Scottish Gossip: Rangers, Celtic, Morutan, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts, McGrath, St Mirren, Longstaff, Moore, Cummings, Dundee
- Published
Taxpayers have forked out £40m over the Crown Office's botched prosecutions relating to Rangers, including compensation claims by the club's former administrators David Whitehouse and Paul Clark and former chief executive Charles Green, according to figures buried in Scottish Government accounts published this week.(Daily Record), external
Rangers are considering a move for 22-year-old Galatasaray playmaker Olimpiu Morutan as a replacement for Ianis Hagi if his Romania team-mate leaves Ibrox in January, according to reports in Turkey, with the Scottish champions keen on a deal similar to the one that brought Hagi to Glasgow - an initial six-month loan with an option to buy in the summer. (Glasgow Evening Times), external
Aberdeen are poised to renew their attempt to sign St Mirren midfielder Jamie McGrath - and they are keen to do a deal for the 25-year-old Republic of Ireland international in January. (Daily Express), external
Newcastle United have decided to terminate 21-year-old English midfielder Matty Longstaff's season-long loan with Aberdeen because of his lack of game time. (Chronicle), external
Aberdeen are posed to give Mikey Devlin a short-term contract extension until the end of January as the defender continues his rehabilitation from injury. (Daily Record, print edition)
Taylor Moore is in no rush to make a decision about his future with the 24-year-old defender "happy" on loan to Heart of Midlothian with 18 months left of his contract with Bristol City. (Edinburgh Evening News), external
Celtic's Europa Conference League opponents, Bodo/Glimt, are on the brink of selling star man and captain Patrick Bert to French club Lens for £3.3m ahead of their meeting in the knockout play-off round. (Daily Record, print edition)
Jason Cummings has not only been left out of the Dundee squad this weekend after he was sent home from training on Friday after attending the Open Goal Live event at the Hydro in Glasgow on Thursday and was filmed on stage dressed as Batman character The Joker, but the striker's Dens Park career looks to be over. (Scottish Sun), external
Hibernian are hopeful of beating off competition from Celtic and clubs south of the border to sign 18-year-old Sligo Rovers striker Johnny Kenny, who was a guest of the Edinburgh club for Tuesday night's 1-0 win over Dundee. (The Herald), external
Hibernian caretaker boss David Gray has revealed that sacked head coach Jack Ross has been a sounding board for his ideas ahead of Sunday's Scottish League Cup final against Celtic. (The Scotsman), external
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou will give striker Kyogo Furuhashi and winger James Forrest the chance to prove their fitness in Saturday's last training session ahead of Sunday's Scottish League Cup final against Hibernian. (Daily Record), external
Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst says a photograph that emerged on social media on Thursday evening of he and Celtic counterpart Ange Postecoglou having a conversation at a Glasgow eatery was not of an arranged meeting but a coincidence as they have bumped into each other a couple of times at their local coffee shop. (The National), external
Rock star Rod Stewart has been invited to Junior club Glasgow Perthshire after he publicly autographed Shire club shirts at a City Centre outlet and promised to help them out financially while declaring himself a fully-fledged supporter of "a proper football team". (Glasgow Evening Times), external
Hibernian have cancelled their planned winter break training camp in Dubai amid fears over the surge in cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. (Daily Record), external
