Good morrow one and all. Another day and another leaf in thy history eh? As Benjamin Franklin once said, "I wake up every morning at nine and grab the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up." Auld Ben, according to fusty, historical records, was a regular reader of The Herald – he secretly preferred it to his own parish pump that was the Pennsylvania Chronicle – but nowadays he wouldn’t have to plooter about until 9am for the daily dispatches. And the obits are all online too. What more do you want? It’s all here in the early morning sports news as well.
Today's top tales
- Aberdeen's title tilt dented as Inverness win 3-1
- Derek McInnes blasts penalty award in Highlands defeat
- Scott Brown "horrified" by new Champions League proposals
- Mark Warburton expresses concerns over European restructuring
- Clyde facing player ban after HMRC blunder
- Rob Kiernan calls for a ban on plastic pitches
- Lee Clark ready to get cracking at Kilmarnock
- Rangers's appeal for Friday switch falls on deaf ears
- Jim McIntyre could be a candidate for manager of the year
- Ronny Deila not concerned by Aberdeen pressure
- Mark McGhee determined to get Motherwell back on track
- Boxer Charlie Flynn more than just a "cheaky chappie"
- Thistle keeper Cerny bemoans late postponement
- Barrie McKay agrees new Rangers deal
- Glasgow Warriors duo sign new contracts
Radio Blah Blah: The word on the wireless
06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines
Aberdeen's title chances dealt a blow with defeat to Inverness as 12 game unbeaten run ends ... Edinburgh preparing for Capital clash with Hearts facing Hibs while Rangers take on Kilmarnock ... defending champion John Higgins is through to the second round of the Welsh Open after defeating Andy Higgs ...Ronnie O'Sullivan has been criticised by world snooker chairman Barry Hearn for turning down the chance of a maximum 147 break as he deemed the £10,000 prize on offer to cheap.
06.35 Radio Five Live sports headlines
World snooker chairman Barry Hearn brands Ronnie O'Sullivan disresepctful and unacceptable after he turned down a 147 break ... England and Sale fly half Danny Cipriani has agreed a move back to Wasps ... the Champions League returns with Chelsea missing John Terry for the match with PSG ... Aberdeen's title challenge suffers a blow
Not so Dandy Dons
Aberdeen come a cropper in the Highlands
Del takes a dig
Aberdeen manager takes a swipe at penalty award
Closed shop?
Scott Brown expresses concerns over Champions League plans
Double trouble
Mark Warburton reckons both club and country will suffer under Euro plans
Taxing times
Clyde fall foul of HMRC rules
Pitch battle
Rob Kiernan is not so keen on plastic surgery
Rugby Park suits Clark
New Kilmarnock boss Lee Clark is looking forward to life in Ayrshire
See you Jimmy?
Ross County boss Jim McIntyre is being tipped for manager of the year
Bring it on
Celtic manager Ronny Deila can handle the heat of the title race
Not for switching
Rangers's match with Morton will not be played on a Friday
Feeling the strain
Mark McGhee is desperate to get Motherwell heading up the table again
Proper Charlie
Charlie Flynn delivers punch lines in exclusive Herald interview
Signing on
Glasgow Warriors duo sign new contracts
Brassed off by call off
Tomas Cerny has bemoaned Partick Thistle's late postponement
Read all about it: Today's back pages
The Herald leads off with Scott Brown deriding new European Super League proposals as "terrible" while Aberdeen manager, Derek McInnes, takes a swing at Ross Draper of Inverness for "conning" the referee into awarding a penalty during his team's 3-1 defeat in the Highland capital. Rangers manager Mark Warburton wades into the European debate and believes it will hamper both Scottish clubs and the national team.
In the Evening Times it's a case of Old Firm United on the European proposals while The National looks ahead to the Capital clash between Hibs and Hearts.
Grandstanding - sports comment
In the National, Martin Hannan doesn't hold back as he brands the SFA and SRU failures.
In The Herald, it's my good self with the usual Tuesday twitterings on golf as I look at Vaughn Taylor's win for the romantics and Scottish Golf Support Ltd's funding
Sporting Twitteratti
Poor old Willie Collum eh? The Scottish referee gets more pelters than a medieval criminal stuck in the stocks. Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, was the latest to have a go as his side lost to Inverness in a match that featured one or two dicey decisions that didn't go the way of the Dons. In the world of Twitter, meanwhile, withering, wry put downs are stuck up online before you can say "that's got to be a penalty ref?"
Red sky in the morning over #Aberdeen, although Willie Collum will probably say it's only a yellow. pic.twitter.com/cudgdzuHYP
— neil metcalf (@neilmetcalf69) February 16, 2016
That's all for now folks. Thanks for reading and join us tomorrow morning for another rummage around the sporting news and views.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here