Rumour Mill: Barton hints at Rangers exit | Rodgers backs '˜Shorty' Griffiths

Joey Barton is still serving a suspension at Rangers. Picture: John Devlin

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Barton hints at Rangers exit

Joey Barton has hinted at an impending exit from Rangers after a couple of subtle changes to his Twitter profile.

The midfielder, still suspended by the Ibrox club, replaced the previous picture of him standing beside the Rangers badge with one that makes no reference to his current employers. While in his Twitter bio he’s simply added #Kaizen, a Japanese word meaning “change for better”. (HITC)

Young Celtic fan ‘sorry’ for missing game

A five-year-old Celtic fan has phoned the club to personally apologise for missing a game - because he was at a friend’s birthday party.

Celtic daft Louis was not best pleased when his mum, Lisa, explained to him he would be missing the recent win over Motherwell. So, fearing Scott Brown might notice he wasn’t there, Louis got his mum’s phone, found the Celtic website and hit the link to dial the number.

Despite the youngster’s absence, Celtic won the match 2-0. (Daily Record)

Hartley asks for patience from fans

Dundee boss Paul Hartley has asked the club’s fans to show patience with the first team, believing results will soon turn around for the league’s bottom club.

A defeat at Hearts last Saturday kept the Dens Park outfit in 12th place, but having hit the woodwork a massive four times during the 90 minutes, Hartley believes it’s only a matter of time before their luck will change. (Evening Telegraph)

Hibs make a profit

Scottish Cup glory has put Hibs back in the black, the Easter Road club today revealing their Hampden triumph helped return them to profit after two years of making a loss.

Winning the trophy for the first time in 114 years, allied to reaching the final of the League Cup earlier in the season and the play-offs in the Championship, resulted in the Capital outfit’s turnover soaring by £1.4 million, allowing them to post a modest profit of £200,000 for the 11 months to June 30. (Evening News)

Rodgers backs Griffiths

Brendan Rodgers has backed Leigh Griffiths to start firing soon for Celtic and Scotland as the striker is forced to wait patiently on the sidelines in the meantime.

Not only has Griffiths been on the periphery of the national squad, a role he’s become accustomed to in the last three years, he’s recently found himself on the outside looking in at Celtic.

However, Rodgers praised his attitude for continuing to work hard in training, and says he’ll soon get his chance to show his quality after falling behind Moussa Dembele in the Parkhead pecking order. (Evening Times)

Warburton: Rangers better since 5-1

Mark Warburton insists he’s Rangers team are much improved since their 5-1 mauling at the hands of Celtic in September.

Not only have Rangers had a few players return from injury, they’ve also had more time for their summer signings to gel, resulting in wins from their previous two league games. (Rangers TV)

McLeish: Warburton can’t shirk media duties

Alex McLeish has urged Rangers manager Mark Warburton to avoid going down the Sir Alex Ferguson route of blanking media outlets as the former Manchester United manager was one of a kind.

The former Aberdeen defender knows only too well about Ferguson’s ‘siege mentality’ tactics. McLeish, though, was long retired as a player when Ferguson – who’d been his manager at Pittodrie – stopped speaking to the BBC while at Old Trafford. The consequences were barely felt.

Unlike what would be the case with every other manager, Ferguson was allowed to get away with this behaviour since he was so successful. Warburton, of course, has yet to reach such a level at Rangers. (The Scotsman)

Ronaldo invites Ricksen to Bernabeu

Former Rangers star Fernando Ricksen attended last night’s match between Real Madrid and Legia Warsaw as a guest of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Dutchman continues to battle motor neurone disease and was invited to the match along with his wife and child to see Real run out 5-1 winners in the Champions League encounter. (The Sun)

Sviatchenko content with Glasgow life

Erik Sviatchenko has credited contentment in his personal life as being one of the reasons why he is playing what he describes as the best football of his career, writes Alan Pattullo.

The centre back needs to be operating at a high level to ensure he keeps his place for Champions League outings such as tonight’s Group C clash with Borussia Monchengladbach. (The Scotsman)

NEWS IN BRIEF

• Hibs boss Neil Lennon jokes he hopes Grant Holt “wasn’t drug tested” after strong performance against Raith Rovers. (Daily Record)

• Willie Johnston has backed Kenny Miller to continue scoring in a Rangers jersey for a few years yet after the 36-year-old netted his 100th goal for the club. (Evening Times)

• Scotland have sold out their 13,700-ticket allocation for next month’s match with England at Wembley. (Daily Mail)

• Former Morton winger John Gahagan hopes the club’s youngsters will show no fear when they take on Aberdeen this weekend. (Evening Times)

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Rumour Mill: Barton hints at Rangers exit | Rodgers backs '˜Shorty' Griffiths | Hibs post profit