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The Terrible Journalism & Tom English Thread


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How did Tom English actually manage to become chief sports writer for the BBC? I only became aware of him during Rangers liquidation, so don’t know how involved he was before that. I understand he used to write mainly about Rugby (and obviously still does), but what was his career path from that to where he is now? 
 

Probably on the BBC gravy train, wish I was. 

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5 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

How did Tom English actually manage to become chief sports writer for the BBC? I only became aware of him during Rangers liquidation, so don’t know how involved he was before that. I understand he used to write mainly about Rugby (and obviously still does), but what was his career path from that to where he is now? 
 

Probably on the BBC gravy train, wish I was. 

When he first started he was pretty good and had some decent stuff. He was a nice change and was often sensible and balanced. He was enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

He stayed that way for a while but recently started to degrade badly. He started being increasingly lazy and wrong in his articles and on air. He seemed to lose a lot of professionalism.

Then he totally went mental over the Hearts stuff this year and annihilated the little credibility that he'd spent the past couple of years whittling down.

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1 minute ago, DA Baracus said:

When he first started he was pretty good and had some decent stuff. He was a nice change and was often sensible and balanced. He was enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

He stayed that way for a while but recently started to degrade badly. He started being increasingly lazy and wrong in his articles and on air. He seemed to lose a lot of professionalism.

Then he totally went mental over the Hearts stuff this year and annihilated the little credibility that he'd spent the past couple of years whittling down.

Yeah I remember he was widely regarded as the voice of reason on Sportsound for a time. God knows what’s happened to him recently because he is absolutely awful. 

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2 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

Yeah I remember he was widely regarded as the voice of reason on Sportsound for a time. God knows what’s happened to him recently because he is absolutely awful. 

He's a fucking tube.  Lost the heid over the Hearts saga. TalkSport next for him, guaranteed.

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8 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

Yeah I remember he was widely regarded as the voice of reason on Sportsound for a time. God knows what’s happened to him recently because he is absolutely awful. 

He has been over her a few years now, we have broken him.

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9 hours ago, craigkillie said:

I assume this is from his "what to watch out for in Scottish football this weekend" article, where at least half his talking points actually have nothing to do with the weekend's action?

Yes, his "what will Sunday bring" article, where he rambles a bit then ends his match previews by saying Saints and County will be solely focused on not getting absolutely pumped.

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8 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

How did Tom English actually manage to become chief sports writer for the BBC? I only became aware of him during Rangers liquidation, so don’t know how involved he was before that. I understand he used to write mainly about Rugby (and obviously still does), but what was his career path from that to where he is now? 

He was actually doing some decent work in the print journalism trade - he was one of the top sports writers on the Scotsman / Scotland on Sunday group of papers before joining the BBC.

He also added in regular bits in Sportsound about Rugby and occasionally football when still writing for the papers.

Think he saw the writing on the wall for print and the BBC made him an offer. Looks like they wanted him and he was probably able to ask for decent cash and the Chief Sportswriter title.

To be honest, he started off really well - a good antidote to the usual ex Celtic or Rangers types we usually hear.

He totally lost the plot over the Hearts thing in the summer, accusing all and sundry of lying and deceit (so much so that many club chairs wont go on the programme now) and even when things became clearer, his massive ego wouldnt allow a climbdown.

Most fans think he is an arsehole now. He seems to have a particular bee in his bonnet about Hibs - having the audacity to spend money how we like in a pandemic or some other shite. 

It is guaranteed that he already has an article abusing Gordon and Dempster when we announce Kyle Magennis signing and it cost more that 2 bob and a golf ball.

Thats my entirely unbiased assessment !

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Was he good for a while or just good when covering one topic which was Rangers demise? Even then - It was Alex Thomson for C4 that was the go to guy during that period.

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10 hours ago, craigkillie said:

I assume this is from his "what to watch out for in Scottish football this weekend" article, where at least half his talking points actually have nothing to do with the weekend's action?

Reminds me of the time one of Rob McLean's "top 5 moments of the week in Scottish Football" was Joey Barton's Burnley losing an F.A Cup tie to non-league Lincoln City. 

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18 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Was he good for a while or just good when covering one topic which was Rangers demise? Even then - It was Alex Thomson for C4 that was the go to guy during that period.

He was one of the first journalists to pick up on the Lance Armstrong and WADA stories - in Europe anyway. He really was excellent there whilst other client journalists sooked up the pish being fed to them.

Unfortunately I think that ever since he has been desperate for the next big scandal or cover up and it has clouded his judgement.

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1 hour ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

He was good for a while, but don't forget who the opposition is for sports journalism jobs in Scotland.

"You can only beat what's put in front of you."

Edited by Jacksgranda
sllepnig
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Tom English has never really changed, it’s just for a long time he was writing this kind of stuff from a perspective that a lot of people on here agreed with.

Now he isn’t, people have realised that he talks shite. 

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29 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

He was one of the first journalists to pick up on the Lance Armstrong and WADA stories - in Europe anyway. He really was excellent there whilst other client journalists sooked up the pish being fed to them.

Unfortunately I think that ever since he has been desperate for the next big scandal or cover up and it has clouded his judgement.

David Walsh was the leading voice on Armstrong IIRC, he certainly put his head above the parapet more than most, and 7 deadly sins is a really good account of his investigation and the way that Armstrong was treating those that accused him of doping. 

 

Honestly can't remember English being in amongst those doubting Armstrongs ethics at the beginning but then again I was reading the Times and Walsh's coverage of the tour for most of that period.

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To be fair, I agree with him on some points. Especially with regards to clubs paying a fee for players during a pandemic.

You've no right to ask for government support in the future if you're spending beyond your means by splurging 250k on a player. Smack in the face to non playing staff who have been let go. 

 

 

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I don't doubt that a lot of journalists will use forums like this to get a lot of their information. If Tom English is one of them surely he would take on board some of the comments on here.

I don't understand why someone would choose to go from being one of the few respected journalists in Scottish sport to a bit of a joke figure.

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Just now, Ron Aldo said:

I don't doubt that a lot of journalists will use forums like this to get a lot of their information. If Tom English is one of them surely he would take on board some of the comments on here.

I don't understand why someone would choose to go from being one of the few respected journalists in Scottish sport to a bit of a joke figure.

Views.

More people are likely to listen and react to someone spouting nonsense and generating controversy than they are to someone that speaks sense.

The TalkSport model.

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7 minutes ago, The-coo-shed said:

To be fair, I agree with him on some points. Especially with regards to clubs paying a fee for players during a pandemic.

You've no right to ask for government support in the future if you're spending beyond your means by splurging 250k on a player. Smack in the face to non playing staff who have been let go. 

 

 

The flip side of this is that player trading is literally part of a clubs business model. Buying and selling players is how clubs make money. Asking clubs to cease investment in new players in exchange for government bailouts would be like asking Cineworld to stop buying new films in in exchange for a bailout. 

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