Obsessed BBC reporter can’t escape his Celtic 2018 bubble

Watching John McGinn’s performance and goal for Scotland against Austria should have been a source of joy and plenty of material for any journalist reporting on the match from Vienna. 

The Aston Villa midfielder is an outstandingly consistent element of the Scotland national team, going into any competitive match with McGinn would be a massive blow for Steve Clarke. 

His goal in Vienna was the mark of someone very comfortable in international football- perhaps a Scotland player that will thrive on the world stage should Scotland find a way past Wales to reach Qatar. 

One reporter at BBC Scotland thought differently, their chief sports writer no less. Rather than project forward where McGinn’s career could take him it was too good an opportunity for Tom English to miss as he returned to the subject that recently saw BBC bosses in England apologise for his Twitter behaviour. 

Celtic and McGinn have both moved forward from 2018, unfortunately it seems that one of the top writers at BBC Scotland hasn’t quite shaken himself free of that summer. 

McGinn has a possible World Cup Final appearance to look forward to, under new management Celtic have a very significant fixture list to look forward to in April. It seems that English has nothing to look forward to, looking back seems more comforting to him.