The Herald

Burnley Bid for Easton Rejected

HAMILTON Academical last night rejected a GBP300,000 bid for Brian Easton from Burnley. Owen Coyle is keen to add the Scottish under-21 left-back to his growing Scottish colony at Turf Moor, but his initial offer was immediately rejected by Ronnie MacDonald, the New Douglas Park chairman.

Fortune Seals Celtic Move

CELTIC last night confirmed the signing of Marc-Antoine Fortune from Nancy on a three-year contract. The 28year-old French Guiana- born striker joins for an undisclosed fee, reportedly around GBP3.8m. Fortune is Tony Mowbray's first signing since he became Celtic manager, with the pair reunited after the forward spent the second half of last season on loan at West Brom.

Montgomerie: I Won't Throw in the Towel 'If I Believe I Can Win, I'm Halfway There; If I Don't, I'll Never Win Again'

IT may be a line we have heard countless times before but, at age 46 and after the confidence and energy-sapping season he has had so far, the words "I can win" from Colin Montgomerie yesterday struggled to penetrate the belief barrier. Yet if the eight-time European order-of-merit colossus who won the last of his 31 European Tour titles two years ago believes he can do it either this week at the Barclays Scottish Open or next at the Open Championship at Turnberry, then who are mere mortals t...

New Balls Please

Macaulay Is Aiming to Keep the Saltire Flying

GLORIOUS footballing tales from Ian St John, the former Scotland stalwart, and Mike England, the Welsh captain of yore, could help to spur Callum Macaulay to great things this week at Loch Lomond. The 25-year-old rookie Scot was playing with the pair at Archerfield, East Lothian, as part of a weekend organised by snooker's Dennis Taylor, father of his manager Brendan, and he hopes that will inspire him in his first national open as a professional.

Golf Historian Boo Rides Into Town with an Open Mind

HE was renamed after a cartoon character and, if Boo Weekley was not real, someone would surely have made him up. The man who rode an imaginary horse down the first fairway at last year's Ryder Cup to the consternation of the stuffy, but the amusement of most, is a natural entertainer, whether deliberately or otherwise.

Mcilroy Insists the Arrival of Old Foe Saltman Is Well Overdue

AS Lloyd Saltman and his older brother Elliot prepare to be the first siblings to tee up in the same Open Championship since the Ozaki brothers in 1992, the young Scot has been offered a timely reminder of his quality by British golf's hottest prospect. The 23-year-old has had a tough time since leaving the amateur ranks two years ago but he was warmly welcomed into the Open field yesterday by Rory McIlroy, his former Walker Cup team-mate, who revealed how he used Lloyd's performances to boos...

Mcdowell Relives Happy Days in Effort to Spark Season

GRAEME McDOWELL has admitted that defending his Barclays Scottish Open title at Loch Lomond this week is not ideal preparation for next week's Open Championship, but there is nowhere he would rather be, writes Kevin Ferrie. "I've always played Loch Lomond the week before the British, " he explained. "There's no way around it. This is not the ideal preparation for the Open. You couldn't get two more different styles of golf. However the greenness and lushness of this golf course is beautiful a...

Doncaster's Refreshing Change New Spl Chief Executive Seems Positive and Optimistic - Let's Hope It Lasts . . .

THE irony of a television camera breaking down before the formal introduction of the Scottish Premier League's new chief executive may have been lost on an unsuspecting Neil Doncaster, but not on the man relieved to be taking a back seat from the familiar misery. Lex Gold, who will now revert to non-executive chairman, has been embroiled in salvaging a respectable television deal from Sky and ESPN after the unforeseen collapse of Setanta Sports' UK operations and, with it, the disappearance o...

Scottish Open: Our Experts' Players to Watch

DOUGLAS LOWE 1. ROSS FISHER (below) World ranking 21. Age 29 Englishman came close in the US Open and BMW PGA Championship and is ready to win.

