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Football

18th Feb 2017

WATCH: Chris Sutton goes ‘full Partridge’ describing Lincoln’s historic FA Cup win

Is he taking the piss?

Nooruddean Choudry

What is going on with his voice?

On Saturday, Lincoln City became the first non-league club in 103 years to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals, with a dramatic last-minute victory at Premier League side Burnley. The nature and scale of the result deserved all the praise and media hype in the world. In fact, rarely has the old ‘magic of the cup’ cliche rang so true.

But in summarising the achievements of the club he managed for a season in 2009/10, Sutton went into full Alan Partridge mode, with slalom voice intonations that were so exaggerated and unnatural that they sounded like he was taking the piss. It was a cross between Partridge, Murray Walker and Tony Blackburn.

Sutton was born in Nottingham, but spent much of his youth growing up in Norwich – a club both he and his father played for. So in fairness, he has that in common with Steve Coogan’s comedy character. But for context, this is what he used to speak like in his playing days…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPQF7uK_OEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQkUfsw4onQ

Nothing out of the ordinary we’re sure you’ll agree. But since becoming a pundit and appearing on the likes of BT Sport and BBC Five Live, the former Blackburn and Celtic player has developed a cartoon-y style exaggerated accent to match his Mr Controversial persona. And on Saturday, he turned it up to 11.

We mean, does anyone naturally talk like this? We’re not a million miles away from him describing a goal as: ‘Shit, did you see that? He must have a foot like a traction engine!’

https://twitter.com/danmelia/status/832967189862850560