Scottish football: Falkirk to put the heat on Burns at Ibrox

Friday 11 April 1997 18:02 EDT
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With speculation about his future mounting, Tommy Burns has to prepare his Celtic side for today's Scottish Cup semi-final against Falkirk at Ibrox knowing that defeat would almost certainly hasten the end of his days as manager at Parkhead.

Yesterday Kevin Keegan joined the likes of Joe Kinnear, Johan Cruyff, John Toshack, Bobby Robson, Guus Hiddink and Leo Beenhakker in having his name attached to the Glasgow club. But the Celtic managing director, Fergus McCann, issued yet another denial, insisting that nobody has been approached.

Burns has some selection decisions to make for today after keeping Tommy Johnson, signed for pounds 2.4m from Aston Villa, on the bench for the first 45 minutes of last week's 1-1 draw with Raith. The defender Malky Mackay and the midfielder Peter Grant are both suspended, while the captain, Paul McStay, is expected to recover from the groin injury which cut short his action at Stark's Park last week.

Johnson will surely start the game after Celtic rushed through his transfer a fortnight ago to beat a 14-day Cup semi-final registration deadline.

Falkirk, of the First Division, head for Ibrox in good heart after enjoying a revival since Alex Totten took over in January. The former England international Andy Gray will return to Falkirk's central defence, while Craig Nelson looks like being preferred to Paul Mathers in goal.

Ron Dixon has resigned as chairman of the First Division side Dundee as he prepares to sell the club. Dixon remains the majority shareholder at the club, with brothers Jimmy and Peter Marr negotiate to buy out the Canadian businessman. The takeover is expected to go through in the next few weeks.

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