Rangers near key addition, Celtic star 'elephant in room' over Ibrox rejection, Hearts make 'really, really good' Souttar offer - Scottish Premiership Rumour Mill

It was a fantastic evening for Rangers in Europe on Thursday night as they qualified for the preliminary knockout round of the Europa League.

All the latest from the SPFL and Scottish football. Picture: SNS

A 2-0 win over Sparta Prague confirmed a second place finish which will set up a double header with a team dropping from the Champions League for a spot in the Europa League last 16.

As for Celtic, they will drop into the Conference League preliminary knockout after going down 3-2 at Bayer Leverkusen. They will face one of the runners-up in the Conference League group stages.

Here is all the latest news and transfer speculation from around the SPFL and Scottish football:

Celtic not at Leverkusen’s level

Ange Postecoglou had admitted his Celtic side are not at the required level to better the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Real Betis. The Parkhead side dropped out of the Europa League after a 3-2 defeat to the former. Postecoglou said: “We know we’re not at this level yet but we came here tonight and we were determined to take it to a good opponent and I thought we did that.” (Various)

Sutton the elephant

Chirs Sutton was referred to as the “elephant in the room” by host Darrell Currie at the start of BT Sport’s Europa League coverage which came from Parkhead due to Rangers not granting the former Celtic striker accreditation for the match at Ibrox.” (BT Sport)

No Rangers squad dissent

Rangers star Steven Davis has said the Ibrox “dressing room has always been together” following the 2-0 win over Sparta Prague in the Europa League. There had been a lot of talk following the Hibs defeat in the League Cup after Connor Goldson let rip at team-mates. He said: “There has never been a question mark over that.” (Various)

Souttar's Hearts offer

Hearts boss Robbie Neilson has revealed the club had made a “really, really good” contract offer to John Souttar. The centre-back is out of contract at the end of the season and the Tynecastle manager is keen not to lose him in January. He said: “From our perspective he’s here until the end of the season, unless we get a big offer we can’t refuse.” (The Scotsman)

Ibrox coaching addition

Rangers are close to adding coach Dave Vos to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s backroom staff. The new manager took his Ibrox bow on Thursday night and is keen to add the Ajax youth coach to his management team which already includes Roy Maakay, Arno Phillips and Yori Bosschart. (Daily Record)

Pars to appoint chief

Dunfermline Athletic will appoint David Cook as their new chief executive. He is a former business development manager at Celtic and Everton and has worked with Nottingham Forest in the last few years. (Courier)

Boyle red unwarranted

Hibs captain Paul Hanlon believes what Martin Boyle said after the loss to Ross County on Wednesday didn't warrant a red card from referee Gavin Duncan. The forward was sent off or dissent. Hanlon said: “I was pretty close to the situation and I heard what he said and, although I won't repeat it, I can say I didn’t think it merited a red card” (The Scotsman)

Hearts slash Rangers allocation

Rangers have expressed their disappointment at having their allocation at Hearts slashed to just over 1,000. The December clash will see a smaller travelling support who usually get the full Roseburn Stand. The Ibrox side revealed nearly 11,000 fans declared an interest in attending the match. (Various)

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.