Today
- Scott Brown looks set to return ahead of schedule
- Rangers fail in bid to sign Michael O'Halloran
- SPFL re-structuring back on agenda but 16 team top flight looks a non-starter
- Rangers secure Jason Holt and Andy Halliday on long-term deals
- Martin Canning tells his Hamilton Accies team they are playing for their future... and his
- Jamie Doolan says he would be devastated if key man Stuart Bannigan left the club
- Graham Roberts suggests Rangers can prosper using talent from England’s lower leagues
- Glasgow Warriors shift big European tie from dodgy rugby pitch to 3G Rugby Park
- Andy Murray’s former coach Brad Gilbert gives his view of the world no.2’s chances at the Australian Open
- Dave Murdoch calls on Scottish Government to deliver on its promise to invest in curling
- Martin Laird on having to go backwards before moving forward again on the PGA Tour
- John Higgins hits top form to reach Masters quarter-finals
- Hidalgo-Clyne pens new deal at Edinburgh
- Scottish Hockey review says sport must try harder
- Coe expresses confidence that he will not be implicated in wrong-doing as athletics faces fresh allegations
Getting ready to return, Celtic skipper Scott Brown
Rangers have had bids for Michael O'Halloran rejected
Committed to the cause, Rangers pair Andy Halliday and Jason Holt
Martin Canning, a man with a lot on his mind
Sought after Stuart Bannigan (left) must be feeling the love of current friend and foe
It was being a quiet wee soul that helped Graham Roberts fit in so well when he moved from Weymouth to Spurs for £35k in 1980
Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park living up to its name
As ex-coach Brad Gilbert tips him to have ‘a monster year’ Andy Murray is finalising his preparations with current coach Amelie Mauresmo
Dave Murdoch has called on the government to ensure Scotland’s top curlers have the facilities they require to stay competitive
Forgotten man Martin Laird reckons he’s ready to get back to his best on tour
In-form John Higgins at the Masters
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, second from right with, from left Ben Toolis, Alex Toolis and Allan Dell in an Edinburgh camp that is getting excited about its prospects after back-to-back 1872 Cup wins
Beleaguered Seb Coe’s problems seem set to deepen at the IAAF
06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines
Glasgow Warriors to play French side Racing 92 at Rugby Park… Celtic manager Ronny Deila thinks there is no problem with the current Scottish league structure… Leicester back level with Arsenal at the top of the English Premier League
06.30 Radio Five Live sports headlines
Arsenal lead cut to goal difference as they confirm confirm signing of Mohamed Elneny from Basel… Jermain Defoe hat-trick earns Sunderland vital win v Swansea… Hull City move to second place in English Championship with win over Cardiff… Alex Hales is being monitored because of a stomach bug ahead of England's third Test in South Africa… Eddie Jones brings seven uncapped players into his squad to meet Scotland in Six Nations opener but postpones naming a captain for two weeks… John Higgins and Neil Robertson go through in Masters snooker…
The Back Pages
The Herald leads on the news that Rangers have had two bids turned down for St Johnstone’s Michael O’Halloran, carries Martin Canning’s stark warning to his players, addresses Glasgow Warriors’ pitch switch to Rugby Park and has a different take on proposed league re-structuring to The National which leads on that story, but also reports on how Anthony Stokes remains part of Celtic’s plans and John Higgins’ progress in the Masters snooker. The Evening Times splash is on the prospect of Scott Brown’s earlier than expected return for Celtic while Andy Halliday vows to reward Rangers manager Mark Warburton for the long-term deal he has been given and there is an exclusive interview with Rangers academy boss Billy Kirkwood.
Grandstanding – today’s sports comment
Stewart Fisher suggests that even before it has been discussed the latest proposal for a 16 team top division in Scotland is doomed, while 'The Kicker' gives top agent Bill McMurdo space in The National to outline his view that Scottish football is no hotbed of vice and there should be no witch-hunt over historic corruption. Meanwhile my weekly Herald column outlines why world champion and Olympic silver medallist Dave Murdoch deserves credit for asking serious questions of our politicians when there has been no progress on the creation of a National Performance Centre for curling two years after a government announcement was made promising that it would be built. On the back of the Times in setting up his exclusive interview with Billy Kirkwood, Chris Jack suggests that Barrie McKay's rise can inspire the next crop of Ibrox youngsters.
Sporting Twitterati
Yes Tom, but what exactly is your opinion on the Scotstoun situation?
What a shambles at Scotstoun. The problem with that pitch was obvious a long time ago and nothing was done. Amateur hour
— Tom English (@BBCTomEnglish) January 13, 2016
The implications meanwhile dawn on fellow rugby commentator Alan Dymock
Dan Carter headed to Kilmarnock. This is not a joke.
— Scottish Rugby Blog (@ScotRugbyBlog) January 13, 2016
Looking further ahead, surely that World Cup bubble's not burst already?
Just watched Eddie Jones' press conference and now a bit worried about 6th Feb. He's a class act and has picked an exciting squad! #AsOne
— Andy Nicol (@AndyNic9) January 13, 2016
While for the health of this ailing sporting nation this must be the the last sporting innovation Scotland needs
Ooft, this is seriously weird https://t.co/jz8sK61dL0
— Dame Sparklemonkey (@Sparkle__Monkey) January 13, 2016
Today’s top message
No longer shooting messengers Seb Coe, the president of the IAAF, the ruling body of athletics, is at last beginning to acknowledge the scale of the problem his sport faces, but has it taken too long?
“One of the accusations is that I don’t sort of get the seriousness of this issue – I do,” he is now claiming.
“I’m dealing with it every day and I have been dealing with this since effectively the first day I took over the role as president.
“Our sport is a strong sport. Don’t run away with the idea that I don’t know that these are dark days, of course they’re dark days. The crisis was probably two or three years ago when what we’re having to deal with was taking place. Our responsibly now is to make those changes and to take the sport into safe territory.”
All of this has the worrying ring of those enquiries into major incidents or accidents where the authorities under the microscope admit that terrible malpractice has taken place in their organisations but that has all been consigned to the past, has been dealt with and will never be allowed to happen again. Invariably, particularly if those who were in charge over the period in question have quietly ridden off into the sunset with golden handshakes or into retirement, those explanations are accepted and there is rarely (e.g. with the banking crisis) any serious action taken against those who were involved.
The trouble for Coe in this instance is two-fold since he had a senior role in the sport throughout the period he has identified and, as recently as last year when he was campaigning for his current post, he was claiming that claims about the scale of doping in athletics represented “a declaration of war on my sport.”
As a piece of judgement that comment could not have been more spectacularly wrong, yet plenty would now have us believe that this is the man who can lead the sport to a brighter future.
Either way he cannot be accused of lacking courage since it is hard to conclude other than that the former British government minister is either a rare individual who is now fully aware that he should have done better when malpractice was occurring and is staying in post to accept his responsibility, or he is engaged in a remarkable game of bluff in a desperate bid to cling to a position of power and influence.
Diary
World Anti-Doping Agency is set to reveal its latest findings from its inquiry into athletics
Third Test gets underway in South Africa
Thanks for reading, back tomorrow for another run through the sports agenda around Scotland and beyond
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