Tom English has claimed that ‘Rangers’ made a mistake by over hyping what their secret SPFL dossier contained.
No-one hyped it more than the rugger-loving Chief Sports reporter at BBC Scotland.
From the moment that Scot Gardiner shared selected WhatsApp messages on Sportsound, English was off and running down a one-way street.
There was no concept of balance, no possibility that Douglas Park didn’t have a smoking gun. English was all-in as he lined up various guests to restate the story that he had picked up on from the Inverness Caley Thistle chief.
Not a single item leaked out of Ibrox about their whistle-blower dossier, that is incredibly rare in matters relating to clubs from Ibrox. Details usually find their way into friendly hands to apply appropriate top spin.
Last Friday night, in an act of desperation English uncovered the story of two clubs getting an advance in season 2016/17. Instantly he claimed that it contradicted the claim of Murdoch MacLennan that no loans had been paid out.
When Neil Doncaster joined him on Sportsound to explain the difference between a loan and an advance English wasn’t convinced. He even claimed that he had got a text message. Later he quoted Ann ‘Supergran’ Budge to back up his collapsing story. An SPFL statement mentioned English by name, they corrected Budge’s comment. The Hearts chief took her medicine and didn’t reply.
Now as he backtracks ridiculously English has had his say. In a long boring ramble on the BBC website he explains:
The dossier wasn’t the howitzer Rangers were hoping for, but neither was it the popgun that the SPFL laughably claimed it to be in their statement of Thursday morning.
In this game of politics, Rangers made a mistake by hyping what they had. Calling for the suspension of Doncaster and SPFL lawyer Rod McKenzie without simultaneously publishing the information that supposedly damned them was an unwise play – and an unfair slight against both men.
It only ratcheted up the pressure on Rangers to back up their fighting talk with knockout evidence. They’ve raised a huge amount of questions and have cast a lot of doubt about the performance and motives of the SPFL executive, but it’s not a piece of work that will put Doncaster on the canvas and keep him there.
It would have been interesting to see the reaction to Rangers’ dossier had they been more stoic in the preamble. It’s a serious document and had they published it without fanfare then its impact might have been greater, which would in turn have proven more troublesome for the people at the heart of it.
Today the SPFL published an open letter giving a point by point response to the claims from Ibrox. English will be back on duty tomorrow on Sportsound, it’s unlikely that he’ll have wizened up to take a more detached view on his hysterical backing for all things Ibrox.