Scottish Gossip: Scott Brown, Paul Hanlon, St Johnstone, Rangers, St Mirren

FOOTBALL GOSSIP

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan reveals that he expects Scott Brown, the 31-year-old Celtic captain, to continue making himself available for the national team. (Herald)

Strachan is flummoxed as to what has gone wrong for striker Leigh Griffiths at Celtic. He says: "I've no idea what's happened to Griff. You never pry into what's going on at a club. With us he's never a problem. He has the odd migraine now and then, that's all. When he trains he trains hard. He's decent to work with, he always has a nice sense of humour about him." (Daily Record)

Striker Rakish Bingham hopes the massive win over Inverness can stop the Hamilton fans' planned boycott of Saturday's game against Kilmarnock. (Daily Record)

Hibs boss Neil Lennon hopes defender Paul Hanlon will only be out for another couple of weeks as he prepares to undergo an operation to cure a pelvic problem. (Edinburgh Evening News)

Goalkeeper Alan Mannus's inclusion in the Northern Ireland squad has earned a windfall for St Johnstone

St Johnstone earned 107,490 euros from goalkeeper Alan Mannus's inclusion in Northern Ireland's Euro 2016 squad in the qualifiers and the finals. In total, 641 European clubs from 54 national associations received a revenue share of 150m euros from Uefa (£127.74m). (Courier)

Mark Warburton launches a passionate defence of his record as Rangers manager and warns the club's supporters that it will be years before Celtic could be realistically challenged. (National)

Warburton has long admitted the Premiership would be won by Celtic but he insists his main concern is making sure his men finish best of the rest and claim a Europa League spot. (Daily Record)

The driver of a St Johnstone supporters' bus leaving Partick Thistle's ground had a narrow escape after an air rifle bullet smashed through a window a few inches from his head. (Courier)

St Mirren manager Jack Ross will not be shielding his players from the importance of their next two league fixtures if they are to have any hope of surviving in the Championship. The Saints travel to Dumbarton on Saturday before taking on Ayr United either side of Scottish Cup and Irn-Bru Cup fixtures. (Herald)

Hearts' director of football Craig Levein promises Hearts fans there is more to come from Ian Cathro who, prior to the 4-1 win over Rangers on Wednesday, had won only four points from 18 in the Premiership. "You know you have a really good manager when things settle down and start to improve," says the former Hearts defender. (Sun)

His team may be three points adrift at the foot of the Premiership but Inverness CT boss Richie Foran says the board has been supportive and he is not in danger of being sacked. "We were challenging for the top six last week, now it's a relegation battle. Two or three wins gets us back challenging for the top six, but they need to come," says the Irishman. (Sun)

Fernando Ricksen's agent, Vincent de Vries, posts a message on Twitter to assure fans that the stricken former Rangers and Netherlands defender does not, as has been reported, have only "two days to live". (Daily Record)

OTHER GOSSIP

Centre Huw Jones' meteoric rise has been rewarded with his first Six Nations start

Having Scotland cap John Hardie back in the side for tonight's crucial Guinness PRO12 match with Munster is a "massive boost", according to Edinburgh Rugby's acting head coach Duncan Hodge. (Edinburgh Evening News)

Plaudits rain down on Scotland centre Huw Jones from the likes of Jason O'Halloran and Joe Schmidt as he prepares to make his Six Nations debut on Saturday against Ireland. (Telegraph)

Edinburgh-born Jones, 23, admits to being "slightly nervous going into the first game but very excited". Jones went on a gap year to South Africa as an 18-year-old and ended up playing for Western Province and then Stormers. (Daily Mail)