Tom English is having a good old laugh after a number of Celtic fans on Twitter, along with a couple of blogs, pushed an erroneous story about Nathan Patterson’s Ibrox transfer fee being a mere £4.5 million.
The story came from Everton’s official Twitter site, but the price in question was his Fantasy Football cost.
English thinks this is terribly amusing.
I think English’s decision to highlight it is actually acutely embarrassing. For him.
Because it once again draws attention to the biggest elephant in the room.
Why we do what we do in the first place.
I can tell you this right now; if the mainstream media was better at its job, if people like English were not so inclined to do no more than blow in the prevailing wind, if they would investigate, dig, examine every claim and fight for fact and truth we wouldn’t have to.
It’s ten years since Craig Whyte’s Rangers started its final slide into the abyss.
What was English and his entire profession doing at that time?
Oh yeah, some of his colleagues found out who Whyte was, but none wanted to take things to their natural conclusion and conclude that the club was in a bunch of trouble. That was us. That was the bloggers.
We had every major fact on Whyte long before the media.
We knew Rangers was in dire, dire financial trouble and were saying so long before the media.
Many of us spent the whole of January 2012 waiting for the roof to fall in. When the club sold Jelavic we all said it wouldn’t be enough; the media actually thought they might spend the money. Hoo-ha.
Then, in one of the most stunning abrogation’s of responsibility some of us have ever witnessed, the mainstream press has spent every day since the liquidation rewriting history, inventing its own version of reality and pushing the Survival and Victim Lies.
This is Scottish football’s version of the “stolen election narrative.”
I don’t care whether they believe it or whether its expediency. It is a grotesque thing for the media to be involved in.
They cheer-led Charles Green.
They worshiped at the feet of Dave King, a convicted fraudster who a South African judge called “a glib and shameless liar.”
He heaped embarrassment on them for that time and time again, culminating in the City of London putting the black spot on him for his repeated violations of their rules and regulations.
It wasn’t that long ago that his board published its “dodgy dossier”, which Peter Lawwell scorned at the meeting of the clubs and which was rejected by those clubs out of hand.
I read every word of that document; that’s what the job involves.
I don’t know which bits English himself read, but he drooled over it, and said he thought that Ibrox had shown that there was “a case to answer.” Sycophantic pro-Sevco claptrap.
It wasn’t difficult to conclude from that episode that he and certain other individuals in our press corps were simply not to be trusted. They were either wilful stooges or complete idiots, and to me it doesn’t matter which of the two that is … they have no credibility at all.
So yeah, I’m glad that English is a happy camper.
I’m glad that he’s found some simple pleasure for his simple mind today.
His journalism highlight of the last couple of years, let’s not forget, was an “in-depth interview with Kris Boyd”; is there even such a thing? They discussed his dog amongst other pressing subjects which fans were bursting to explore.
Even some of English’s colleagues found it toe-curling.
I don’t know what business English thinks he’s in, but it’s not journalism.
The reason Celtic sites are interested in the Patterson fee is surely obvious; this affects our club too and it shouldn’t take a genius to work that out. Even someone with as limited brain-power as English should be able to get this without too much trouble.
And the reason we’re digging into the story is that nobody else is.
This is “Motherwell born billionaire” stuff all over again; Ibrox giving the media its version, the media running it without doing a shred of thinking about it, and then later on having to squirm as the facts emerge over time.
They failed on Ashley.
They failed on Hummel.
They failed on Castore.
They failed when they took the club’s word for it at the AGM that there was no need to sell.
How many more times will these people be lied to and accept it?
For English, there’s no ceiling on what he’s prepared to tolerate.
I repeat, whatever business he thinks he’s in, you cannot call it journalism.
He, like others, is being played for a fool.
And today on Twitter, he is revelling in the role and actually laughing at Celtic fans … as we shake our heads at him.
What an idiot that man is.
The same English who sniggered and then made excuses for the moron Dick Campbell after he talked about ” fighting Japs in the trenches “.
Apparently racism is OK in West Brit soup taker land.
