The Daily Record are reporting that Rangers' potential fixture against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup quarter final could be rescheduled over police fears that the match could lead to crowd trouble, if it goes ahead late in the evening as planned.

EX-Rangers defender Steven Smith has backed his old club to challenge Celtic for the Premiership title this season and believes the Ibrox club will ask the champions questions, so long as they remain within touching distance of them. "The pressure of having an Old Firm rival pushing you for the title is a different pressure and Celtic haven’t had that pressure for a while, the manager and the players haven’t been under that," said Smith. "So it will be interesting to see how they deal with it."

And Smith has gone back to grassroots football as he bids to kickstart his coaching career. The former Rangers player has launched his own academy and is excited about what the future holds. "I have coached at Kilmarnock with the Under-20s so I had seen that side of it in spells," revealed Smith. "But, to learn as a coach and realise what path I want to go down, I have decided to go back to the beginning and work with kids of that age and of all abilities. It is a learning process for me."

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has urged his players to remember their win over RB Leipzig in the group stages of this season's Europa League if and when a setback occurs against Valencia tomorrow night. Rodgers said: "The Leipzig game was a wonderful demonstration of that, where we played really well in the game. We played ever so well but then got pegged back. They scored a goal that we could have defended better but then straight away we go and score."

And the Scottish champions have posted a "highly satisfactory" pre-tax profit of £18.8 million by December 31 2018. The interim report details that most of this money came from the sale of Moussa Dembele to Lyon and that the club has £38.6 million in the bank. Celtic chairman Ian Bankier, in a statement on the club's website, wrote: "These results reflect the absence of substantial UEFA Champions League revenues in comparison to the same period last year. But they are counter-balanced by the benefit of player trading, significantly by the permanent transfer of the registration of Moussa Dembele to Olympique Lyonnais."

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton is backing his old club to cause an upset when they face Valencia in the last 32 of the Europa League. "Valencia aren’t a team who are tearing La Liga up, by any stretch," Sutton pointed out. "But a lot of the Celtic story this season has been about which Celtic team will turn up. Not enough of them have done that so far."

Hibernian's search for a new manager has changed direction with the Leith club now said to be interested in appointing Paul Heckingbottom to the role. Michael Appleby was believed to be in pole position to land the job but certain stumbling blocks in the negotiations have now resulted in Heckingbottom being the club's preferred candidate.

Kilmarnock midfielder Alan Power won’t face any further action for his challenge on Ryan Jack during Saturday’s Scottish Cup clash with Rangers. Power faced the Scottish FA compliance officer after a challenge on Jack was awarded a yellow card, but Clare Whyte decided not to bring forward a case for a ban.

Ahead of Celtic's tie with Valencia, the Herald's James Cairney has picked out a few of the Spanish side's most-impressive performers of late as players that could make the difference at Celtic Park.

Spanish football journalist Cayetano Ros has warned that Valencia feel "quite confident" ahead of tomorrow night's game but revealed that record signing Goncalo Guedes may not feature in the knockout clash. Ros said: "Guedes isn’t fully fit. He has been out for a long time with a pelvic injury. He made his comeback at the weekend [in the 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad in the Mestalla on Sunday] after two months out. But he only came on for the last 15 minutes. He needs more minutes before he can start."

And in golf, former amateur star Michael Stewart is encouraged by his first professional win in the sport and revealed he had considered giving up golf entirely at one point. "I had pondered giving it up," admitted Stewart. "I had not long moved in with my partner and there comes a time when you have to enter the real world."

Elsewhere, the Scottish Sun are reporting that former Celtic and Hibernian defender Efe Ambrose has signed for Frank Lampard's Derby County.

Hearts' Demetri Mitchell has been ruled out for the near future after suffering a suspected knee cartilage injury for the second time in a year, according to the Daily Record.