As Scottish football looks at bringing in a draft system for young players and St Mirren supporters launch a bid to buy their club evidence grows of a willingness to think innovatively in seeking to breathe life into the national game
Today
- St Mirren fans launch Hearts-style takeover bid
- NFL style draft set to be introduced into Scottish football
- Stokes vows he will prove Deila wrong
- Deila on negotiations with Croatian target, soon to be out of contract Mulgrew and ‘not for sale’ Johansen
- Archibald unsure whether Thistle will be able to sign Erskine this month
- Saints manager Wright says Rangers have not made improved bid for O’Halloran
- Airdrie cup finalist Andy Smith warns Celtic that his son Jack could cause them problems when they meet East Kilbride
- Living the dream at East Kilbride
- Rangers fans launch petition to have BBC reporter dismissed
- Stroll in Melbourne Park for Murray as Konta also marches on
- Why Braehead Clan are favoured in Elite league conference system
- Spieth hails McIlroy ‘masterclass’
- Dickinson calls for Scottish rugby to trust in youth
- Burnett misses out on World Championship clean sweep
Home ownership
Saints fans are bidding to take control of their own club
Change of green scene
Anthony Stokes is determined to prove Celtic boss Ronny Deila wrong in letting him go
Getting into shape to protect future
Charlie Mulgrew (left) getting put through his paces with Celtic and Scotland team-mate
Going nowhere
In spite of Aston Villa's interest Stefan Johansen will be staying put at Celtic according to his manager
Team-mates?
Stuart Bannigan (left) and Thistle signing Chris Erskine contest possession
Where do you think you're off to?
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright (second from left) says the Perth club has had no improved bid from Rangers for Michael O'Halloran (second from right)
Setting a fatherly example
Andy Smith, goal-scorer for Airdrie against Rangers in the 1992 Scottish Cup final, is looking forward to son Jack facing the other half of the Old Firm in this season's competition
Life in a fairytale
East Kilbride have had plenty to celebrate after earning a glamour Scottish Cup tie with Celtic
Strolling on
Andy Murray has had a trouble free ride to the third round at the Australian Open
British-ish success
Australian-born, of Hungarian origin, Spanish-based Johana Konta is flying the flag too
Who da man?
Jordan Spieth (right) says he witnessed 'a masterclass' from Rory McIlroy in Abu Dhabi
06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines
McInnes says Aberdeen determined to maintain Premiership title challenge in spite of gulf in spending power...Sharapova survives scare at Australian Open...fog interrupts day two in Dubai with American-based Russell Knox the leading Scot, six off the pace
06.35 Radio Five Live sports headlines
Roger Federer two sets to one up on Gregor Dimitrov at Australian Open... Manchester United deny reports from france that they have held a meeting with Pep Guardiola... South African captain AB de Villiers claims England's bowlers have lost some pace... Sale Sharks beat Newport Gwent Dragons to earn home quarter-final in rugby's European Challenge Cup... second round back underway in Abu Dhabi
Back pages
The Evening Times leads with Ronny Deila’s claim that Stefan Johansen is going nowhere and also carries the story that Anthony Stokes is aiming to prove the Celtic manager wrong and that is the main hit in The Herald, which also gives prominence to the bid to introduce an NFL-style draft into Scottish football and the supporters trust bid to buy St Mirren which is the day’s main sports story in The National.
Grandstanding – today’s sports comment
In the Evening Times Davie Hay tells Ronny Deila that the intensity at Celtic is what makes him feel he is a different culture, rather than the country itself, while Derek Johnstone agrees with supporters groups that spending millions on facial recognition technology would be a waste of money and in The Herald Susan Egelstaff proclaims that the end may be nigh for sport.
Sporting Twitterati
Rory McIlroy throws down the gauntlet:
Will be having a few clashes with these boys this year! The race has started at #ADGolfChamps #AnyonesGame pic.twitter.com/xGkw3XyzHu
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) January 19, 2016
While Derek McInnes is in real danger of being misinterpreted as throwing in the towel:
Celtic's new defender equates to my whole budget says Aberdeen boss https://t.co/mDA2BjyQfg pic.twitter.com/xJ0Wf7SVBP
— STV Sport (@STVSport) January 21, 2016
National team assistant coach Craig Wright meanwhile registers his despair at having brought perfect (Scottish) ssummer conditions with them:
Weather in Hong Kong more like back home both in terms of rainfall and temperatures! #cricket #wet #cold #ICUP pic.twitter.com/wG0RBKb8yb
— Craig Wright (@craigwright99) January 22, 2016
Today's top message:
Last month's SFA convention was a surprisingly forward looking affair.
The opening speaker, a FIFA expert on comparing football markets around the world who told the gathering that the old adage that doing the same things would result in the same returns was wrong, because doing the same things will actually result in diminishing returns.
Iceland's assistant boss then took the stage to explain how their country, with a population the size of Fife, has developed the systems that have seen them qualifyt for this year's European Championship finals, including encouraging youngsters to play an array of sports.
A workshop then outlined the lessons that Scottish football could potentially learn from American Football's NFL, a remarkably socialist-style set-up in the land of the free market, with its evenly shared revenues and draft systems designed to ensure that every franchise has a decent chance of tasting glory.
Then it was all wrapped up with Gordon Strachan, the Scotland boss and Brian McClair, who is now heading up the SFA youth development programme, welcoming what they had heard and demonstrating an understanding of the need for change.
The temptation might have been to think that there had been a lot of fine words spoken but that there would be little by way of follow-up action, however it felt as if there was a genuine willingness from the majority in the room, to embrace different ideas.
On a day when another set of supporters unveiled its plans to become more hands on in terms of their club's future at St Mirren, it was all the more encouraging, then, to see that Strachan and McClair have moved quickly in coming forward with plans, notably including the introduction of an NFL-style draft system for youngsters.
It is one thing calling for fresh thinking and quite another implementing it so here's hoping the response will be positive from across the sport and that this is merely the start.
Draft dodger
The selection way down the pecking order in Millennium of Tom Brady, perhaps the most effective performer ever to play in the NFL, proves that no system is perfect, but the thinking behind it reflects an intelligent approach to seeking to maintain competitive interest in sport
Thanks for reading. Back on Monday to analyse the agenda after the weekend's sports action.
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