The Terrible Journalism & Tom English Thread

[Miguel Sanchez]

It's worth remembering that classic quote: sports writing is by people who can't write for an audience who can't read.

[2426255]

I sympathise in one sense that he'll have to submit his work (if you want to call it that) on tight deadlines probably, but still it doesn't change the fact it's not worth reading. I just think he's probably not totally committed to his job and been coasting for years. Don't blame him for that, but still I'm not interested in reading his articles as they haven't got any substance.

[VincentGuerin]

1 hour ago, KirkieRR said:

That's the BBC website stylesheet, but. Ever encountered Phil McNulty, the BBC's 'Chief Football Writer'? Long articles about English moneybags football that say nothing and reveal nothing you didn't know, and which you give up reading one paragraph in if you're not a Premier League Armchair Fanboy. His latest takes c1200 words to say 'Arsenal lost and will need to play better and score goals to be better.'

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67908412

Most football writing is that, to be fair.

Football has a huge readership who want new things to read every day, but there's not really that much to write about every day that's interesting.

Look at any of the major outlets for daily football writing and it's the same shite. Simplistic, scoreboard journalism. Website need hits, so you need to write about the big clubs and write whatever you're going to write before everyone else does. It's a recipe for shite.

To be fair, that's all there is really time to do. In three days there'll be another round of games and something equally facile needing bashed out. If you want proper football writing you need to go to the higher end magazines or books.

[mozam76]

Panto season at Ibrox. 
 

 

Edited February 6 by mozam76

[Bad Wolf]

18 hours ago, kennie makevin said:

In what sense is he wrong ? Anyone who loves the Scottish national teams and wants them to win and who isn't overwhelmed by fatalism really hasn't been paying attention.

Apparently, we played really well in the first half, but he preferred to focus on the negatives. It's "fatalism", a forelock-tugging lack of belief in our own ability to achieve anything that has held Scotland back for decades, and not just in sport. But that's the preferred narrative, which wankers like him stick to, especially when they're being paid to do so.  I tried to make my above post strictly about sport, but frankly it isn't, so I shouldn't have. That article is entirely in keeping with everything that BBC Scotland vomits forth.

 

The phrase "these people" sticks in my throat too, particularly when used by someone from the failed statelet.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

13 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Apparently, we played really well in the first half, but he preferred to focus on the negatives. It's "fatalism", a forelock-tugging lack of belief in our own ability to achieve anything that has held Scotland back for decades, and not just in sport. But that's the preferred narrative, which wankers like him stick to, especially when they're being paid to do so.  I tried to make my above post strictly about sport, but frankly it isn't, so I shouldn't have. That article is entirely in keeping with everything that BBC Scotland vomits forth.

 

The phrase "these people" sticks in my throat too, particularly when used by someone from the failed statelet.

English is from the Republic.

[bennett]

12 hours ago, mozam76 said:

Panto season at Ibrox. 
 

 

 

Rather unsporting to score a goal at half time, no wonder Goldson wasn't expecting it.

[kennie makevin]

16 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

It's worth remembering that classic quote: sports writing is by people who can't write for an audience who can't read.

The ghost of Hugh McIlvanney would like a word, and wasn't that a Frank Zappa quote directed at 'music journalists' ? Does fit perfectly with Scottish football 'journalism' mind you .

[kennie makevin]

2 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

Apparently, we played really well in the first half, but he preferred to focus on the negatives. It's "fatalism", a forelock-tugging lack of belief in our own ability to achieve anything that has held Scotland back for decades, and not just in sport. But that's the preferred narrative, which wankers like him stick to, especially when they're being paid to do so.  I tried to make my above post strictly about sport, but frankly it isn't, so I shouldn't have. That article is entirely in keeping with everything that BBC Scotland vomits forth.

 

The phrase "these people" sticks in my throat too, particularly when used by someone from the failed statelet.

It's lack of ability that has held back Scottish football and rugby for decades. Nothing to do with intrinsic self loathing. And Tom English is from the Republic of Ireland which, like all countries is both good and bad but is in no way a failed 'statelet'. That schoolboy error rather summed up the O Grade Modern Studies simplicity of your argument.

 

[A Diamond For Me]

Fewer half of the Scotland squad for the game against Wales were born in Scotland, and while some of those born in other countries - Cameron Redpath, for one - probably had pretty a Scottish upbringing, there's no reason to think that the South African, Australian, English, Canadian and Irish born players grew up with a deeply ingrained set of peculiarly Scottish neuroses.  It's essentialist and unquantifiable nonsense to put Scottish sporting performance down to some nebulous national characteristic.  You'd be as well saying that since of the ten Scots-born players in the squad, eight went to private schools (as did at least eight of those born furth of Scotland)*, that they'd play with all the confidence and innate sense of superiority those schools are meant to give their pupils.  Or, if they lose, that the fear of failure and conformist culture of those schools is what lies behind it.

For what it's worth I don't care about rugby, and don't really care where the Scotland players are from.  I'm not interested in measuring Scottishness.  If they win that's faintly pleasing, if they lose I'll have forgotten it five minutes after hearing the score anyway.  My point is that to the extent that Scottish people are bred with a sense of fatalism simply by virtue of being Scots, then that's not something I'd expect to be especially strongly manifested in the rugby team.  You can't hang any interpretation or thesis on such a shoogly frame.  

 

*all of this is on Wikipedia and I'm on my lunch break

[The Master]

[johnnydun]

Sorry it's the Sun.

But that headline. It's not at Dens.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/11938265/st-mirren-fans-charge-dundee-supporters-delayed-game/amp/

 

[Abstract]

[Dunty]

On 06/02/2024 at 10:03, CoF said:

 Neil Doncaster absolutely handed him his arse and his credibility was seriously damaged (to me anyway) after that. 

When was this?

[Hoose Rice]

14 minutes ago, Dunty said:

When was this?

When hertz got relegated and English couldnae take it. 

[Arch Stanton]

2 hours ago, Abstract said:

Fuxake 

[Boghead ranter]

9 hours ago, Abstract said:

Strange how, that, in a thread about poor journalism, I was trying to work out what was wrong with Idessane's update. Totally missed the easy open goal.

[CoF]

8 hours ago, Dunty said:

When was this?

Early days of Covid, Tom English had been wanking himself into a frenzy for weeks about all sorts of half baked conspiracy theories.

[VictorOnopko]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68006183

Nick McPheat trying to be funny, explaining "tinpottery" and hastily throwing together some crowdwanking and stale tales - before us fans get to vote on the "Ten Biggest Clubs".  Top quality licence-fee funded content!

Edited February 8 by VictorOnopko

[lennyzer0]

On 06/02/2024 at 05:03, houston_bud said:

I think English is alright. Part of his remit must be to try and noise people up a bit and argue against what others say. The national broadcaster should be above that, but it's 2024 and we need to justify everything with clicks and 'impressions'. His tweet about Warnock being a brect supporter (which we could've all guessed anyway) I'm assuming was some sort of twitter wind up, I don't use twitter so I don't know.

He has a reasonable knowledge of the teams he's talking about though and does a bit of research, which is more than I could say for some of the ex pros they have on Sportsound.

This, pretty much. The stick Tom English gets when...well, basically name any other useless ex-pro/brinaless talking head exists and talks regularly about the game up here always strikes me as a bit odd.

Sure, he talks shite now and again, but a lot of the time he's accused of that, he's pretty obviously at it and just driving up his levels of engagement (which is, at least in part, his job).

Also, if Warnock supported Brexit, he's a much bigger moron than English could ever aspire to be.