Tom English stopped just short of digging out his pom-poms as he celebrated last night’s home win at Ibrox.
The chief sports reporter for BBC Scotland was never allowed press facilities at Ibrox while Mister Gerrard was in charge but with his Number Two now in charge the state broadcaster is back in the front row.
A 3-2 win over a side that had lost six of their previous seven matches is nothing to get excited about but when it comes to matters Ibrox related BBC Scotland can hardly hold back.
Spinning the attacking options is second nature with no critical comment about losing two goals that a side at the foot of League Two would be shamed by.
Getting a free header at goal from inside the six yard box from the first corner of the match isn’t a good look, nor is going behind again within 60 seconds of equalising but English prefers to overlook that sort of minor detail to drool over a guy on loan from Bayern Munich.
Writing for BBC Scotland about last night’s excitement the egg-chasing expert explains:
Beale’s coaching is his strongest suit and perhaps Tillman is going to be one of those who really benefit from it. “The players needed a smiley face,” said Beale beforehand. If Tillman was one of them, he produced when his manager really needed him.
Having assisted on Ryan Jack’s equaliser, Tillman then created Alfredo Morelos’ winner, seizing on James Tavernier’s through-ball and slaloming his way through before laying it on a plate for the striker, a man who needed a goal.
Calamity averted. The “other team” top the table by six points and not nine, which could have become a knockout 12 by the time they play Aberdeen on Saturday.
Rangers have mountains of work to do to make a fight of this, but at least they came up with a convincing response when questions were asked of them. Too often this season, they haven’t.
It was supposed to be Beale’s night and in the end it was. The new man is one out of one. Boos turned to riotous cheers. The treatment room is beginning to empty. A cavalry is coming over the hill.
Antonio Colak and Leon King have joined John Souttar, Filip Helander, Kemar Roofe, Tom Lawrence, Connor Goldson and Ridvan Yilmaz in the emptying treatment room.
In the summer of 2020 English sat silently on a Saturday Sportsound panel as Gregory Campbell shared his wisdom of the Scottish game. Within the BBC English is affectionately known as House Paddy.
Since moving full-time to BBC Scotland English has covered The Olympics, British Lions Tours and World Cup Finals from the telly in his spare room, real stars like Chris McLaughlin get to cover the events live.
The really interesting thing to take from this email, is the collaboration in fabricating a narrative to get a point across.
It’s all staged.“Tom English has said he’ll have a pop at Paul Murray… Scotsman used his comments on the back page with our responses ie. irrelevant.” pic.twitter.com/UQz9KDfDZQ
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) August 20, 2019
Tom, you’ve forgotten to mention the blatant penalty Hibs should have had at 2-1? Strange that both the BBC and Sky seem to have missed this.
— cowabunga1.2 (@2Cowabunga1) December 16, 2022
Can’t even begin to imagine the column inches we wuda got this morning if we had benefited from the MiB missing that pen for the opposing side.
For Walsh to even be in the ground never mind standing in the middle when he is as near as dammit to being a Newco employee is utterly untenable..but then, it is the worst league in the world for refereeing and administration.
Cavalry coming over the hill the multitasker philosopher would have been proud of that one.
I think he meant to say the ‘over the hill Cavalry’.
Oh Micky you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind hey Micky, hey Micky
If you ever bump into Uncle Tom in a restaurant, ask him what the soup of the day is … he loves it
As Tom fell w@nking to the floor. This is G@d awful ‘journalism’. It’s no longer angering, it’s just embarrassing. The p@sh the state broadcaster peddles….we’d get more balance and objectivity in North Korea. The blatant penalty ‘missed’ by Walsh? Had that been Celtic, and not the establishment team, every media outlet in Scotland would have been screaming – why wasn’t VAR consulted. But a lot of people in positions of strength at club level need to grow a set and start calling this out. Otherwise, the Rednecks that run the game in this country, won’t be forced out of the backwater in which they thrive
Editor: Celtic’s silence on all refereeing issues give Walsh, Clancy, Beaton, Robertson and the rest all the encouragement they need. When McLean got promoted after the 2015 ICT semi-final that set the template for aspiring referees to reach the top.
English said on radio that he had been taking notes and, having missed the penalty incident, he could not comment.
Surprised?
Didn’t think so.
You’re 100%on the money with that assertion?