Celtic way will make Mowbray welcome

WEST Bromwich Albion were last night preparing to dig in their heels over a compensation package for Tony Mowbray as Celtic finally entered into negotiations with the Midlands club about the release of their manager.

Albion are understood to be furious over Celtic's handling of the move for Mowbray – their pursuit entering the public domain long before they made an official approach yesterday.

Sources close to West Brom have said they intend to be "obstructive" and not budge over their demand for £2 million to release Mowbray, his assistant Mark Venus and first team coach Peter Grant from the remaining two years of their contracts. Celtic, meanwhile, believe that £1m is a reasonable sum to pave the way for the trio to come to Glasgow. The impasse could hold up the filling of a post vacant since Gordon Strachan stepped down a fortnight ago tomorrow.

Mowbray's relationship with West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace has disintegrated as the club seek to bounce straight back up to the English Premier League following relegation last month. Made pledges about maintaining squad numbers, Mowbray feels he has been let down by a demand for his senior squad to be cut from 31 to 20. The former Celtic defender is now understood to see his future at the Glasgow club with which his past ties remain so emotionally powerful.

Mowbray the manager is a professional who, to a fault at times, has made it his mission across his five years in charge of Hibernian and West Brom to play football the so-called "Celtic way" with an emphasis on free-flowing attack. Mowbray the man is a person of great humanity who elicits tremendous warmth from the Celtic support for the dignity he showed in dealing with personal tragedy in his time at the club, which spanned four years from 1991. He lost his wife Bernadette to cancer on New Year's Day of 1995. That experience, and his creation of the pre-match 'huddle' as a means of showing the players' togetherness, is what gives his Celtic story a resonance. It makes him a natural fit for a club that likes to celebrate strength of character and a certain romanticism. Suspended for the 1995 Scottish Cup final that earned the club a first trophy in six years, his Celtic playing career was also notable for an absence of silverware.

The same is true of Mowbray's time in management, save for his success in guiding West Brom to the Premier League last year as champions. That achievement was taken as evidence by him that, even in a harsh environment, a commitment to footballing "aesthetics" did not mean constructing teams who could simply be dismissed as losers who were lovely to watch.

Yet, there were plenty who would have damned his team in such terms in the past year. Fellow promoted sides Hull City and Stoke City both stayed up with similarly modest budgets because they were willing to adopt pragmatic, even primitive approaches.

"I don't let the criticism affect me to be honest, people get paid to give comments and generally they have earned the right to do that," Mowbray said in response to withering comments from the Match of the Day pundits about his unwillingness to comprise his principles. "They've had fantastic football careers and won lots of trophies, I totally respect their opinions but the bottom line is that I'm the manager of West Bromwich Albion and I'm bringing my own philosophies to the team. That's what football is.

"There are lots of different ways to play the game, some want to keep possession of the ball and move it around and some go back to front asking defenders questions with six-foot four-centre forwards coming down on top of them.

"You make choices in this game and live and die by them. What I think is that you make your choice, stick with it and believe that it's right and I'm doing that. It would go against the grain for me to just start going direct and getting the ball into the box and fighting for the second ball. I feel that I have a responsibility to improve footballers and make them better to give them an opportunity to take their careers as far as they can.

"When I watch football I don't see many top teams hooking the ball over their shoulders and playing long balls into the box and fighting for scraps. I see thoughtful, clever, technical, gifted footballers playing, passing and moving and trying to get the ball into the box."

That Mowbray's credo clicks with demands of the Celtic support will make him a popular choice in his new post, according to former Celtic captain Tom Boyd. "He ticks all the right boxes for the fans," Boyd says. "He has that passion, desire, is a deep thinker and able to express himself in a way that endears him to people. He will be different from Gordon (Strachan] in that respect, and his starting of the 'huddle' shows he knows all about the importance of fostering a spirit between players, and between the players and the fans. That could be important right now to get a spark back into the club that seemed lost along with the title last season."

Boyd stresses that Mowbray must fashion a football team that wins trophies as much as it is watchable. He never really pulled off that trick at Hibs. Rangers were beaten three times at Ibrox and Celtic taken apart in their own backyard in the course of many brilliant displays that earned two top four finishes and two Scottish Cup semi-final appearances in his two full seasons of 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Boyd believes Mowbray will engender enormous goodwill to begin with and that the return of Peter Grant will ensure the demands his new post will bring are fully understood. "I played against Peter at Tommy Burns' tribute match last Sunday and he showed he still has that desire. Peter knows what Celtic is all about as much as any individual and the fans will certainly get behind the new management team."

