Saturday's Scottish gossip

FOOTBALL GOSSIP

A group of businessmen from Holland and Kuwait have been in negotiations with St Mirren about buying the Scottish Premiership club, which chairman Stewart Gilmour has been trying to sell for about almost five years. (The Sun)

Rangers manager Ally McCoist, responding to Celtic striker John Guidetti's comments about a possible League Cup Old Firm tie, after scoring a hat-trick to knock 10-man Partick Thistle out of the competition in midweek, says he remembers "getting excited about my first hat-trick but against 11 men". (Various)

McCoist says the "irony is not lost" on him, that in the League Cup quarter-finals there were 13,000 fans at Ibrox and 15,000 supporters at Celtic Park but that for an Old Firm semi-final the teams "could play the game at the Maracana". (The Sun)

Former Rangers vice-chairman Donald Findlay QC feels there's something "missing" and "different" at Ibrox these days, saying, "to me, this is a new Rangers which has to establish its own history and tradition. But it's not the Rangers I know. to me, genuinely, it is a new entity". (Daily Mail)

Craig Gordon trained at Murray Park while recovering from injury but there was no contract offer from Rangers

Goalkeeper Craig Gordon acknowledges the role played by Rangers' physios and the staff at their Murray Park training ground in his rehabilitation from injury prior to signing for Celtic. (Various)

Kilmarnock defender Lee Ashcroft hopes to take advantage of skipper Manuel Pascali's suspension this weekend by establishing himself in the team - he came on as a sub when the Italian was sent off at Celtic Park last week. (Various)

Rangers fans have welcomed the news that ex-pat Glaswegian George Taylor, a managing director with Morgan Stanley, has bought 3.2% of the club's shares. (Daily Record)

Former Celtic winger Bobby Petta says he'd be surprised if Aleksandar Tonev ever plays for Celtic again, following his seven-match ban for racially abusing Aberdeen defender Shay Logan. The Bulgarian is likely to appeal against the ban. (Various)

Another former Celt, this time striker John Sutton, says his old team should stump up the £5m fee it would take to buy John Guidetti from Manchester City, from whom he is on loan. (Daily Record)

The Scottish Football Association's Professional Game Board is considering introducing wage and transfer spending caps. (The Sun)

OTHER GOSSIP

Edinburgh's dreadful run of injuries continued on Friday night when Nick McLennan and Allan Dell were forced to go off in the first half of their 33-8 defeat away to Leinster. (The Scotsman)

Glasgow Warriors lock Al Kellock, who will captain the Barbarians against Australia at Twickenham, says he will never give up trying to win his place back in the Scotland team. (The Herald)