Rangers target £1.6m midfielder as coach bites back, Celtic urged to look at Champions League surprise and pundit slams 'outrageous' incident against Aberdeen

Steve Clarke leads the national side against Israel, yes again, and a trip to the Faroe Islands next week with a view of sealing second place for the race to Qatar behind Denmark.

However eyes are already looking beyond the two games, as Hearts midfielder Cammy Devlin revealed, with an exciting start to the Scottish top flight. There was much to sink our teeth into over the weekend too and plenty of reaction, talking points and of course the inevitable transfer talks.

Here is a look at the headlines, rumour, reaction and speculation from around Scottish football on Monday, October 4.

Support, don’t slate

Rangers coach Michael Beale sent a social media response to fan’s criticism of the team following their win over Hibs, pointing out some of the Ibrox side’s win statistics and suggesting ‘why don’t you support the team’ ?

(Daily Record).

£1.6m England cap

Joe Rothwell has again been linked with a move to join Steven Gerrard - this time by prominent journalist Alan Nixon on Twitter. The football writer suggested the midfielder could be snapped up on a contract in January. (The Sun)

Top of the table clash

Hearts midfielder Cammy Devlin insists the Jambos are ready for their meeting with Rangers when domestic football resumes after the international break and first meets second in the SPFL Premiership. (The Scotsman)

Racism row

Ross County have backed their fans and criticised Dundee United manager Tam Courts - who ended Saturday’s win over the Staggies displaying a ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ t-shirt to the away end. (The Courier)

Shirt appeal

Scott Arfield has appealed for help after golf clubs and an NHS shirt signed by last season’s title-winning squad were stolen from his car in Glasgow’s west end on Saturday night. The 32-year-old revealed the incident on social media and has reported the incident to the police. (The Scottish Sun)

‘Outrageous behaviour’

Andy Walker has hit out at ‘outrageous’ behaviour of an Aberdeen fan who was seen throwing an object onto the pitch as Celtic players celebrated their late winner at Pittodrie. The Sky Sports co-commentator branded the incident ‘absolutely outrageous’.

(Scottish Sun)

Further afield

Former SPL chief Roger Mitchell has urged Celtic to take a look at ‘The Brentford odel’ with a view to modernising the club. The Bees are the new-boys in the English Premier League this season and performed well including taking points against Arsenal and Liverpool so far. Forward-thinking Club Brugge are also worth a study, after taking a place in the group stage of the Champions League in three of the last four years, Mitchell suggested. (The Celtic Way)

Red card anger

Jack Ross admits he didn’t even think Ryan Porteous’ tackle on Joe Aribo - which saw the defender red-carded - was a foul on his first look and concurred several angles afterwards. However he did admit that one view was worse than the others and “Ryan gave the referee a decision to make”. (The Scotsman)

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