Friday's Scottish Gossip

FOOTBALL GOSSIP

Former Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who last played in April 2012, has scotched rumours that his career is over and the 31-year-old Scotland international says he is ready for a return to football after three operations to cure a rare knee tendon injury and training sessions with Rangers.

Full story: The Guardian

Hamilton Academical goalkeeper Joshua Rae, who made his debut for the reserves this week aged 13, is heading for a trial with Liverpool after the Scottish Championship club rejected two bids from Celtic.

Full story: The Sun

East Stirlingshire chairman Tony Ford has placed himself on a potential collision course with the Scottish Professional Football League by ordering his players to walk off the pitch if they encounter any further instances of racist abuse such as 17-year-old defender Jordan Tapping experienced at Peterhead.

Full story: The Scotsman

Campaign group Show Racism The Red Card is urging Scotland's referees to abandon games in extreme cases of racial abuse.

Full story: Daily Record (print edition)

Rangers manager Ally McCoist has welcomed the prospect of imminent face-to-face talks between the League One leaders' board and former director Dave King but insists he will be content not to become personally involved in them.

Full story: The Scotsman

Manager Ally McCoist will meet with Rangers chief executive Graham Wallace next week to discuss his summer transfer strategy.

Full story: The Herald

Hearts are desperate to pick up points to avoid the possibility of being relegated from the Scottish Premiership when they meet Edinburgh rivals Hibernian at Tynecastle at the end of the month.

Full story: The Scotsman

Germany look likely to choose Dortmund's Westfalenstadion for their Euro 2016 Group D qualifier against Scotland.

Full story: Daily Record (print edition)

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny thinks Poland will give Scotland a tougher challenge when Borussia Dortmund pair Robert Lewandowski and Jakub Blaszczykowski are fit, while captain Likasz Piszczek thinks Gordon Strachan's side were lucky to win 1-0 in Warsaw on Wednesday.

Full story: Daily Record (print edition)

Darren Fletcher's belated return to the Scotland set-up against Poland proved to be a landmark occasion as the Manchester United midfielder secured a place among the nation's top-10 most capped players when he made his 62nd international appearance.

Full story: The Herald

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has urged caution over placing any expectations on Darren Fletcher after the Manchester United midfielder made his long-awaited international comeback from illness in Wednesday's 1-0 win away to Poland.

Full story: The Scotsman

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher has insisted Scotland's win in Poland in midweek has fuelled belief they can finally end an 18-year wait to reach a major finals in the Euro 2016 campaign.

Full story: Daily Record

OTHER GOSSIP

Geoff Cross won a minor battle with long-time tight-head prop rival Euan Murray to start against France at Murrayfield this weekend, but the Scotland pair may be on the verge of swapping countries in the club game, with Cross being released by Edinburgh in the summer and Murray exiting Worcester and refusing to comment about a possible move to Glasgow Warriors.

Full story: The Scotsman

The Scottish Rugby Union's new hybrid pitch will restore Murrayfield's battered reputation, according to the company preparing to rip up the nematode-infested turf at Scotland's home of rugby.

Full story: The Herald

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has defended his decision to make sweeping changes to his side to face Scotland despite previously vowing to change the French stereotype of being unpredictable and turn his national side into a consistent title-winning machine.

Full story: The Scotsman