It mattered little that Tom saw fit to disagree with them, indeed it would have been a surprise if he`d been in accord with the expressed sentiment, but it mattered a great deal that he saw fit to write about this particular internet forum in his newspaper.
Kind words are usually in short supply from sports journalists, club chairmen, managers and politicians when it comes to an assessment of the worth of internet football messageboards, and this, predictably, was no exception, but, increasingly, the nation`s mainstream press and media pundits are struggling to ignore the multitude of views which are regularly expressed in cyberspace.
Tom English will have noted that many of the website hits for his work are due to FF debating his stance in his published articles, but he should be aware that FF is now grateful to him for contributing to the legitimising of the internet football community.
Mr English`s work has been highlighted on several occasions on the FF messageboard in the recent past, and contrary to what might be imagined, it has not all been dismissed as the venomous labours of an anti-Rangers scribe. Tom English might not be a Rangers supporter, but he is paid to have a say on the goings-on in the world of Scottish sport, and no-one at FF is going to deny him this undoubtedly hard-earned privilege.
As the Scottish football establishment, including the sporting wing of the nation`s fourth estate, has tended to exist in an impenetrable bubble in the modern era, distant and detached from the opinions of its public, cyberspace has presented an effective way for the lifeblood of the game, ordinary supporters, to state their case without being ejected or arrested by an authority only too eager to do its master`s bidding.
Mr English, merely by publicly responding to Follow Follow, has opened the door further to Scottish football fans to have their opinions noted, highlighted and debated, and maybe just sometimes, endorsed.
Tom, your good friends on Follow Follow are eternally grateful.
Don`t be a stranger now ...