Welcome to Kicking Off, the quick way to get up to pace with what is happening today in sport in Scotland and beyond
Today
- Scottish athletics cheats to have all records wiped
- Scottish referees chief claims OTT criticism is hitting morale of officials
- Singles wheelchair finalist Reid going well in doubles too
- Deila: Roberts will only come if he can stay beyond the end of this season and high praise for teenager Tierney
- Boyce fitted with temporary cast ahead of Celtic semi
- King signs for Rangers to end of season
- Alan Stubbs believes new arrival Anthony Stokes will give Hibs an edge in their League Cup semi-final
- Tommy Wright reckons ticket row will motivate St Johstone
- Tony Fitzpatrick returns to St Mirren as CEO
- Duncan Ferguson declared bankrupt
- Partick Thistle's Alan Archibald says Dundee United link won't phase Stevie Lawless
- Hamilton's Antons Kurakins on how his Celtic dream became a nightmare in 8-1 thumping
- Qatar specialist Lawrie in lead at halfway stage
- Father figure Lamont calls for Scots to show Six Nations self-belief
- Dunbar and Ashe ruled out of opening two Six Nations matches by injury
- Finnerty furious at Clan collapse
- Gilmour through to quarter-finals in India
On the edge
Striker Anthony Stokes has been tipped to make the difference in this weekend's League Cup semi-final
New King of Ibrox
Billy King has joined Rangers on loan
Heading for the top
Kieran Tierney is being tipped for great things by Celtic boss Ronny Deila
Casting on
Liam Boyce has his injured left arm encased in a cast for their League Cup semi-final meeting with Celtic
Living a nightmare
Hamilton Accies' Antons Kurakins had a horror day against Celtic
Best Buddie
Tony Fitzpatrick's return to St Mirren as CEO has been warmly welcomed
Qatar specialist
Two-time former Qatar Open winner Paul Lawrie is leading at halfway in the desert once again
Raging Clan chief
Braehead Clan head coach Ryan Finnerty was unimpressed by his team's League Cup effort
Father figure
Veteran Sean Lamont has urged self-belief among his younger colleagues in the Scotland squad ahead of the forthcoming Six Nations
Sidelined
Alex Dunbar has, like clubmate Adam Ashe, been ruled out of Scotland's first two Six Nations matches
Quarter-finalist again
Kirsty Gilmour has continued her fine start to 2016 by reaching the quarter-finals in India
06.05 BBC Scotland sports headlines
Semi-final day for Andy Murray and Milos Raonic at Australian Open... Scottish head of referees angered by over the top criticism of officials... Rangers sign Billy King on loan
06.35 Radio Five Live sports headlines
Novak Djokovic ready to meet winner of Murray v Raonic in Australian Open final... wheelchair tennis singles finalist Gordon Reid and partner Shingo Kunieda battling for place in doubles final... Louis Van Galle says media will sack him for a fourth time if Manchester United lose tonight... Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne will be out for 10 weeks... FA looking for new chief after Greg Dyke says he will step down a year earlier than expected... Sebastian Coe denies claims that he flagged up bribery risks to UK athletics officials five years ago... Paul Lawrie leads in Qatar
The Back Pages
The National leads on Scottish Athletics' bid to clamp down on doping in the sport, the Evening Times carries news of Billy King's move to Rangers and Celtic's insistence that they only want want Manchester City's Patrick Roberts if he can stay for European campaign, which also features in The Herald along with St Johnstone's claim that they will be motivated by the ticketing issue that surrounds their League Cup semi-final meeting with Hibs, Tony Fitzpatrick's delight at returning to St Mirren as CEO and the unavailability of Glasgow Warriors pair Adam Ashe and Alex Dunbar for Scotland's first two Six Nations matches.
Grandstanding - today's sports comment
Davie Hay tells Evening Times readers that form and fitness have combined to take Celtic’s confidence to a new level as they crank up their pursuit of the treble, while in The Herald Susan Egelstaff assesses sports food and fashion fads
Sporting Twitterati
Kirsty Gilmour registers satisfaction with another good win in Asia
A bit up and down throughout that one but found some rhythm when it mattered 😊 happy to be through to the quarters tomorrow 👍🏼💪🏼
— Kirsty Gilmour (@KirstyGilmourr) January 28, 2016
Paul Lawrie demonstrates the challenge he faced to remain focused in Qatar
Always good to play with @PGA_JohnDaly some breeks eh pic.twitter.com/jhwe68Zxaa
— Paul Lawrie (@PaulLawriegolf) January 28, 2016
New CEO Tony Fitzpatrick's popularity at St Mirren is recorded
Nice to see the legend that is Tony Fitzpatrick back at St Mirren #NiceOne #StMirren pic.twitter.com/9WmXN7oGs3
— Allan Picken (@brackenskye) January 28, 2016
Today's top message
A quick scan of social media indicated that far from being automatically acknowledged as the right thing to do the efforts being made by Scottish Athletics officials to make a stand against dopers by introducing new measures in eradicating the records set by those caught cheating, those of a legalistic bent were poring over their words and picking holes.
That is part of the problem now being faced by sporting officialdom which is currently playing catch up in so many important areas, with corruption and match-fixing on the radar, on which note athletics is not being helped in any way by what seems a relentless string of stories undermining the credibility of Sebastian Coe, the man at the top of the sport. Far from being the best man for the job as was claimed last week, the IAAF President now having to deny claims that he was warning people about bribery in the sport five years ago, is just the latest distraction he has provided from the main task in hand of cleaning things up.
With Greg Dyke, the English FA's chairman, having cited problems with attempts being made to change their sport as the reason that he is going to step down a year earlier than expected, it is becoming ever clearer that the problems facing all the major bodies currently facing these problems will require administrators with the stomach for a great deal of dirty work as they try to address the misdemeanours of the past and attempt to put measures in place to minimise future risk of recurrence.
For the most part these look likely to be thankless tasks, pitted as they will be against cheats, highly paid lawyers and mere enthusiasts who would rather not knoe about what has been and is happening because of the impact on their sports. It will be interesting to see who will truly emerge as the best men and women for these various jobs.
Thanks for reading. Back on Monday to kick off another week of sport.
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