Tom English: 'UEFA's vows on racism are about as hollow as its threats to Rangers'

[ian1964 10,498]

What's strange about it? It's hardly the first time a celtc supporter has ran on to the pitch....

 

'and brushed his hand off the head of Dida' lol....that's a belter, Tom...what was he doing then? offering an affectionate 'there there'

 

Aye, the latest time the MOPES tried to invade the park was when Miller cored his second @ Ibrox, the stewards managed to keep the swines penned in though.

[andrew_2010 0]

He has the makings of a good artlicle there about the hypocracy of UEFA when it comes to racism... His problem is his twisted hatred of Rangers by trying to tarr them with the same brush. where the bucharest fining comes into a story about racism i dont know. where celtics inability to control their fans and prevent them from approaching players on the field comes into a story about racism I dont know. If he stuck to the racists thing, maybe he has a point. If he decided to review crimes vs punishments, again there MAY be a story there - although i wouldn't trust him to be objective as far as i could throw him.

 

Overall an overeloborate attempt at sticking the boot into Rangers and just reads like he's a bitter tim. Rangers were not racists. and not liking celtic is not sectarian. i'm sorry for anyone that paid good money to read a paper on a sunday and got that dross.

[calscot 0]

Well, call me a lily-livered, hand-wringing wishy-wshy PC type, but I'm not getting the same level of hatred that everyone else is. If he's having a go at anyone is seems to be Michel Platini, on the (to me) accurate grounds that he's a hypocrite.

 

And I would have to say, in all fairness, that fighting of any kind ought to be punished with a steeper fine that a manky tim running past the AC Milan keeper. I don't think either were particularly serious but could have become so, so I guess there is a need for something to be done.

 

But then, I haven't read SoS since they went all right wing Catholic some years ago: I'm not religious, and the weekly soundbites of whatever cardinal or bishop is in place interested me not a jot. So anyone who is exposed to that sort of agenda is probably a bit more sensitive to it than I am.

 

Come on, that rant is so full of contradictions and non-sequiturs; how can you possibly resolve a definitive target for his very confused ire?

 

The whole article does not make the slightest sense and the biggest offence is trying to sell it as even gutter journalism. Imagine handing that in as an assignment on a journalism course... Does anyone think it would pass? At best he'd get a mark for adequate use of a spell checker...

[bmck 117]

andrew said it; there is no link between UEFA hypocrisy on racism and leniency on our punishment. the only link is pathological hatred of rangers.

[Bluedell 5,373]

He has the makings of a good artlicle there about the hypocracy of UEFA when it comes to racism... His problem is his twisted hatred of Rangers by trying to tarr them with the same brush. where the bucharest fining comes into a story about racism i dont know. where celtics inability to control their fans and prevent them from approaching players on the field comes into a story about racism I dont know. If he stuck to the racists thing, maybe he has a point. If he decided to review crimes vs punishments, again there MAY be a story there - although i wouldn't trust him to be objective as far as i could throw him.

 

Overall an overeloborate attempt at sticking the boot into Rangers and just reads like he's a bitter tim. Rangers were not racists. and not liking celtic is not sectarian. i'm sorry for anyone that paid good money to read a paper on a sunday and got that dross.

 

Agreed. He does have a good point, but just can't help himself.

[26th of foot 5,890]

Reference ra Sellik and pitch invaders at ra Stydome.

 

Limerick born and Dublin bred, Tom English is the Chief Sports Writer at Scotland on Sunday. He knows full well that his beloved Sellik have had four pitch invasions during Euro matches at ra Stydome in the last three years. Last season against Man Utd, a Yahoo ran all the way into the centre circle, the cameras refused to transmit footage; however, the incident was reported by the UEFA Observer. Sellik were fined �£42,500 by UEFA. It was noted this was the fourth time in three years and ra Sellik were warned that part of/or the whole ground being closed would be the next sanction, should it happen again. It was reported that the FAI representitive at UEFA, Delaney had argued strongly on ra Sellik's behalf.

 

Of course, Tom English was NOT demanding closure of his beloved Stydome, he was not bemoaning a lack of spine at UEFA either. Probably, he sent his fellow countryman, Delaney a 'well done on a good job' e-mail.

 

The pitch invader was 18 year old John Murphy, he was convicted and given a 6 month custodial sentence. Compare and contrast with Shitey Sean Gallagher's pitch invasion of Ibrox and attempt to handcuff himself to the goalpost. He was fined and given community service. Who thinks John Reid, Jim Murphy, Des Browne, Brian Wilson, ..................etc put Westminster pressure on our 'independent judiciary'?

 

One last thing, Tom English is a cnut.

[Bluedell 5,373]

Thanks for that insight, 26th.

 

You must remember to let us know what you really think of Tom English.

[andy steel 0]

Ah yeah, I remember hearing him on Radio Scotland some time back; the accent was a bit of a surprise given the 'issues' surrounding football in these parts. As I said in my earlier post, if you've got more experience with him you're probably more sensitive to his prejuidices.

 

SuperAlly asks why I 'play down' the tim pitch invader. I haven't really thought about it, but off the top of my head what I wrote in the earlier post covers it, that fighting seems to me to be more worthy of punishment than what that wallah did. As he points out Celtic were fined for repeated offences; I didn't know that, but given that it seems reasonable enough.

 

As for the rest of your boring moan, if you want me off your board just say so.

 

Calscot writes:

how can you possibly resolve a definitive target for his very confused ire?

 

I would agree, you can't. It's a mix and mash thrown together to fill some space, I can only guess. But not having been exposed to the guy much, I just don't get the same level of Rangers-bashing as the others.

[andrew_2010 0]

But not having been exposed to the guy much, I just don't get the same level of Rangers-bashing as the others.

 

Surely you picked up on the fact that there he was, discussing nicely the examples of racist behaviour by fans and the horrendously insignificant fines associated with such crimes only to turn that onto Rangers?

 

Fair play for trying to make your opinion based on your personal experiences, but the bit about Rangers has NOTHING to do with the racism story. And its clear he's trying to say UEFA have been lenient (sp) on Rangers.

 

I'm the first to laugh off the bias/paranoia stuff (I think Jim Traynor is awesome at winding up folk!) but this guy has been as subtle as souness planting the flag in Turkey!!

[andy steel 0]

That was classic. Souness just had it.

 

As for the piece, I took it more as a mix of the UEFA fine and a desperate need to file 2,000 words or so once the initial piece - "UEFA hammer neo-Nazi Rangers, Europe rejoices" - became untenable. But I have to point out, I'm not bothered one way or the other. It didn't wind me up, it didn't amuse me, it didn't make me think. It was just...nothing.