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

 

Home ownership

 

The Herald:

Saints fans are bidding to take control of their own club

 

Change of green scene

 

The Herald:

Anthony Stokes is determined to prove Celtic boss Ronny Deila wrong in letting him go 

 

 

Getting into shape to protect future

 

The Herald:

Charlie Mulgrew (left) getting put through his paces with Celtic and Scotland team-mate 

 

Going nowhere

 

The Herald:

In spite of Aston Villa's interest Stefan Johansen will be staying put at Celtic according to his manager 

 

Team-mates?

 

The Herald:

Stuart Bannigan (left) and Thistle signing Chris Erskine contest possession

 

Where do you think you're off to?

 

The Herald:

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

 

The Herald:

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

 

The Herald: East Kilbride's Sean Winter celebrates the clinching second goal. Picture: SNS

East Kilbride have had plenty to celebrate after earning a glamour Scottish Cup tie with Celtic

 

Strolling on

 

The Herald:

Andy Murray has had a trouble free ride to the third round at the Australian Open

 

British-ish success

 

The Herald:

Australian-born, of Hungarian origin, Spanish-based Johana Konta is flying the flag too

 

Who da man?

 

The Herald:

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.

 

The Herald:

The Herald:

The Herald:

 

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:

 

While Derek McInnes is in real danger of being misinterpreted as throwing in the towel:

National team assistant coach Craig Wright meanwhile registers his despair at having brought perfect (Scottish) ssummer conditions with them:

 

 

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 Herald:

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.