Welcome to Kicking Off, the quick way to get across the day’s sports agenda in Scotland
Today
- Celtic lining up Michael O’Neill as possible successor to Deila
- Deila confident he still has backing of club’s hierarchy but acknowledges that results over the next few months will dictate his future
- Increasingly confident Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes believes Celtic are vulnerable in defence
- Jonny Hayes requires 18 stitches as result of dogbite but still set to face Celtic
- Kazim-Richards seems bonkers but might be just what Celtic need
- Best is yet to come reckons Scotland skipper Laidlaw
- Hardie boy excited about sampling special Calcutta Cup atmosphere
- Thistle leapfrog ‘Well with Firhill win
- Halliday goal ensures Rangers remain eight points clear at the top
- Stokes strike keeps Hibs in touch in Championship title race
- East Kilbride manager Billy Ogilvie ditches parking the bus against Celtic in favour of a fleet of taxis
- Paulo Sergio reflects on guiding Hearts to their 2012 Scottish Cup win over Hibs and his subsequent sacking
- Tom Watson set for another St. Andrews swansong in 2018 senior open
- Carolina Panther Graham Gano aims to become second Scot to win Super Bowl
- Tennis Scotland chairman determined to make long overdue effort to capitalise on Murrays’ success
Celtic's next boss?
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill is reckoned to be a target for the Celtic board if and when they choose to replace Ronny Deila
What have you done lately?![The Herald:]( "The Herald:")
Ronny Deila with the award he received on February 2 for a dominant month's work in the SPFL in January
Growing in confidence
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes reckons his team are gaining belief in their capacity to challenge
Bitten ready to bite
Johnny Hayes has declared himself good to go against Celtic in spite of badly bitten hand
Mad, bad and dangerous for opponents to know
Celtic's new signing Colin Kazim-Richards has a touch of the Byronic hero about him
Best to come
Scotland skipper 'Greeg' Laidlaw reckons his men are still improving after a decent World Cup followed a Six Nations whitewash in 2015
Ready to raid
Kiwi imported John Hardie made a big impact when recruited for the World Cup and is now looking to help catch England out
Partick Kiss
Stevie Lawless (right) is rewarded for the goal that gave Thistle their win over Motherwell
Arm's length
Andy Halliday ensured that Rangers would remain eight points clear at the top of the Championship with the only goal at Raith Rovers
Stoking up challenge
Anthony Stokes' goal at Morton kept Hibs in touch in that Championship race
A man can dream
East Kilbride boss Billy Ogilvie eyes up the Scottish Cup ahead of his side's meeting with Celtic
Mixed memories
Paulo Sergio with the trophy he helped Hearts win in 2012 before promptly being sacked
Oldest swinger
Tom Watson is looking forward to making his now regular emotional farewell at St Andrews
Everything to Gano
Carolina Panthers' Scot at the Superbowl Graham Gano
06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines
Derek McInnes says his players have an opportunity to put pressure on leaders Celtic in their Scottish Premiership meeting... Claudio Ranieri reckons there is no pressure on Leicester after their latest English Premier League win... Stuart Hogg claims Scotland have huge self-belief in themselves ahead of their meeting with England
06.32 Radio Five Live sports headlines
Leicester run continues with two nil win over Liverpool... City stay second with win over Sunderland... Totteham move into third as North London neighbours Arsenal drop pojts... Manchester United score first half goal at Old trafford for first time since September in win over Stoke... Palace lose at home to Bournemouth... West Ham put Villa in even deeper trouble... Partick Thistle beat Motherwell in Scottish Premiership... Ipswich strengthen Championship promotion bid with 16th successive Tuesday night win... Danny Care set to start for England at Murrayfield... Amir Khan excited about prospect of title bout against Saul Alvarez
The Back Pages
The National back page celebrates Ronny Deila’s receipt of his manager of the month award for January, while The Evening Times leads on the prospect of Celtic replacing him with Michael O’Neill, while The Herald reports on the Celtic boss claiming the board are still fully behind him as well as carrying news of Championship leaders Rangers’ latest win, Johnny Hayes recovery from a dog bite and, poised as he is to set new records for captaining Scotland, Greig Laidlaw’s confidence that the best is yet to come from his side.
Grandstanding - today's sports comment
Looking ahead to a big day of rugby and the Six Nations Championship kick off on Saturday The Rucker offers room to fans to recall their favourite memories of the tournament while in The Herald Stuart Bathgate suggests that continuity and quality has Scots set for something memorable at Six Nations
Sporting Twitterati
Strange day for Deila as he picks up an award for a month that ended with a result which could cost him his job
Wouldn't surprise me to see Ronny Deila replaced by another low-cost boss.But Michael O' Neill would be a ridiculous choice & no improvement
— Brian McNally (@McNallyMirror) February 2, 2016
Just not cricket
Well this is the talk of the day on Twitter........ Your thoughts?pic.twitter.com/OwOztPCxoc
— Cricket World (@Cricket_World) February 2, 2016
Another one on the rehab road as Eddie Jones follows his appointment of Dylan Hartley as captain by getting set to reinstall sometimes problematic Danny Care as starting scrum-half
Danny Care set to start at 9 v Scotland: "Eddie's keen to have a running scrum-half.. I'll go out there on Saturday and show what I can do."
— Chris Jones (@chjones9) February 2, 2016
Behind the headlines
Nothing could better sum up the nature of the job facing football managers and those at the Old Firm in particular than this morning's treatment of Ronny Deila. On the one hand lauded for his team's efforts in January, on the other poised to be kicked out... because of his team's efforts in January.
All of that relates to domestic performance because Celtic's European aspirations for this season ended a long time ago and there are those who would argue that their efforts against local opposition is irrelevant in terms of Deila's prospects because the disparity between their spending power and that of the rest of the Scottish clubs is such that they should be completely dominant.
Yet it becomes an increasingly impossible task for any manager if that is the case because Celtic cannot hope to be competitive in Europe as a direct reesult of the current environment they are in. That is not to blame other Scottish clubs, it is merely a reflection of the reality that the days when the Old Firm and New Firm drove one another on and ensured that players had the necessary match fitness to compete on the European stage are long gone.
Deila has done well to insist on the cultural change that can play a part in changing things, sticking to his guns in the face of ridicule while bringing through younger players who are likely to be more receptive to learning better habits. However training well and living well are only one part of the equation.
We hear a lot in sport about match fitness and it is a genuine factor in developing the sharpness and confidence to compete. That is where the real problem lies because just as players in the domestic action need first team action to get them up to the right pace and no amount of training or second team football can make up for that so, when Celtic or Scotland’s other contenders head into Europe, they need time to adjust to the technical requirements at that level. They have little or no chance of doing so, however, because Scottish football's situation is such that they will always be involved in knockout European ties very early in the season. The likelihood of recruiting players of a quality that can enhance their chances is also restricted as a consequence of that.
There have, of course, been examples of teams emeerging from the less competitive European leagues to be competitive in the Champions League, but they are few and far between and those who do so are not operating in the frenzied environment which surrounds Glasgow's biggest clubs, as the latest mood swing generated by Celtic's League Cup semi-final defeat has so perfectly demonstrated.
It is hard to see how this vicious circle can be broken, but the best chance may be for Celtic's board to give the sort of support to their manager that he claims still to have.
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