Fan Spokesman Asks If Souness is Right For National Job A spokesman for a Scottish supporters' group has tentatively put Graeme Souness' name forward

As the race for the Hampden hotseat continues, former Rangers and Newcastle coach Graeme Souness has been linked with the job.

Now, Hamish Husband of the 'West of Scotland Tartan Army' has suggested that the front runner could be a fine choice - but only if certain conditions are met.

Husband told the Daily Record, "Souness would do a good job and bring stature and arrogance.

"But I'd like to know if he still has the passion for Scotland and if he applied for the job. I'm not sure if he has been sounded out, which is a subtle difference.

"He is extremely controversial but his passion for Scotland was never in doubt."

Souness, 54, was capped on 54 occasions for Scotland during his playing days, the bulk of which he spent with Liverpool. He has been out of management since leaving St. James' Park in 2006.

McFadden: McLeish Tempted Me To Birmingham James McFadden says former Scotland boss Alex McLeish was the key factor in his decision to move to Birmin

Birmingham City completed the £5m transfer of striker James McFadden from Everton yesterday.

The forward had been largely left on the sidelines at Goodison Park and thus said the decision to leave was not a tricky one.

The Scot had several offers, but opted for Birmingham in order to link up once against with Alex McLeish, who got so much out of the striker at international level.

Easy Choice

"It wasn't a tough decision," McFadden said about joining up with the former Scotland boss. "As soon as I knew Alex McLeish was interested and he showed the levels of commitment he did, it was easy for me.

"The first attraction was the manager - because I have worked with him before and know what to expect. He seemed to get the best out of me when I played for Scotland and hopefully he can continue to do that on a weekly basis.

"He instils a lot of confidence in you and a lot of belief which are the main qualities I think he has," continued McFadden. "The experience I had with him at Scotland was great and he did well for me.

"To pay that sort of money for me was massive and just shows how much he wanted me and hopefully I can repay him. It is a big challenge and a chance to play regularly and hopefully I can rise to it."

Goodison Regrets

But while McFadden believes he has made the correct choice in leaving Everton, he says he will always harbour regrets at not receiving more of a chance to show the Goodison Park fans his true capabilities. "I thought I did all right at Everton when I played," he said.

"Some games I did play poorly and deserved to be left out but I thought there were times I didn't deserve to be left out. That was because I was filling in. It was a great experience for me at Everton - I learned a lot and improved greatly as a player in my time there. But at the same time it was an opportunity missed because I would have loved to have been playing every week and been a part of the success they had."

Newcastle Linked With Sol Campbell & Barry Robson

Kevin Keegan would like to take Portsmouth's veteran defender Sol Campbell to St James' Park.

He sees the former Arsenal and Tottenham defender as the man to help plug Newcastle's porous back-four.

And although Campbell, who played under Keegan for England, is understood to be happily settled with Pompey on the south coast and unlikely to fancy moving north at this stage of his career, the Sunday Express feels Keegan may well try to tempt him away from Fratton Park with a lucrative offer.

Keegan may have more joy with a move for Dundee United's Barry Robson.

Scottish newspaper the Daily Record says the Magpies are well aware of the Scotland midfielder's availability, and ready to make a bid to take him south of the border.

Celtic are expected to make an offer for Robson but Keegan is said to be ready to outbid the Hoops with billionaire owner Mike Ashley's backing.

Keegan has spent the last three years in Scotland with his Glasgow-based Soccer Circus project, and believes Robson can make an impact in the English Premier League.

Speculation about the Terrors' captain has intensified in recent weeks, but Keegan's return to Tyneside has brought Robson sharply into focus at St James' Park as the new manager implememts a rebuilding plan.

A source close to Robson is quoted by the Daily Record as saying: "Barry believes he can play at the highest level and there is a lot of interest in him. There is no definite contact but his ambition is to prove himself among the best.

"He'll have to weigh up his options over the next couple of days but he has never hidden his intention of being able to cut it at the highest level."

Van Buyten Ready To Join Celtic On Loan Bayern Munich's Daniel van Buyten would consider a loan move to Scottish champions Celtic, stating: "Scotland

Daniel van Buyten, 29, the Belgian defender who is currently out of favour at Bayern Munich, is a transfer target for Celtic manager Gordon Strachan - and has indicated that he would be amenable to a move.

Van Buyten is due to hold talks with Bayern this week, but as coach Ottmar Hitzfeld will be leaving in the summer, to be replaced by Jurgen Klinsmann, the Bavarian club may only be prepared to consider a loan deal - unless Celtic match Bayern's reported valuation for the player of £4million.

