Has the curse of shameless Tom English struck again as Celtic finally ban BBC Scotland?
In a surprise move Celtic refused BBC Scotland access to today’s media conference introducing Brendan Rodgers as manager.
With Kenny Macintyre and Steven Thompson fronting radio and television coverage there has never been any doubt the allegiances of the state broadcaster.
Backed up by Neil McCann, Richard Foster and Kenny Miller alongside Jane Lewis and Alasdair Lamont there would no doubt have been celebrations at Pacific Quay when Ange Postecoglou quit Celtic to manage Spurs.
Outdoing all of them however with his hostility to all things Celtic is their chief sports writer- Tom English. Apparently a rugby writer he has never been near a decent football story in almost 30 years covering Scottish football which has been highlighted by cheerleading Craig Whyte and Anne Budge.
Last year BBC Scotland had to apologise for English’s attack on Celtic for paying their respects following the sudden death of Shane Warne.
Rather than decide to mellow his views or keep his dislike for Celtic to his private life English weighed in with an incredible personal attack on Rodgers as soon as his appointment was confirmed. In fairness to the writer he does have a real grasp of the term shameless.
‘Whether it’s a return of the prodigal son or the reappointment of the shameless one, Brendan Rodgers is back.
‘But while Celtic fans knock great fun out of mocking their city rivals, Rangers are stronger now than they ever were during Rodgers’ first stint’ writes @tenglishsport
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) June 19, 2023
Now, according to the Daily Record who have been known to get things wrong before, that over the top attack which looks to have been gleaned from Follow Follow resulted in today’s ban by Celtic.
Record Sport understands that the decision was taken following comments made in a BBC Scotland pundit’s column that offered a critical viewpoint of Rodgers’ appointment. It follows some fans being angered by the appointment after he ended his first spell midway through the campaign to join Leicester City.
Being forced into another public apology to Celtic for English’s comments could force BBC Scotland to restrict their Chief Sports Writer into only commenting on egg-chasing.
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
Following the deletion of a tweet by BBC Scotland’s Chief Sports Writer on 5th March, we have published the following additional information and apology on the BBC’s Clarifications & Corrections page https://t.co/dXEahZ54ZY
— BBC Scotland Corp (@bbcscotcorp) March 11, 2022
Tom’s on the lamb again. The ibrox club have released half a team with unknown free signings. Aye, they’re stronger than ever.
They’ve signed a bunch of ogres in the hope they could physically dominate an Ange side.— Dr. van Coupon (@DoctorMaeda33) June 19, 2023
This narrative was on sportsound on Saturday coming from Leanne Crichton , no analysis on how Celtic had improved either ,it is what it is we just need to keep winning and celebrate more of they’re tears.
— Gary Winchester (@hanszargow) June 19, 2023
Absolute nonsense from @TEnglishSport
The new Rangers signings may well turn out good over time but they have done absolutely nothing to prove they are stronger.
Any self respecting journalist would be embarrassed by this. But Tom has form for writing on demand for them.
— Cautious Dave (@cautiousdave) June 19, 2023
The original tweet pic.twitter.com/ipkmWQkGzg
— JoeBloggsCity (@joebloggscity) March 11, 2022
It was anything but a “lapse”. The fact your Chief Sports writer hasn’t given his own apology says it all. Even his tweet saying he had to delete it was only because the BBC told him to. ?
— JD (@JD3582) March 12, 2022