Walsall 1 Chelsea 4: Chelsea continued to rebuild their season as they eased past Walsall in the Capital One Cup.

Correct us if we’re wrong here, but isn’t football’s silly season supposed to peter out once the season actually starts? Not so, it seems. Here we are with three games gone in the Premier League and the fluff is still overshadowing the important stuff. It’s almost as if a media that had to rely on the mad and mundane for the off-season finds itself unable to kick the habit.

Ronny Deila has put his trust in his Celtic side to overcome Malmo in their crunch Champions League play-off tie.

INVERNESS CT  3 CELTIC 2: Celtic boss Ronny Deila pointed the finger at official Alan Muir for missing a controversial penalty incident in his side’s 3-2 William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Inverness which ended hopes of a treble.

Scottish League Cup final: Celtic 2 Dundee United 0

Tributes have been paid to former Tottenham, Hearts and Scotland midfielder Dave Mackay, who has died aged 80.

Celtic 2 Rangers 0: Ronny Deila criticised the Hampden pitch but Celtic cruised to the final of the Scottish League Cup at the national stadium with a 2-0 win over Rangers.

Ronny Deila has made three changes to his starting line-up for Celtic's Scottish League Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden Park.

Scottish League Cup semi-final

Former Rangers midfielder Stuart McCall believes it would be a “huge shock” if the Ibrox side were to beat Celtic in their Scottish League Cup semi-final clash at Hampden Park.

Glasgow faces three months of hype over the first Old Firm derby since Rangers went into liquidation but Celtic striker Anthony Stokes knows they have to play the game and not the occasion when the Scottish League Cup semi-final comes around.

Celtic and Rangers will resume hostilities after a hiatus of almost three years after being paired together in the Scottish League Cup semi-finals.

Neil Lennon does not believe Rangers or Aberdeen will spend big in their bid to catch up with Celtic but warned that the Parkhead club have the cash in reserve to see off any would-be challengers.

David Healy, Northern Ireland's record goalscorer, has announced his retirement from professional football.

Pat Fenlon quit as Hibernian boss after deciding it was the right time to walk away from Easter Road.

Kilmarnock 2 Celtic 5

Kris Commons has told Barcelona it would be “very unprofessional” of them to turn up at Celtic Park next week thinking that Champions League lightning could not strike twice.

Celtic 0 Morton 1 (aet)

Rangers plunged deeper into crisis after crashing out of the Scottish Cup as goals from Gavin Gunning and Johnny Russell secured a 2-0 win for Dundee United at Ibrox.

NEIL LENNON praised his side’s character after Saturday’s hard-fought 2-0 win at a blustery St Mirren Park ultimately took Celtic four points clear of Rangers at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

NORWICH suffered a stunning 4-0 home defeat at the hands of npower League One leaders MK Dons as the three newly-promoted Premier League clubs exited the Carling Cup at the second-round stage last night.

Giovanni Trapattoni has left out Sunderland midfielder Andy Reid of his provisional 27-man squad for the Republic of Ireland's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Italy and Montenegro.

Giovanni Trapattoni is set to name his squad this afternoon for the Republic of Ireland's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Italy and Montenegro.

TRY telling Darren O’Dea that the Scottish League Cup is worthless. The Dubliner set aside months of frustration at Celtic to inspire the Bhoys to deserved extra-time triumph at Hampden yesterday and dash Rangers’ hopes of a clean sweep of domestic trophies.

Roy Keane admits he is desperate to improve on his poor cup record since going into management at Sunderland.

Rangers goalkeeper Roy Carroll has signed for Derby initially until the end of the season.

ROY KEANE was last night being linked with a sensational return to football as manager of Sunderland.

Sunderland have refused to confirm reports that Manchester United legend Roy Keane is poised to become their new manager.

ANDY REID will not be available for Steve Staunton's first Irish squad, after the Spurs winger suffered the recurrence of a knee ligament injury at Fulham on Tuesday night.

Holders Livingston have been given a home tie with Jim Duffy’s Dundee in the third round of the CIS Insurance Cup.

Mikel Arteta has left Rangers and returned to Spain with Primera Liga side Real Sociedad in a £2.6m (€3.9m) deal.

IRISH businessman Pearse Flynn has won the battle to take over Scottish League Cup champions Livingston. The club has been in administration since February with debts of £7m.