Kenny Crawford
BBC Sport Scotland

Who does Kevin Thomson believe will wear the Scotland captain's armband following Scott Brown's international retirement?

"Darren Fletcher is the obvious one," he said. "He's got a great C.V. and has had a massive career.

"And he's a captain at a club [West Brom] at the moment. That would be the obvious one although I don't think I'm in the position to pick the next Scotland captain.

"I'm pretty sure Gordon Strachan will have an idea of who [he wants] to lead when they have 10-day trips or the international breaks when the boys come away.

"You can always tell the boys that other boys respect and gravitate to. That's always in the back of a manager's thoughts: if you're popular within the lads - and you make yourself available for other boys, especially the new ones coming into the squad - then that's a candidate that someone would potentially be looking at."          

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Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland

"St Johnstone have completed the signing of Richard Foster from Ross County."

We'll have more details on this soon...

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Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland

"Hearts are about to offload last season's top goal scorer Juanma. The 25-year-old this morning travelled to Belgium to hold talks with an as yet unnamed club. The Tynecastle outfit have also turned down a bid of about £600,000 for defender Callum Paterson from Wigan Athletic. Paterson trained this morning with the rest of the squad ahead of tomorrow's home game against Caley Thistle."

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Kenny Crawford
BBC Sport Scotland

Former team-mate Kevin Thomson, who played alongside Brown at Hibernian, said he'd spoken to him about the issue in the past. 

"I was one of the players who he'd asked for a wee bit of advice," Thomson told BBC Scotland. 

"I told him a while back that he should play for as long as he can at club and international level. "I think the decision that he's made has come from his gut - everyone has to respect that.

"I think he'll be missed because he's a leader. There's no doubt he's going to be a miss [for Scotland] and the punters will respect his decision." 

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Talented midfielder Robbie Crawford surely won't be short of offers...

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright on Celtic counterpart Brendan Rodgers: "I think it's a big deal for Scottish football because he has built up a great reputation over a period of time in arguably the best league in the world. He is a top coach, a top manager. I think the Celtic thing was an attraction to him as he was a Celtic fan at heart."

"The fact they haven't made it to the group stages of the Champions League (for two seasons) he would see that as a challenge. I think it's a great appointment and I think for the game in Scotland it's a good appointment as it helps with the profile of the league."

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Rangers' proposed move for Aston Villa's Joleon Lescott is off after the defender failed his medical, BBC Scotland understands.

The 34-year-old has been told he can leave the English Championship club.

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Jonathan Sutherland
BBC Sport Scotland

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on the "teeth and tan" comments made by the Rangers midfielder Joey Barton on commercial radio during the week: "It's irrelevant to me. I think in modern football there is lots of noise, there are lots of things said. It is something that does not bother me. My focus is only purely on football and getting the best from my players and doing the very best I possibly can for my club and that is all I will ever concentrate on."

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Tom English
BBC Sport Scotland

"Scott Brown might be only 31 but the wear and tear on his body is that of an older player. Is his announcement to retire from international football a surprise? Yes. Does it make sense? It does. Brown is dedicating himself to Brendan Rodgers and Celtic in a time when the club seem to be going places again. Gordon Strachan will be upset at the loss of his leader and aware of the message it sends out. Would he really have gone had he thought Scotland had a real chance of making the World Cup? You have to say that's doubtful."

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson has dismissed claims by two former club captains that he is not in charge of all first-team activity.

This week ex-Hearts skippers Michael Stewart and Gary Mackay, external said the team looked like one put together by the director of football, Craig Levein.

"It's my team," Neilson asserted.

"I pick the tactics, I pick the team selection; the recruitment is down to me as well, so ultimately if the team is not performing it comes back to me."

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Jonathan Sutherland
BBC Sport Scotland

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on Scott Brown's international retirement: "I think it is the right decision for him, obviously a very, very difficult decision. He is a passionate man about his country and obviously being skipper and with Gordon as manager who he was very close with it was obviously a really, really tough decision for him.

"But I think for him it is the right move. He is into that sort of final chapter of his career. He has still got a number of years left in him and I think that he will probably want to give those best times to Celtic and I think when you have been a player playing 60 or 70 games a season over the last numbers of years you need to look after your body.

"A wonderful footballer for Scotland, he's had 50 caps and lots of players when they start out on their career, if they get to 50 caps they have had a really, really good international career. For Scott it's obviously sad when it comes to an end but for Celtic and Celtic supporters it's good news because it allows him to be physically right and mentally right for playing for Celtic now for the next number of years."

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Fans of Dundee will be looking for nothing less than three points against the Accies tonight. A win is always welcome, of course, but when victory puts your team top of the table, albeit for less than 24 hours, then it's imperative. The Dee would move to six points if they beat Martin Canning's side, two ahead of Rangers and St Johnstone who play what will be their game in hand on Saturday.

For the visitors from South Lanarkshire, they have failed to build on their 1-1 result against Rangers at Ibrox on the opening day of the season, losing to Morton in the League Cup and Kilmarnock on match day two of the Premiership season. Both teams are nice on the eye, it's a tough one to call.

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I wonder how big a factor Celtic's likely Champions League involvement has played in Brown's decision to focus on club over country. If he can guide Celtic past Hapoel Beer Sheva on Tuesday and into the group stage of the competition then that will mean six matches minimum in the continent's premier tournament.

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