Sunday's Scottish gossip

FOOTBALL GOSSIP

Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock has had Celtic skipper Scott Brown watched several times this season ahead of a £5m January bid for the international midfielder. (Scottish Sun on Sunday)

Celtic have opened talks with Brown, whose contract expires at the end of the season, about a new deal that would eventually see him become a player-coach at the club. (Mail on Sunday)

Rangers manager Ally McCoist is to seek an agreement with Scotland manager Gordon Strachan that in-form midfielder Lewis Macleod can be "loaned" back to his club from the national squad preparing for matches against the Republic of Ireland and England so that he can play against Alloa in the Championship next Saturday. (Various)

Macleod says the news that his former Rangers team-mate Nicky Main had beaten cancer topped off the best week of his life. (Sunday Mail)

Lewis Macleod scored his eighth goal of the season for Rangers on Saturday

Former Scotland Under-17 player Main says doctors found a tumour the size of a kiwi fruit on his brain. (Sunday Mail)

Gordon Strachan warns his Scotland defenders that if they lose concentration for a moment against Ireland's Robbie Keane, the vastly experienced striker will punish them. (Sunday Express)

Strachan likens his friendship with the Republic boss Martin O'Neill to that of TV comedians Morecambe and Wise, as they would eat their meals on their beds and watch the football together after finishing work as TV pundits at the World Cup in Brazil. (Various)

Motherwell captain Keith Lasley has faith in the Fir Park board to choose the right replacement for Stuart McCall, with the club receiving more than 50 applicants for the post. (Mail on Sunday)

Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon is not planning to call Ally McCoist to sort out their conflicting accounts of whether or not he was offered a contract by Rangers, having trained at Murray Park as he recovered from injury. (Sunday Mail)

Gordon says that, despite missing his team's match against Inverness last Saturday, he is over the injury problems that kept him out of the game for two years. He says his absence from the game was part of the managed recovery from his knee injury, having played eight games in a row. (Scottish Sun on Sunday)

Stefan Scepovic assures Celtic fans they have not seen the best of him and he hopes manager Ronny Deila will partner him with John Guidetti, a pairing that worked well against Kilmarnock recently. (Sunday Mail)

Partick Thistle goal hero Christie Elliott reveals it took some harsh words from manager Alan Archibald at half-time to see them on their way to a 1-0 win over St Mirren in Paisley. (Sunday Mail)

OTHER GOSSIP

Scotland rugby head coach Vern Cotter is refusing to get carried away by his team's 41-31 five-try win over Argentina at Murrayfield on Saturday, warning that his men play the best team in the world next week - the All Blacks. (Sunday Herald)

A stand-out player in the match, captain Greig Laidlaw credits Cotter for giving the players the confidence "to go and try things" on the pitch. (Mail on Sunday)