Celtic urged to heed Rangers warning, Shankland breaks transfer silence, Hibs' £6m injection - Scottish football news

The latest updates from Scottish football on the morning of Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Scottish football news round-up for Wednesday, December 20, 2023. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Celtic urged to heed Rangers warning

Celtic legend John Harton has told the Parkhead club that they must respond to Philippe Clement's title talk following Rangers' Viaplay Cup success. Clement insisted that he WILL win a title as Rangers manager after lifting the first trophy of the season in just his 14th match in charge. His team has also closed the gap at the top of the Premiership table to just five points with two games in hand after Celtic lost back-to-back league matches for the first time in a decade.

Hartson told Go Radio: “When Clement’s talking about titles, maybe he isn’t saying this season.

“But if that isn’t a warning sign for Celtic when the opposition manager is pointing out that he may win titles and he wants to win titles.

“Listen, you have to respond to that! You have to react to that comment and say, ‘whilst I am the manager here, I am going to make sure I go to the board and bring in the right players to suit the way I want to play. I am going to get them on the pitch and stop you from winning titles’.

“That’s the way Brendan Rodgers will be thinking.”

Hibs' £6m injection

Hibs are set for a major cash injection if the SFA approve Bill Foley's bid to purchase a minority stake in the Edinburgh club. According to the Scottish Sun, the American billionaire plans to invest an initial £6million, the majority of which will go to funding incoming transfers in what would be a game-changing cash boost for the Easter Road outfit. Some cash will also be used to redevelop the East Mains training centre including plans for a full-size indoor pitch. Hibs are hoping to receive the green light from the SFA after the Foley proposal was formally tabled for consideration at Hampden last week. Foley, the current owner of Premier League side Bournemouth, plans to add Hibs to his portfolio of feeder clubs, which also includes French outfit Lorient.

Shankland breaks transfer silence

Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland has insisted the transfer links with Rangers are a compliment to how well he is doing at the Tynecastle club. The Scotland striker bagged his 14th goal of the season in the 2-0 win at Celtic Park on Saturday amid rumours over a potential move to Rangers. Shankland said: “It’s a sign you’re doing well when there’s speculation, that’s what I take from that. It’s always been the case throughout my career, there’s always been speculation flying about. It’s a sign I’m doing my job well and scoring goals. That’s all I focus on, doing my job for Hearts and doing it well.”

Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinley insisted at last week's AGM that the club have no plans to sell Shankland in January. He said: “We are totally dealing with conjecture. We are not looking to sell Lawrence in January. If someone comes in with an exceptional bid then we’d have a duty to consider it as a board but it’s been self-evident in the last number of games just how important Lawrence is to the club. Hence it would take an incredibly-exceptional deal for us to even think about it.”

Derek Adams' apology

Ross County manager Derek Adams has revealed he apologised to his players following his stinging criticism of Scottish football, but insisted he stands by his comments. The recently-appointed boss, who has returned for a third spell in charge of the Highland club, hit out at the "shocking" standards on show in the Premiership after losing an injury-time goal in a 1-0 home defeat to Dundee on Saturday. "What I said was from the five games I've witnessed and sometimes it's probably better that I keep my thoughts to myself," he said. "From what I've seen in the five games, I stand by it."

He also claimed that the standards at his previous club, Morecombe, were "100 times better" than what he has seen in his first five games in charge of County, which have yielded seven points from a possible 15. “I have apologised to the players for that. It was wrong of me to say that," he added. “I did say that after the game, and it wasn’t correct. The players are disappointed. If their manager has come out and said what he has said, they’re going to be disappointed. It is up to the players to go and prove me wrong. It is up to the players to go and shut me up."