May Adds Highly-Rated Liverpool Youngster to Falkirk Squad

RYAN FLYNN, the young Liverpool winger, has agreed a season-long loan to become Eddie May's second signing of the summer at Falkirk. The 20-year-old moved to Anfield from Falkirk in 2005 and has been a regular in the Barclays Premier League side's reserve team, where he is highly thought of as both a player and person. But after a three-month loan spell at Wrexham last term, Rafa Benitez, the Liverpool manager, wants Flynn to gain further firstteam experience and he will achieve it at his for...

Cave the Latest to Be Left in Limbo by Livingston Plight

PHIL CAVE has become the latest victim of Livingston's plight after the defender was told via a text message from chairman Angelo Massone not to return to Almondvale for pre-season training. The 22-year-old, who spent the final two months of last season on loan at English non-league outfit Gateshead, is thought to be owed up to GBP3000 in wages from the West Lothian club and is refusing to sever all ties until he gets his cash.

Adam Pursuing Rangers Return As Holloway Waits in the Wings

CHARLIE ADAM is stalling on his switch to Blackpool as he believes he can break into the Rangers first team. The Ibrox fringe player looked set to complete his move to the Bloomfield outfit yesterday after the clubs agreed a GBP500,000 deal. Adam spent the second half of last season on loan with the Championship side and impressed in the 13 matches he was involved in.

Extra Week Gives Gannon Reasons to Be Cheerful Fir Park Manager Believes Extra Preparation Time Will Prove Vital

YOU rarely get a second chance to make a first impression but it is a luxury that will be afforded to Jim Gannon this evening. A week on from his distinctly underwhelming debut in his new role as Motherwell manager, the London-born Irishman will look to restore his reputation by guiding his side through to the second qualifying round of the Europa League. Should his admittedly under-resourced squad display sufficient ability and character to achieve that goal, then the embarrassing first-leg ...

It's Not All Doom and Gloom yet, Insists Reynolds

MARK REYNOLDS has lamented the Scottish tendency to leap to snap judgments after Motherwell's disappointing start to the season. The Fir Park side were criticised for losing 1-0 to Llanelli, the Welsh part-timers, in the first leg of their first qualifying round of the Europa League last week. The match, Jim Gannon's first since taking charge, leaves Motherwell requiring a victory in the Parc y Scarlets stadium this evening if they are to progress, but Reynolds believes any criticism of his s...

Freuchie: Restructuring Plans Miss the Point Famous Club Argues Professionals Are Damaging Game in Scotland

FREUCHIE Cricket Club are seeking support for their plans to cut down drastically on the influence of professional players in the domestic game ahead of next week's meeting which aims to restructure the sport in Scotland. Cricket Scotland have identified the expenditure on professional players by clubs which mostly run on a handto-mouth basis as a huge part of the many problems facing the sport in Scotland.

Back to the Future . . .

How Cricket Scotland proposes to change the fortunes of Scottish cricket by reverting to the old regional set-up The new system would be based on eight-team premier leagues in each region, with divisions of 10 below and one-up, one-down from the Premier Leagues, writes Kevin Ferrie. Each team in a District Premier League would play 14 home and away matches against each team within their region. At the end of this series the top two in each region would contest a six-team national championship...

Kevin Ferrie On Thursday Have the Lions Lost Their Appeal for the Average Rugby Supporter?

BEFORE going over to the dark side to work in public relations, my pal Steve was sports editor of our sister paper. Inevitably, then, when we met up the other week the chat was sport, sport and more sport during 31/2 hours on the golf course and another half- hour in the bar afterwards. We kicked off with Scotland A's triumphant rugby tour from which I had just returned and his new employers' involvement in the International Children's Games, from which Lanarkshire's 19 entrants had just retu...

Fans with Laptops

Federer's greatness not in doubt but is he the best? IT is impossible to disagree with Iain Mann's compelling argument that Roger Federer is one of the tennis greats (Fans with Laptops, July 8).