Absolutely brilliant point James the man is an utter fool but sevco don’t want anyone to know Patterson’s true price, is it because not enough to keep lights on ?
It simply proves over at Ibrox they have got several sellable assets in their squad. This is why they are in no danger of going bust. 10m 12m 16 m whatever it is its a very big number for a reserve right back. Be in no doubt they have several others valuable assets. To be fair its some achievement getting that amount for a reserve player thus hardly diminishing their title challenge while securing the funding they need for the year. They clearly have their eyes on the 30m CL and are clear favourites to get it being 6 ahead. As I have said several times their Board have done a far better job than ours in managing their squad last two years. They have actually invested and built value. We have diminished it. They have put their own personal money in while our Board have personally taken money out. Sad to admit it but their Board clearly cares more about their club than our. (wow that was painful to write). WE need fresh leadership on our Board from the Chairman down they have frittered our position of power away disgracefully.
And there you have discovered a gap in the market Mark. Whilst James is quite correct to out Tom English as, at best, a lazy journalist and, in actual fact, a fucking charlatan – it is time to face up to some very uncomfortable facts. I am not sure I would go as far as you have in terms of praising the Ibrox board. But the fact that it can be argued that they’ve done a better job than the Celtic board in recent times is un-fucking-believable in my opinion. They are utter goons. Always have been and always will be. So what does that say about the Celtic board?
Football is a results based industry. If they win the League (and as you have said, they are favourites to do exactly that – which I find mind blowing) then all bets are off. You can highlight their accounts over the last 10 years or whatever. Next year’s accounts will be MUCH healthier if they qualify for the CL group stages which they will do if they win the League. And that will open the door to more investment, sponsorship and a stronger squad. Basically all the things they didn’t have when we should have been pressing home our massive advantage. We clearly haven’t done that.
We played steady as she goes. They played fake it till you make it. We only have a few short months to wait to find out who was right.
Very well put roonsa,couldn’t agree more.
They have done what those scum always do; whatever it takes to stop Celtic, even if it jeopardises their cery existence. That is anything but admirable in my opinion and, for all their many faults, our board has never risked the club over such petty nonsense as stopping a rival getting one over us. Murray wrecked their old club trying to emulate us, and this mob have taken their new club to the brink just to stop us gaining a bit of bragging rights, which is utterly pathetic because in the grand scheme of things such achievements mean nothing. Winning more titles than us did nothing to save their old club did it? I’d rather have a living club with a proud unbroken history than a club pretending their history wasn’t broken by financial crime that shafted a lot of folk from face painters to their favourite auld boot in the palace.
As for “saleable asstes”? Even if the fee for Paterson is only half of what their media puppets are saying they won’t get close to that for any of the rest, simply because they are not good enough. Most of them have been there for some time and there’s never been any real interest, only pishy moonbeams about clubs from China etc.
How many windows have we been through where we were told Morelos was leaving for ££££££££ only for zero bids to appear? Utter hun-fluff to make a stupid child club’s fans feel good, nothing more.
That 6 points will disappear after 2 derby games, of that I have little doubt…
Mark B. Well said and correct!
James
Top notch write up on English…. !
Good old Tom.
Nothings ever questioned in Sevcoland but happy to jump on any bandwagon that displays negativity towards Celtic.
Just another sycophantic bawbag who knows he won’t stay relevant in Scottish sports media very long if he has a go at the staunch.
Nae bottle, nae scruples, nae journalist.
He speaks as a hun, for a hun media and a hun audience. Agree largely in Mark B’s description of our situation. If Ange stays for a good few years then he will lead us out of this, maybe, good fortune on our side this season. Our board must follow his lead or fall on their swords as we will not accept less. HH
what exactly is the transfer fee ? that is the question.
Between bugger all and £4.5 Million,take your pick.
£1.5M with Add-ons for appearances and Caps + a few years wages + inflation + fantasy PR = £11.5M for the purchasing club.
Journalists in Scotland are basically a bunch of Lodge Lickers p s from a guy who will be 70yo tomorrow I remember my parents telling me that in the 60s