On Sunday Tom English shocked the world of Twitter by revealing that he has been a fearless crusader against sectarianism for 19 years.
Most folk thought that his only purpose in life was to aim cheap digs at Celtic such as his crass comments following the tragic death of Shane Warne. On that occasion the BBC in London had to step in and apologise for the excesses of their Chief Sports Writer at the Glasgow branch office.
Without a sniff of a story from outside of Gorgie Road throughout his career English has managed to spin out a decent career, enjoying almost a decade with BBC Scotland prompted mainly by his dislike of Celtic in general and Neil Lennon in particular.
Delivered with an Irish accent he ticked a number of boxes for the state broadcaster, he also showed interest in rugby which barely anyone in Scotland bothers with but the BBC are obliged to cover.
Spending Easter Sunday in Livingston surrounded by 8,000 Celtic fans was never one of his career goals, even with his grand title English barely gets outside of Scotland except for egg chasing at the Six Nations.
When it comes to the Olympic Games or a Lions Tour the BBC send proper reporters with English left at home to produce wonderful colour pieces, far from the cut and thrust, unable to bolster his Contact Book.
With the Celtic fans producing a pre-match Tifo of the Irish flag the man from Limerick was pushed to the edge, the celebrations for one of the goals sent him completely overboard.
Cue ‘WHAT ABOUT THEM!!!’ I know that this is a very small percentage of the overall Celtic support, but that percentage multiplies away from home. Score a goal and celebrate by singing about a war in a place where nearly everybody wants peace, including so many former IRA people
— Tom English (@TEnglishSport) March 31, 2024
Probed about the scale of the issue at Ibrox, one that forced UEFA into partial stadium closures for two matches in 2019, English claimed that he has been on the case for 19 years!
Strangely he was unable to share a single article in which he has been critical of what is euphemistically referred to as the ‘Ibrox Song Book’.
This morning Ally McCoist provided English with the perfect opportunity to bolster his crusading credentials.
In a bizarre move the former Rangers manager announced live on TalkSPORT his intention to commit Hate Crimes at Ibrox on Sunday.
Surely an open goal for English who spends most of his life online trawling for anything that might provide him with a rare news-line while tut-tutting over the conduct of the Internet Bampots that he lives off.
Only if you’ve ignored my stuff for 19 years
— Tom English (@TEnglishSport) March 31, 2024
This has been swept under the carpet for far too long in Scotland: https://t.co/EVdfGLjLD2 Mr. McCoist has raised a running sore in Scotland. It’s time the whole issue of anti-Catholic hatred was addressed. pic.twitter.com/PLdEAQdEE0
— Bill Cruickshank (@BjCruickshank) April 2, 2024
Ten hours down the line and English has only made one venture onto Twitter today.
Incredibly excited to be working with @FarshoreBooks to bring Shadow Thieves to the world next year! Many thanks to the great @Julie_Fergusson, agent extraordinaire! https://t.co/XxxL5axMAG
— Peter Burns (@PeterEBurns) April 2, 2024
As the Chief Sports Writer at BBC Scotland he should be present at Ibrox on Sunday, providing a flowery overview of the match full of colour to paint a picture of the event for whoever bothers reading the BBC Scotland Sport website.
Detail of the chants from McCoist and 48,000 others is expected to be very light on detail.
CLICK HERE for Celtic fans call out Tom English
CLICK HERE for report on McCoist’s TalkSPORT rallying cry.
So… Ally McCoist is mad.
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) April 2, 2024
Well, at least he’s honest.. pic.twitter.com/9D9Q3PlIph
— 🇵🇸 (@SpookyHoops67) April 2, 2024
