Scottish Cup romance dominates the day with Hearts Hibs, East Kilbride, Lothian Thistle and Celtic involved in the feature ties while Aberdeen great Willie Miller is left to focus on the league.
Weighing up a visit to Saughton... Leigh Griffiths alongside the one piece of major domestic silverware Celtic players are not entitled to put their hands on right now
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Edinburgh gets a 2015/16 derby in the Scottish Cup fifth round
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Cup romance guaranteed as Celtic draw winners of non-league East Kilbride v Lothian Thistle tie
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Ronny Deila discusses his superstitions and Leigh Griffiths’ Scotland prospects in an Evening Times exclusive
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SFA chief Regan adds his voice to those condemning the flare throwers
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Dundee v Falkirk postponed a second time
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Edinburgh and Scotland hooker Stuart McInally discusses dealing with the fear that accompanies a serious neck injury as he prepares for his return to action
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Sean Lineen discusses his decision to head south to take over as part-time director of rugby at London Scottish
07.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines
Police Scotland investigating sectarian singing and anti-social behaviour by Celtic fans... Hearts and Hibs to meet in Scottish Cup... Celtic draw minnows.. Messi gets Ballon d'Or
06.35 Radio Five Live sports headlines
Messi wants to stay at Barca... LVG agrees that Manchester Utd are boring... non-League Eastleigh have chance to face Leeds in FA Cup... Celtic to face non-league opposition in next round of Scottish Cup... England's World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson questions Dylan Hartley's disciplinary record... Barry Hawkins and Judd Trump through in Masters snooker...
The back pages
Grandstanding – the sports comment sections
Martin Hannan in The National on how the old phrase that ‘the fans are the most important people in sport’ is out of date as everyone dances to the tune of television as he questions the calls for greater fan ownership, while in The Herald, Neil Cameron discusses Aberdeen’s prospects for the rest of the season with Dons’ great Willie Miller. Neil offers his conclusion that they will look back on this season as ‘a big what if’, but Willie reckons the players will be privately re-setting sights on winning the league. The Herald meanwhile also offers a wee change of pace as Nick Rodger uses his weekly column to analyse how Jordan Spieth and Brandon Stone may be operating in different golfing circles but their success started on a similar path.
The new Tiger Woods? US youngster Jordan Spieth has made an electrifying start to his professional career
Sporting Twitterati
Neil Cameron offered one of the more unusual tributes to David Bowie by indicating how removed the music icon should be seen to be from the mundanity of the most basic aspect of Scottish culture:
And now we have the rather inevitable 'was Bowie a Rangers or Celtic fan' tweets. I'm off for a bath with my toaster.
— Neil Cameron (@NeilCameron5) January 11, 2016
However the Daily Record’s Mick Gannon reminds us that the Old Firm have produced a genuine superstar or two of their own:
Brian Laudrup at the cup draw tonight. He must have a painting in the attic that looks like, erm, me. Man has barely aged.
— Michael Gannon (@MichaelGannon) January 11, 2016
Meanwhile, some gallows humour from the east as Dundee FC get set to dig up part of what was long considered the best pitch in the land…
Dundee v Falkirk tie called off. Waited since 1910 for Scottish Cup glory. Suppose another couple of days make no difference :) #dundeefc
— Cormac Andrews (@jogdundee) January 9, 2016
Today’s top message
It really is all about the romance of the cup today and that can sometimes be over-stated but the fifth round draw in Scotland pretty much produced the lot.
It has been a strange couple of years in Edinburgh since Hearts began the 2014/15 season with such a competitive disadvantage that they were guaranteed relegation but duly locked their rivals in a death grip and took them down with them.
That Hearts then recovered more quickly in earning automatic promotion last season while Hibs failed once more in the play-offs had to have something of an inevitability about it for the Easter Road club's fans and they must have had very mixed feelings as the last few names came out of yesterday's draw.
Clearly it is the pick of the matches, not least because both clubs are in excellent form in their respective divisions, but in a quest for cup glory that has - as they are so desperately fed up being reminded - gone on for more than a century, their record at Tynecastle in recent years points to the probability of another painful exit.
Thoughts of winning cups or making painful exits will, however, be the last thing on the minds of all with an interest in non-league clubs East Kilbride and Lothian Thistle after they were given the magnificent added incentive ahead of their rearranged tie, of hosting Celtic.
More than a few neutrals will now be pulling for East Kilbride to come through given their stated intention of staging the tie at their tiny K-Park home should they come through since there are few things more entertaining than seeing the giants subjected to a bit of discomfort, but either way it will be a day of days for those who get through and is everything this stage of the competition should be about.
A venue fit for champions: East Kilbride's K-Park home.
The Diary
Ross County meet Dunfermline tonight in their rearranged Scottish Cup fourth round tie, but not least given the travelling involved let’s just cover ourselves by adding this month’s key words… weather permitting!
Thanks for reading... back tomorrow with the result of that one(hopefully) and the rest of the morning's sports news
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