teach each other."

Peacock is confident that on the pitch the whole assorted bunch will speak the same language. Under Glenn Hoddle the team played a breezy, cultured type of football. If they were not always consistent, they were invariably thoughtful. With the recruitment of Gullit to the playing staff last season that process went a stage further and now that the Dutchman is the manager Peacock expects it to advance some more.

"Ruud has taught us not just about playing the game on the pitch but how to look after yourself off it," the 28-year-old said. "Things like diet and general fitness all come into it. He's always worked hard, he's keen to convey those ideas to us. With his record in the game it's impossible to have anything other than have the greatest respect for him."

Peacock is clearly excited about the prospect of playing in a Chelsea side which is likely to provide an object lesson in the game's purer principles, but he would hardly be human if he was not concerned about his place.

"I'm feeling pretty good. I'm moving pretty well and I've got five goals in the pre-season matches so far," he said. "I want to be part of this team, which is just developing. The players have all settled in well. It's helped a great deal that we've got to know each other as a squad in the build up. We've been away and spent a lot of time together.

"The language on the pitch as I've said is the important thing. But all the new lads speak English well. They're getting to grips. There's a comfortable feel to us."

Peacock is a thinking footballer, as he demonstrates with his clever, darting runs and his ability to seize the faintest of openings. It is a quality he also brings in discussing the game. Excited as he is by the foreign influx he can see there are potential shortcomings. "The first thing you've got to say is that it's all exciting," he said. "Players of the sort Ruud's signed can't be anything else. But it has been pointed out that because they're here our young players might be held back for a year or two waiting for their chance. There could be something in that but then waiting for two years and watching these blokes properly and you should be a better all-round player when you get your chance. There are two ways of looking at it."

Peacock is also aware that the introduction of fancy Dans, matched only by the techniques they display, increases the pressure on the side to win something, anything almost. (A plain-speaking Englishman called Ken Bates might have something to say about that as well.)

"Well, we've got to start out thinking of the league obviously," he said, perhaps not sounding too convinced of that particular trophy. "But we've done well in one cup or other for the last two seasons. We've got players here who can challenge and challenge well. There's a good culture here. We've all settled well with each other."

Of all clubs, Chelsea, the Englishman Peacock and all, should be capable of finding their way into Europe.