Van Buyten told the Scottish Sun: "Celtic is one of my options.

"I have not spoken with them but I know their coach has asked for details about me.

"Scotland is a fabulous country for football and the atmosphere is great.

"I arrived at Bayern with great hopes. My objective was to win a fight to win a place in the team and play in every match.

"Unfortunately, this has not been possible and I am unhappy about the situation.

"I'm working very hard every day but the coach doesn't seem to have confidence in me.

"After I speak with Bayern I will know my future but I will discount nothing.

"There's also interested clubs in England but the final decision is down to Bayern."

McLeish: McFadden Creates And Scores Goals Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish says that new signing James McFadden is both a creator and a scorer o

McFadden completed his £5m move from Everton to Birmingham today, and hooks up again with his former boss from the Scotland national team, McLeish.

The 24-year-old was one of the stars of the Tartan Army’s heroic Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, in which Italy and France just pipped them in the race to Austria and Switzerland.

McFadden is most famous for scoring a 30-yard winner in the historic 1-0 win over France in Paris last September.

"After that goal I think the James McFadden fan club went to enormous proportions and his website probably went into meltdown," said McLeish.

"The guys who score the goals normally take the glory, but he's not just a guy who scores the goals, he can create things and make things happen.”

McFadden began his career at Motherwell before signing for David Moyes’ Everton in 2003.

He has since made over 100 appearances for The Toffees, scoring 10 goals. The forward has won 37 caps for his country, scoring an impressive 13 times.

SFA Agree Compensation With Southampton For Burley

George Burley is on the verge of receiving a call-up to the Hampden hotseat after the SFA agreed compensation with his current club, Southampton.

The former Hearts boss is now the SFA's number-one choice for the Scottish national team job, which has been left vacant since Alex McLeish departed to join Premiership strugglers Birmingham City.

Now, if terms can be agreed between the Mount Florida powers-that-be and Burley's representative, then the 51-year-old former international will take the job imminently.

Burley, who also coached Ipswich Town and Derby County, seems to have beaten off competition from Tommy Burns, Graeme Souness and Mark McGhee, all of whom were involved in the SFA's interview process.

Scotland's next match comes against Croatia in March, with Burley set to be in charge long before then.

Scotland - Premier League

1 Rangers FC 53
2 Celtic FC 46
3 Dundee United FC 38
4 Motherwell FC 35
5 Aberdeen FC 33
6 Falkirk FC 32
7 Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC 31
8 Hibernian FC 28
9 Heart of Midlothian FC 27
10 Saint Mirren FC 25
11 Kilmarnock FC 22
12 Gretna FC 13

McFadden: I Would Have Gone To Celtic

Birmingham’s new £6million capture James McFadden has admitted that he would have agreed to move to Celtic on loan this month.

McFadden was on the love last week, making his debut for Birmingham at home to Chelsea at the weekend. However, the lifelong Celtic fan could have been a Bhoy had things gone differently – at least on a temporary basis.

Gordon Strachan reportedly swooped with a loan approach in December, but Everton sought cash compensation and McFadden is happy with the eventual outcome.

"Celtic tried to take me on loan before the transfer window opened and I was keen on it at the time but I didn't speak with Gordon Strachan," the 24-year-old told the Daily Record.

However, I'm delighted to come to Birmingham - it will work even better for my career. This is a bigger challenge.

"I don't know what happened at the end. Celtic never came in with a bid for me then (Birmingham boss) Alex McLeish really showed he wanted me here and that was a big thing.

"I wasn't happy not playing at Everton and I did think about the option of going back to Scotland. However, I'm really delighted to be at Birmingham."

US Owners To Sell Liverpool To Dubai Group? There is speculation in the English media today that George Gillett and Tom Hicks could be ready to sell

Could the ownership of Liverpool be about to change hands again?

That is what is being speculated today in the English media, in a story that underlines the extent to which top-flight English football is as much about financial figures as 4-4-2.

The reasons why Liverpool could be sold for the second time in a year include the repercussions from America's sub-prime mortgage and housing crises and eroded bank confidence.

It seems from reports in The Guardian and The Observer, among other sources, that Liverpool's American owners, George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, are encountering difficulties in refinancing £350million of debt incurred in the taking over and running of the football club.

They are facing steeply rising costs for building a new stadium, while manager Rafael Benitez is demanding funds for new players.

In response, Hicks and Gillett have been attempting to transfer the debt, for which they are personally liable, on to the club itself.

City sources think it will be very difficult for them to achieve this before the loan's due date at the end of February.

And if the Americans fail to meet that deadline, they could have an escape route in Dubai. It is understood that the investment group, Dubai International Capital, is close to lodging an offer to buy out the two Americans, probably for about £500million.