But they will only stay behind them if pleasurable performances and plaudits pave the way for picking up enough points to relieve Rangers of the title. That is Mowbray's challenge, but it is one he will accept with good grace. Which could never be said of the man he follows into the job, regardless of three championships and two Champions League last 16 appearances.



McGHEE IN FRAME FOR DONS

TONY Mowbray's likely appointment as Celtic manager will clear the way for Aberdeen to move for Mark McGhee.

McGhee, right, the Motherwell manager, was one of the candidates being considered for the top job at Parkhead but looks to have lost out to Mowbray, provided Celtic can agree compensation with West Bromwich Albion.

McGhee, 52, is a former Aberdeen player and is understood to top the Pittodrie board's wish list to replace Jimmy Calderwood who left after the final game of the season.

McGhee dropped a broad hint yesterday that he may not be at Fir Park next season. He told the Aberdeen Evening Express: "If I am not at Motherwell at the start of the season, someone else will come in and get on with the job, so the Motherwell players will be fine.

"I am just waiting to see what happens."


MOWBRAY FACTFILE

1963

Born 22 November in Saltburn, North Yorkshire.

1982

Signs for his local club, Middlesbrough.

1985

Named Boro captain aged just 22.

1986

Middlesbrough go into liquidation after dropping into the Third Division. But, after Steve Gibson's intervention, the club is reformed and, with Mowbray as skipper, climbs back up the leagues.

1991

Then manager Liam Brady lures Mowbray to Celtic in a £1 million deal. The 27-year-old centre-back made his Parkhead debut in a 2-1 win over Aberdeen on 9 November.

1995

Following the death of his Scottish wife, Bernadette, from breast cancer on New Year's Day, Mowbray returns to England, joining Ipswich in October. He made 78 appearances in his four years in Glasgow and was also credited as having started the Parkhead club's famous "Huddle", suggested as a way to bring the team together on a pre-season tour of Germany.

2000

Scores in the 4-2 Division One play-off final win over Barnsley as George Burley's Ipswich secure promotion to the Premiership. It was the final game of his playing career as he moved onto the Portman Road coaching staff thereafter.

2004

Has his first taste of management, as caretaker following Burley's sacking by Ipswich, before being replaced by Joe Royle. Takes over as Hibs manager in May.

2005

Named as Scottish Football Writers' Manager of the Year at the end of his first season at Easter Road after finishing third in the SPL. Leads Hibs into the UEFA Cup the following season, but after a 0-0 home draw with Dnipro, of Ukraine, his side is trounced 5-1 in the return leg.

2006

Leads Hibs to a fourth-place finish in the league, the club's first manager to secure back-to-back top-four finishes since Eddie Turnbull in the 1970s. Signs a new 12-month deal in September, but, one month later, joins West Brom.

2007

The Baggies finish fourth in the Championship, but lose out to Derby County in the play-off final at Wembley.

2008

Guides West Brom to the Championship title and to the semi-final of the FA Cup, where they are defeated by eventual winners Portsmouth. Wins plaudits for his side's brand of attacking football and named the LMA Manager of the Year.

2009

West Brom are relegated from England's top flight, finishing bottom of the league on goal difference.

4 June: Despite denials from Celtic, the SPL runners-up are reported to have entered talks with Mowbray over their vacant managerial post.

6 June: Mowbray expected to be appointed as Gordon Strachan's replacement, pending a compensation agreement with West Brom.

OVERALL MANAGERIAL RECORD

Played: 252. Won: 110. Drawn: 93. Lost: 49.


MOWBRAY THE MANAGER
2004: IPSWICH TOWN

Has his first taste of management, as caretaker following Burley's sacking by Ipswich, before being replaced by Joe Royle.

2004-06: HIBERNIAN

Takes over at Hibs in May 2004 and is named as Scottish Football Writers' Manager of the Year at the end of his first season after finishing third in the SPL. Leads Hibs to a fourth-place finish in the league the following season, the club's first manager to secure back-to-back top-four finishes since Eddie Turnbull in the 1970s. Signs a new 12-month deal in September, but, one month later, joins West Brom.

2006-09: WEST BROM

The Baggies finish fourth in the Championship, but lose out to Derby County in the play-off final at Wembley. The next season he guides West Brom to the Championship title and to the semi-final of the FA Cup. Their stay in the top flight is brief and West Brom are relegated after finishing bottom.