Welcome to Kicking Off, the quick way to get to grips with the day's Scottish sports agenda
Today
- SFA embarrassed live on TV and radio as Scottish Cup quarter-finals has to be re-drawn
- Leigh Griffiths thanks fans of rival clubs for their response to the online abuse he has suffered
- Scotland to be in France this summer but only as cannon fodder
- Motherwell face rap after pitch invasion… but punishment delayed for 18 months
- Cadden expresses confidence that Motherwell's luck is set to turn
- Ronny Deila looking to go through rest of season unbeaten
- Partick Thistle's Stuart Bannigan admits he is likely to leave the club
- Karyn McCluskey brings Violence Reduction Unit experience to tackling Scottish football problems
- Hearts development guru Donald Park on rise of youth at Hibs and Hearts
- Neville feeling the heat in Valencia
- Forwards coach Jon Humphreys on lessons from first game and heading back to his native Wales
- Scotland fall out of top 10 in world rugby rankings
- Former Scotland and British & Irish Lions winger Alastair Biggar dies aged 69
- Manning refuses to confirm that he is quitting after quarterbacks eclipsed by defences in Superbowl
What happens next?
SFA President Alan McRae flanked by ex-Celt Lubo Moravcik and sponsors' representative Brian McColgan as the planners dream goes wrong at the Scottish Cup draw
Grateful for support
Leigh Griffiths has thanked supporters from rival clubs for the support he has been given after suffering online abuse
All will be 'Well
Chris Cadden expresses confidence that Motherwell's luck is set to turn on the field on the day they get something of a break off it
Unbeatable leader?
Ronny reckons his stuttering Celts can avoid another loss between now and the end of the season as they chase the double
Set to quit Firhill scene
Stuart Bannigan promises to give his all as he admits his departure from Firhill is imminent
Ready for challenge
New SPFL board member Karyn McCluskey set to bring her experience of involvement in Violence Reduction Unit to Scottish football
Park life
Donald Park (centre) on the rise of youth at Hearts and Hibs
Getting a different perspective
Ace pundit Gary Neville is finding life very different in management
Manyana man
Forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys is the latest from within the Scotland camp to offer the view that better times are round the corner as Six Nations losing run reaches record level and national team drops out of world's top 10
You were really rubbish... no, no, no, you were much worse
Vaunted quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Cam Newton share the love after both were snuffed out by the opposition defences in Superbowl 50
06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines
Celtic to host Morton after draw malfunction sees them avoid trip to Dundee United... United now face difficult trip to Dingwall... holders Inverness Caley to visit Hearts or Hibs... Rangers or Killie to host Dundee or Dumbarton... Scotland forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys insists the team can expect good times around the corner despite worst ever run of Six Nations defeats
06.32 Radio Five Live sports headlines
Fifth placed Championship side Derby controversially sack manager Paul Clement after just eight months in charge... Chelsea's Kurt Zouma out for rest of season after suffering ugly knee injury... Everton close to £200 million takeover deal with San Diego Padres owners... draw for Scottish Cup quarter-finals made eventually... England add back-row forward Matt Kvesic and Josh Beaumont to training squad ahead of Six Nations visit to Italy... Huddersfield Giants half-back Luke Robinson forced to retire from game due to hip injury
The Back Pages
The National leads with SFA President Alan McCrae peering into the Scottish Cup goldfish bowl after the draw goes wrong, The Herald has Leigh Griffiths applauding the reaction of rival club's fans to the online abuse he and his family have received, while in The Evening Times John 'Bomber' Brown says Rangers are now ready to meet Celtic and would have welcomed meeting them in the Scottish Cup
Grandstanding - today's Scottish sports comment
In The National Martin Hannan considers the damaging impact of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals and whether they should be banned and Mike Blair, the former Scotland captain, maintains that the team is due to come good, while in The Herald Tuesday is golf day and this week Nick Rodger looks at the way Hideki Matsuyama, Japan’s current top player, won his second PGA Tour title on Sunday amid the rowdy crowds of Phoenix Open
Hideki Matsuyama, rising star from the land of the rising sun
Sporting Twitterati
Inevitably the Scottish Cup draw has provided something of a field day for social media users
So, who did we get in the Scottish Cup draw?
— Hartlepool United FC (@Official_HUFC) February 8, 2016
Scottish Football's genius lies in its ability to let its staggering incompetence mask its institutional corruption. https://t.co/QN2vZVhPqv
— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) February 8, 2016
#ScottishCup draw; to be honest, using one of those young ladies from Bangkok would have been less embarrassing ...
— Stewart Weir (@sweirz) February 8, 2016
Just heard that IF we beat Dumbarton we have Juventus in the quarter finals of the cops del rey! Good draw.
— Darren O'Dea (@odea_darren) February 8, 2016
The Scottish Cup draw will restart after the SFA get some PR advice from Donald Trump.
— Roger Hannah (@Hannahnaman) February 8, 2016
Behind the Headlines
Three decades ago Scots were winning Grand Slams, in the midst of a record run of qualifications for World Cup finals, winning golfing majors... successfully pulling eight balls out of a bag without incident.
What went wrong? The rise of the sports administrator, now a multi-million pound industry in Scotland alone, would seem to be the answer. As more and more resources have been seized by men in suits so we have become less and less competitive on the field of play.
Yesterday's shambles of a Scottish Cup draw was just the latest example and the further 18 month delay of punishment for Motherwell over matters that took place last season shows no-one involved in a good light either.
The question for most sports is what to do about it? If there is one thing sports administrators have proven themselves exceptionally good at it is protecting their own positions, making it very hard for those involved at grassroots level to challenge them, but increasingly the evidence is that Scottish sport is going nowhere until sufficient people are prepared to devote the time and energy to working out what can be done.
All of which said we can only wish the latest to join the fold well. As 'a former nurse and qualified forensic psychologist who hails from a Falkirk council estate' Karyn McCluskey, newly appointed to the SPFL board, has a background which may useful in a variety of ways when it comes to dealing with career administrators.
Thanks for reading. Back tomorrow with another day's Scottish sports agenda.
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