Takeover discussions are thought to be due before the end of this month, according to the newspapers.

DIC were pipped to the post by Gillett and Hicks last year when it had seemed near certain that Liverpool's new owners would be Arabic rather than American.

DIC, led by Liverpool supporter Sameer Al Ansari, would invest heavily in two key areas: firstly the new stadium that Liverpool need in order to compete with Arsenal and Manchester United for matchday revenue; and secondly the playing squad.

The possible departure off the Anfield scene of the two Americans might be welcome news to Benites, who has fallen foul of them through his insistent demands for transfer funds; but the arrival of DIC as owners would not necessarily be good news for Benitez because they are thought to be keen to recruit Jose Mourinho, who is known to be interested in managing the club.

DIC were hours away from buying Liverpool last February, but lost out at the last minute to Hicks and Gillett when the club's chief executive, Rick Parry, switched his support from the Arab camp, who were perceived to be taking too long to act decisively, to the Americans.

The US businessmen paid £174.1m for a 100 per cent shareholding, also agreeing to take on the club's then debt of £44.8m.

But their purchase of Liverpool was funded solely by borrowed money. The pair's loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland grew to £350million as it was used to fund several high-profile summer transfers, as well as development work and architect's plans for the proposed new 60,000-seat stadium in Stanley Park - and to roll up the interest on the debt.

Now the RBS loan is due for repayment next month, and The Observer understands that attempts to restructure it have so far failed, while the Americans have not yet injected new equity into the refinancing.

RBS have asked Hicks and Gillett each to commit £20million of their own cash to the deal, but City sources believe that at least one of the two businessmen is not prepared to do so. Hicks and Gillett themselves were not commenting on the situation on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, work on the 'New Anfield' stadium project has been suspended while the acquisition loan issue is resolved, with no chance of funding being put in place for the £400m stadium project until it is.

A meeting in New York last week at which architects HKS and AFL presented competing stadium designs, was described by Parry merely as "another big step forward to finding the best possible solution. Everyone is reflecting on what they have heard and a clear decision will be taken soon."

The Guardian reports that RBS could even become Liverpool's new owner. "The global credit crunch has made it harder for Hicks and Gillett to raise new revenues elsewhere and also affected the value of their other assets," explains the paper. "Should they fail in their efforts to repay the £350m acquisition debt on Liverpool when it comes due in just over six weeks, there would be the possibility of the next owner of the club becoming RBS."

However, it is thought that the bank, Parry and Liverpool's honorary life-president David Moores, the former principal shareholder, are unlikely to allow the situation to develp in that way.

Parry and Moores are "horrified that the Hicks-Gillett deal has not thus far brought long-term financial stability to the club. As a consequence, there are increasing tensions between the Americans and other board members as the refinancing deadline approaches."

And Parry and Moores are thought to be open to a second takeover.

That brings DIC back into the equation. Sources in the Middle East have confirmed that DIC remain as interested in buying Liverpool as they were last year.

DIC last night refused to comment, but could solve the financial problems besetting Liverpool. A £500 million purchase price wold enable the two Americans to ride off into the sunset with a profit of £75millon each.

Rangers Transfer Update: Dailly, Moore

Rangers gaffer Walter Smith has put an end to speculation linking West Ham’s unsettled fringe player Christian Dailly with a move to Ibrox.

The 34-year-old could have offered cover across a variety of defensive and midfield roles, and was a regular in Smith’s Scotland squads.

However, the wily boss has now ruled out any loan approach for Dailly.

"It was just one of those things I had an idea about," Smith revealed to the BBC.

"But we've got no business at the present moment. Unless something crops up that we feel will be of benefit to our squad, we'll go with what we have."

The Rumour Mill

Rangers’ defence has been somewhat lacking in cover this season, but things could be about to improve. Steven Smith and Andy Webster are set to feature in reserve action this week as they bid to return from long-term injury woes.

Veteran stopper Ugo Ehiogu has left Rangers for Sheffield United, while Carlos Cuellar (pictured left) has today been linked with a move to Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle. Keegan is also rumoured to be willing to enter the race to land Alan Hutton, who covets a move to Manchester United after recently rejecting Spurs.

Further up the pitch, midfielder Kevin Thomson will be missing for six-weeks with a groin problem. This development could mean Brahim Hemdani could stay as cover, despite being tracked by a host of English and French clubs.

On the attacking end, Rangers have reportedly approached Aston Villa about striker Luke Moore, who is said to have already visited Glasgow to assess Ibrox and training facility Murray Park.