Tony Mowbray keeps fighting his corner over Brown report

CELTIC manager Tony Mowbray remains adamant that he did not tell Scott Brown he wanted to sell him. The Parkhead club said on their website earlier in the week they were considering legal action after one report claimed that the midfielder was informed of the manager's intent to move him on in a meeting before Christmas. The newspaper stood by its story but the Celtic manager reiterated his stance on the matter.

"The bottom line is I am a guy of integrity and honesty," he said. "I understand the vagaries of journalism but (if] you push me into a corner and write something that just didn't happen – sometimes you have to make a stand. Fact. I don't like it when I see things printed that never happened. I think it's right that we take a stand against that.

"The daft thing about it is that there are so many grey areas. Do I talk to my players? Every day. It's my job to talk to footballers. Was there a meeting at Christmas time telling him (Brown] he could go? Never. He didn't misunderstand me. It was a total mis-truth and I think the club and myself have made that pretty clear. It's not disruptive because it's not true."

According to reports last night, Celtic have agreed a fee with Brondby for Denmark striker Morten Rasmussen. Personal terms have yet to be finalised, however, with no further developments now likely on the matter until next week.

Responding to reports linking him with Parkhead, Rasmussen told Danish television station TV2: "A move to Celtic would obviously be interesting for me. As long as nothing is certain, it's difficult for me to say much. It's a big club and it has always been a dream of mine to play outside Denmark but we will have to wait and see what happens."

Celtic are also set to snap up Motherwell's 18-year-old winger Paul Slane, who is out of contract in the summer.

Mowbray also revealed further his exasperation with the Scottish media when he batted back one suggestion that striker Scott McDonald is a target for Wigan.

"I am interested in Lionel Messi, I am interested in Ronaldo if we can get him away from Madrid," he retorted sarcastically. "I don't think there is a story there. It's just typical (of the media], I would suggest, but there you go."

Meanwhile, St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes will take no heed of Celtic's lengthy absentee list ahead of tomorrow's game.

Mowbray will be without McDonald, Ki Sung-Yueng, Stephen McManus, Mark Wilson, Danny Fox, Paul Caddis and Lee Naylor through injury while Landry Nguemo is away on international duty. Shaun Maloney and Brown are fit again after recovering from tendonitis and an ankle operation respectively but will not join full training until Monday. However, McInnes says that whoever wears the hoops will be more than capable.

"I don't take any comfort from the fact that Celtic will be without a few players," he said. "Not at all. I understand there will be a few changes but whoever comes in to play for Celtic will be quality. The size of club they are means they will have a strong team."