Squeaky bum time

Squeaky bum time is a British expression that describes the tense, final stages of an individual game of football (soccer) or a season-long league competition where the outcome is hanging in the balance. The allusion is to the noise made by squirming in one’s seat during the final, tense stages of a close contest. It is commonly attributed to Sir Alex Ferguson when he was manager of Manchester United. The first citation for ‘squeaky bum time’ in print was in the British newspaper The Daily Express on 18 March 2003, when it was quoting Sir Alex Ferguson as having said, "They [Arsenal] 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." See also Fergie Time.