Scott Brown in the crossfire as the Daily Record stand by their story.

The Daily Record have challenged Celtic by standing by their story that the Scott Brown has been told he could be sold this month.

Celtic took the unusual step yesterday of officially denying the story on the club website with quotes from the player and Tony Mowbray.

The club statement also hinted at possible legal action over the story.

Despite that threat the Record are standing by their story and refusing to back down.

They claim today: "SCOTT Brown continued to insist yesterday that he was told he can leave Celtic.

"The SPL club went public to deny Record Sport's story that revealed Tony Mowbray informed the midfield player he could be sold during the January transfer window.

"But information given to us made it clear Brown believes his days at Celtic Park are numbered.

"We stand by that information and our source, who is well known to Celtic.

"Yet, on the Parkhead club's official website yesterday they branded our story as "erroneous and without foundation."

"The truth is that before printing the story it was read out to Brown. And there is no question, no doubt at all, Record Sport's piece was endorsed by him and his reaction included.

"He knows we reported accurately a story which has been the talk of his Celtic team-mates at their Lennoxtown base.

"In fact, even yesterday afternoon Brown was still adamant he'd been told he could leave.

"Someone has been economical with the truth, but Record Sport's conscience is clear. It's now a matter for Brown and Celtic."

The Record's position is quite clear, they haven't backed down in any way and have added further details to the originial story although there are no direct quotes from Brown today.

I wouldn't expect any further comment from Celtic on the matter but the club statement has clearly been ridiculed by the Record.

Both side's will be able to justify their position regardless of whether Brown stays or goes. A transfer this month seems highly unlikely but a future transfer could be traced back to this incident.

Meantime the Record's rivals at The Sun report that Kris Boyd has held signing talks with Aston Villa and was a guest at the club for last night's Carling Cup semi-final win over Blackburn Rovers.

Former Rangers boss Alex McLeish is also said to be keen to take Boyd to Birmingham City.

Celtic v Daily Record: Thugs and Thieves II?

Celtic weren't slow to put their retaliation in on the Daily Record story claiming that Scott Brown had been told that he was no longer required by Tony Mowbray.

The story contained quotes from the player which gave the story extra strength but Brown has been quick to 'put the record' straight as is often said with these type of stories.

Speaking to the Celtic website the midfielder said: "Obviously I am very disappointed with this article as there is no foundation to it. I have worked with the manager for some time and have a very good relationship with him.

"It’s disappointing to have been out for so long with an injury but I’m looking forward to getting back to full fitness as soon as possible and getting back in to the team for the second half of the season."

There's not much room for misinterpretation with those quotes or any possibility that the original words have been 'lost in translation'.

The Record claimed: 'Tony Mowbray has stunned star man Scott Brown by telling him he has no future at Celtic.'

Celtic famously fell out with the Daily Record in December 2002 following a front page story that is almost as famous as 'Freddy Starr ate my hamster' when the newspaper ran with the 'Thugs and Thieves' headline relating to the behaviour of players on a Christmas night out in Newcastle.

A cold war followed between the two parties but the Record and Celtic need each other with the relations eventually being patched up although the Record's double decker bus in Seville six months later wasn't the most popular.

Football clubs and personalities regularly threaten to take legal action against newspapers, and other than the prolific Martin O'Neill these issues get forgotten over the course of time.

Whether Celtic take legal action remains to be seen.

The Celtic statement added: "The story, which appeared on Wednesday morning, has been dismissed by both Tony Mowbray and Scott Brown as being totally without foundation.

"The club is currently taking legal advice over the issue."

Tensions have clearly been raised with the story going a step further than the usual transfer speculation that football clubs expect at this time of the year.

The final ten days of the transfer window will make interesting reading for everyone. If relations have broken down the Record won't hold back, if a compromise has been reached between the club and newspaper then a series of positive stories are likely to appear over the coming days.

Celtic website denial