Bad boy Boyd Banned

Rangers leading scorer Kris Boyd is out of Sunday's Co-Operative Cup Final with Celtic after being sent home from training by Walter Smith.

The Rangers boss read the riot act to Boyd after the striker was left out of Sunday's 5-1 win over Hamilton Accies with sources at Ibrox describing the strikers attitude as unprofessional and unacceptable.

Earlier this season Boyd quit international football by texting George Burley following Scotland's 0-0 draw with Norway when he was left on the bench with Steven Fletcher and Kris Iwelumo preferred as substitutes.

Boyd is Rangers leading goalscorer with 21 SPL goals this season but has scored just once in his entire career against Celtic and has only started one of the last eight Old Firm clashes.

Kyle Lafferty was selected ahead of Boyd for the 5-1 over Hamilton Accies on Sunday and it is reported that Boyd lashed out against a pile of football boots when he found out he wasn't playing and refused to join the other subs on the pitch for a half-time warm up.

Rangers players were given Monday off but Smith, who allows assistant Ally McCoist to take charge of cup ties, confronted Boyd before training yesterday and told to report back next week.

Boyd has scored 94 goals for Rangers in the three years since his £400,000 transfer from Kilmarnock and turned down a £2.7m move to Birmingham during the summer.

CLICK HERE for more great Celtic stories

Re-arrangers call off reserve fixture

As the young hoops chase 8-in-a-row in the SPL Reserves the fixture list presented the perfect finale/clincher with a Rangers-Celtic game on St Patrick's Day of all days.

Alas the game has been postponed by Rangers.

Not due to Uefa Cup commitments or anything like that but with Celtic seeking a win to clinch the title the mighty Rangers are unable to find a ground to play the game.

First choice of Murray Park can't host a Rangers-Celtic game and for reasons unknown the 5-star UEFA rated Ibrox Stadium is unavailable.

The game has been rescheduled for April, hopefully.

No effort has been made to find an alternative venue with Clyde and Airdrie regular hosts of Celtic-Rangers reserve fixtures.

After their 4-0 win over Falkirk on Tuesday Willie McStay's side are twelve points ahead of Rangers in the Reserve League table.

Should Celtic have beaten Rangers that would have given them a fifteen point lead with Rangers having just five games left to play......... game set and match to the hoops.

It's not all about winning at reserve level of course but winning is a great habit to pick up and some day soon Celtic will again be crowned SPL champions.

Stephen McManus, Shaun Maloney, Aiden McGeady, David Marshall, Craig Beattie and Ross Wallace have all played their parts down the years in the current reserve successes before going on to win first team honours.

Hopefully Mark Millar, Niall McGinn, Kevin Cawley and Simon Ferry will be graduating from the current reserve side to bring further success to the first team.

There's only one Davie Provan

He was a great player in a great Celtic side of the early eighties and is one of the few former players to have genuinely made it in to the 'meeja' off his own merits rather than relying on the former player tag.

Davie Provan linked up brilliantly with strikers whether it was Nicholas, McGarvey or McCluskey through to a newer side of McClair and le petite merde.

Playing in front of Danny McGrain, Provan was an essential part of a successful Celtic side before being struck down with ME that forced his retirement from the game with his last memorable contribution being the equalising free kick in the 1985 Centenary Scottish Cup Final win over Dundee United.

Provan has graduated through the media ranks to being straight talking, honest and controversial, but crucially not controversial for the sake of it.

In a great interview in today's Sunday Herald, which strangely almost acts as an advert for the News of the World, Brian Conney finds Provan in good form. Opening up about the loss of his father, the 'skive' of being a footballer, his political voting but most of all lifting the lid on what passes for media coverage in this country.

Admitting to the system where chairmen and managers have journalists basically on a string, or the 'grace and favour' system, Provan speaks out about how he has the independence to call it as he sees it without having to then go and plead for airtime or words with those that he has criticised.

Compromise for copy it could be called with Provan now an opinionated outsider contributing to Sky Sports, the News of the World and Radio Clyde.

Provan discusses Tommy Burns, Gordon Strachan and others with the frankness and honesty that is rarely displayed when the microphones and cameras are switched on.

He is happy to go on record with his affection for Celtic although that doesn't stretch to contributing to club publications and delivering the agreed soundbites expected with the party line.

The feature is punchy, honest and open with Provan admitting that his real friends are now in the golf club with football pals virtually non-existent.

READ IT FOR YOURSELF