IF I was Tony Mowbray, I would be praying Harry Redknapp phones him over the next 12 days with an offer for Scott Brown. It's time to cash in on the midfielder and move him on.

Any bid from Spurs of between £8m and £12m for the Celtic man would do fine and allow the manager to accelerate his rebuilding plans.

I think Celtic can afford to lose the 23-year-old Scotland internationalist, with Landry N'Guemo a ready-made replacement.

The spare cash would then allow the manager to buy a striker, a creative midfielder and a defender or two, depending on Andreas Hinkel's possible move.

The chief executive, Peter Lawwell, said no player will be sold before the return tie, which gives Tony time to hatch a plan and make sure he can move quickly to secure some of the targets on his list before the window closes.

Gordon Strachan told me on several occasions that the trick of signing players is to try and make sure the good purchases outnumber your bad ones.

That said, I think two out of Mowbray's signings look good in Fox and the aforementioned N'Guemo, but Fortune is another Samaras.

This new breed of strikers who play outside the penalty area at Celtic are not going to score a barrowload of goals and that's why it's time Tony shipped a few players out and got a better partner for McDonald with height and a physical presence.

Back to last season's player's player of the year, Brown. Good player, yes, but not a great player.

He had an indifferent first season in extremely difficult personal circumstances, and last season, there were a few purple patches, but nothing spectacular.

I have been speaking to more than a few Celtic fans who would not be overly upset with his departure providing all the cash went to the manager to recruit new faces.

I have no axe to grind with Scott, this is strictly business!

The big 'if' is whether Harry will make a move based on what he saw on Tuesday night in the Champions League match.

The number eight, for me, was poor. I am more than aware he is a couple of weeks behind other players in match fitness, but I am looking for signs of something special and I can't see it.

The same can be said of Hinkel. If Celtic can get £2m upwards for the German, I'd let him go too. He's ordinary and I am not sure he fits into Mowbray's long-term plan of full backs bombing forward.

Celtic head to the Emirates stadium next week with damage limitation the No.1 priority against Arsenal.

Any supporters who buy into the manager's assertion that scoring the first goal puts them right back in the tie are deluding themselves.

Arsene Wenger's team will go through the gears at home and Fabregas, van Persie, Denilson and Arshavin will be an even more formidable force on home soil.

I fancy another two-goal margin in the London leg. Turning Japanese may be best way forward

SFA director of football development Jim Fleeting is forever telling me to go on the Japanese FA website to look at their objectives as a football nation.

The JFA have set out a declaration of intent on what they hope to achieve by 2015 and then taking it further to 2050.

The 2015 goal is to get five million people playing and following football, and to have the national team ranked in the world's top 10.

The 2050 goal is to double that figure to 10 million with Japan hosting and winning the World Cup.

The logic is this - the more people playing and enjoying it, the higher the percentage of players to draw on from the talent pool. The Japanese are studying the best players, teams and coaches in the world and adopting their methods.

We should have the same objectives here in this country, but sadly the structure that was once in place that allowed us to draw on such a large pool of talent has diminished.

The destruction of the grassroots game at school level, lack of funding and too many bodies all protecting their own interests, rather joining together in one common goal, has led to the disintegration of the basics that we took for granted.

The department Jim works in is trying to get the country back to the basics of learning the techniques by simply enjoying the game.

As for the Japanese, sadly, I don't think Mr Fleeting or myself will be around to see if they achieve their dream in 2050. But at least they have one. Play fair ... shame on rugby cheaters

THIS week Harlequins director of football Dean Richards received a three-year, worldwide ban for instructing one of his players to cheat to allow a specialist player onto the field to try and gain a late win for his side.

The length of the suspension has caused a stir in some quarters because the feeling among some of rugby's elite is Richards is just unlucky to get nailed for something that has gone on in the game for years unchallenged and without penalty.

Sport is big business and even the oval ball game is poisoned by man's desire for success, fame and the wealth it can bring.

The fact that Harlequins wingerTom Williams willingly participated in the deception of bursting a fake blood pellet to allow a "blood replacement" in the game should come as no surprise.

Footballers up and down the country fake injury and indulge in similar practices week in, week out.

I was always told as a youngster that rugby was a sport played by more intelligent men, who had a greater sense of fair play, in contrast to the working man's round ball sport.

Well,that age-old myth is in tatters now, I reckon after the events that shamed the sport.

This week, parity for both because we all know we are all susceptible to the seven deadly sins regard-less of class, colour, creed and education.

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