Today

 

Raffaele De Vita (centre) celebrates his decisive goal

The Herald:

 

In-fotm Tom Rogic has signed a deal to keep him at Celtic

The Herald:

 

In Evening Times exclusive Liam Brady tells Chris Jack that Arsenal were always happy to let Gedion Zelalem stay at Rangers 

The Herald:

 

Up for the Cup, Rangers striker Kenny Miller

The Herald:

 

One that got away... Liam Grimshaw as he will never be seen again

The Herald: 07/11/15 LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP . MOTHERWELL V ICT (1-3) . FIR PARK - MOTHERWELL . Liam Grimshaw in action for Motherwell. (46075986)

 

Jason Cummings, the latest player to emerge from football nursey Hutchison Vale who could face Celtic in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup

The Herald:

 

He’ll never get away with this look at Queen’s club... Andy Murray in training at the Australian Open

The Herald:

 

Grizzled veteran Paul Lawrie looking the part after 25 years on tour

The Herald:

 

Davie Scott, the first ever homegrown winner of Scottish rugby league's Dave Valentine Award

The Herald:

 

Roddy Grant says an emotional recent farewell to Edinburgh supporters but Hamish Watson reckons his former rival for the club's No.7 jersey will make it as a coach
The Herald:

 

06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines

Scottish football should introduce strict liability says Falirk director... Ross County to face Linlithgow Rose or Forfar in fifth round of Scottish Cup... Newcastle twice come from behind to draw 3-3 with Manchester United

 

Radio Five Live sports headlines

Three goals for much improved Man Utd but they are still frustrated as Newcastle twice come from behind to draw... big night for Aston Villa as Remi Gard claims first win as boss... and for West Ham coming from behind at Bournemouth... Middlesborough look set for promotion from Championship after extending lead in Championship as they win and second placed Derby draw... Ross Co move into round five of the Scottish Cup... established England players set to miss out with new coach Eddie Jones understood to have wielded axe... British tennis players Dan Evans and James Wards claims wins in Australian Open qualifiers where play is suspended due to heat.. Mark Selby to meet Ronnie O'Sullivan at snooker's Masters after beating Ricky Walden 6-0

 

Grandstanding – today’s sports comment

The Rucker offers his view in The National that Gavin Hastings’ son Adam is set for big things, while in The Herald Stuart Bathgate draws some plain-speaking support from PR and marketing guru Viki Mendelssohn in assessing how the SRU’s desire for control could prevent Scottish teams from competing with the English and French. Also in The Herald Neil Cameron contends that today marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of ‘the modern Celtic’ and Doug Gillon gives his venerable verdict on UK Athletics’ anti-doping initiative.

 

Big Gav’s not so wee boy Adam

The Herald:

 

Sporting Twitterati

Nope, this pic is not from Ibrox…

 

 

Charlton Athletic captain Johnnie Jackson sets an example that may horrify hundreds of footballers around the UK 

 

 

 

My old cricketing team-mate David ‘Bones’ Kuhlwilm sends this international message as he revels in the prospect of getting a rare glimpse of his beloved Stirling Albion as a result of their draw with the Scottish Cup holders last Saturday

 

Charlton Athletic captain Johnnie Jackson sets an example that may horrify hundreds of footballers around the UK

 

 

Interesting times down south ahead of the Six Nations opener at Murrayfield as new England coach Eddie Jones makes his mark if TV commentator Alastair Eykyn is to be believed

 

 

 

 

Today’s top message

After listening to Heimir Hallgrimsson, Iceland's assistant manager, explaining to last month's SFA convention how his country with a population that is pretty much the equivalent of that of the Kingdom of Fife, spread over a vast area, had qualified for this summer's European Championships, Gordon Strachan, the Scotland manager, seized upon one of his key messages about the way in which youngsters are encouraged to play multi-sports.

The Scotland manager clearly understands the value in terms of skill development and the impression was that he also realised the dangers for youngster, in what is a highly competitive global game, of placing all their eggs in any one basket.

On which note, at the risk of using a very dodgy pun, the example set by Davie Scott, a lad who has proved himself to be as brave as a lion and who won representative honours in rugby union but was reckoned unlikely to be big enough to make it in that sport, serves as further evidence of the benefits of keeping options open.

Perhaps it is not as fundamentally different a choice as Andy Murray had when choosing to stick with racquet sports rather than take the chance of pursuing a football career, but by developing an interest in and then a passion for rugby league the then teenager from Stirling gave himself an alternative if union did not work out. As it happened - and this may not be the case for everyone, but is understandable given the constantly nature of his sport as compared with its stop-start 15-a-side counterpart - he much preferred rugby league as he told me when I first interviewed him ahead of the 2013 World Cup, a campaign in which he earned himself a place in the starting 13 for Scotland's surprise appearance in the quarter-final against mighty New Zealand.

He has gone from strength to strength since as demonstrated by his selection this week as the first ever homegrown winner of Rugby League Scotland's prestigious Dave Valentine Award, as the senior international team's player of the season.

His opportunity may have come from a mere change of code but there are thousands of sports daft youngsters all over Scotland who have the talent to play something other than football who have never had the chance to try the sport at which they might excel.

Gordon Strachan seems to understand that and the hope is that others are beginning to catch on.

 

Thanks for reading... back tomorrow with another look at the day's Scottish sports agenda