Nice man but not up to the job

Let’s be honest. I would fancy my chances of getting Celtic into the top two in Scotland and at least giving Rangers a run for their money. My exploits as manager of Wilton Town are unlikely to put me in line for the now vacant job, but surely it can’t be that difficult.

Dismal

After Celtic’s dismal 4-0 defeat at St Mirren on Wednesday, which left them ten points behind Rangers who have two games in hand, Tony Mowbray spoke out about the fact that his brand of attacking football just doesn’t work in Scotland. In a dig at Rangers, he suggested they have won the title by being negative.

“Rangers have been very consistent. They haven’t lost four goals in any game. They set up differently. Maybe that’s the way to go. Maybe it isn’t a league for trying to force the game and be expansive. Maybe it is a league for playing defensive, negative football and having quality up front to counter-attack.”

I think Mowbray was almost right in what he said. In fact, the way to go in the Scottish league, much like any other league, is to win games, not lose them! He has won just seventeen of the thirty league games he has been in charge at Celtic and for them that simply isn’t good enough. To say that has been because of some sort of gung-ho attitude is not only wrong, but if it was true and he knew it didn’t work, why didn’t he stop doing it?

Surprise

It is no surprise that after just nine months in the job he has been shown the exit door. I normally stick up for managers and think that clubs get rid of them far too quickly but in this case, Tony Mowbray has made a complete pig’s ear of the job and had it coming.

Celtic will be regretting the £2 million they paid to West Brom to prize Mowbray away. He seems like a very nice man but he has never looked entirely comfortable in the role. When he took over he said that he lived by a code of “honesty, integrity, humility and respect” and he hoped to bring those qualities to the Celtic team. He didn’t.

Unlucky

Mowbray was unlucky that Celtic were paired with Arsenal in the Champions League but after their defeat they should have done well in the Europa League. Picking up just six points in six games with Hamburg, Rapid Vienna and Hapoel Tel-Aviv was a very poor performance.

That horrible showing in Europe, defeats in the Old Firm games, all but giving the title to Rangers with several games still to play and defeat at home to Hearts in the league cup mean that the Scottish Cup is all the club now have to play for. It also means that a majority of the Celtic fans who generally welcomed Mowbray’s appointment, will not be sorry to see him go.

Replaced

The man Mowbray replaced, Gordon Strachan, had won three titles in four seasons at Celtic Park, following on from Martin O’Neill who won three in five. Mowbray immediately started to break up the squad he inherited and tried to stamp his mark on the side. In hindsight this was a mistake and he obviously tried to change too much too soon.

Celtic will go on and continue to be a big club domestically but they are desperate to take the next step and will be keen to appoint someone who may be able to do that. The problem is, will any really top class managers want to manage a side in the Scottish league? Tony Mowbray did a decent enough job at West Brom, taking them to the Premier League, but overseeing their relegation straight after. He was never going to be the man to take them where they want to be.

I do feel sorry for Mowbray because he is a nice man and he likes football to be played the right way. Unfortunately, he has shown himself to be not quite up to the job and had to go. I hope he gets another chance somewhere else.