Will the fans and board have enough patience for Mowbray?

I do not follow Scottish football too closely but I had a look at the difficult position that Rangers find themselves in off the pitch a little while ago and thought I should take a look at how their city rivals Celtic are getting on.

Treble

Whilst Rangers find themselves in fine form and heading for a domestic treble on the pitch but in financial meltdown off it, Celtic seem to be having their crisis on the pitch.

OK, second place in the league might not seem like a crisis in most cases but for Celtic in Scotland it is close. Not only are they behind Rangers but they are seven points behind them and have played a game more. As long as something strange doesn’t happen to Rangers the title is all but theirs.

Unthinkable

Worse than that for Celtic is the fact that they are five points clear of third placed Hibernian but they have two games in hand and could do the unthinkable and push Celtic down into third place.

After going out of the League Cup in a dismal 1-0 home defeat by Hearts, Celtic only have the Scottish Cup left to fight for, and in their current form they will not be heading to Kilmarnock for their quarter-final tie with any semblance of confidence.

Glory

After years of relative glory and success under the feted Martin O’Neill and the less popular but even more successful Gordon Strachan, this season will have come as a bit of a shock to all at Celtic. In fact, some people might even be beginning to make comparisons between the current situation and that strange piece of Scottish football history when John Barnes was in charge at the club.

Having said that, many Celtic fans are still standing by Tony Mowbray whilst the clamour for his head is also beginning to grow. Yesterday’s 4-4 draw at Aberdeen was another poor result but summed up the problems Mowbray is having in organising his defence. No Celtic side should be conceding four goals in a league game.

Acceptable

The argument about the manager is one that will continue to rage. Some fans think that enough is enough and no European football, second or third place in the league and possibly no other silverware is not acceptable and the boss must go. Others think that with relatively little money to spend, sacking the boss and bringing in someone else will have no effect other than to destabilise the team and the club. That is the decision that the Celtic authorities will have to make.

What I do know is that Tony Mowbray is a good football man who eats, drinks and sleeps the game. He is a manager who wants the game played on the ground with sharp, accurate and quick passing and moving. In other words, he wants exactly what most of the fans want. The question is whether he is not achieving it because he is failing at his job or he is not achieving it because nobody could with the players at the club.

Ethos

I tend to think that the latter is likely to be the case and that Celtic should stand by Mowbray and give a chance to mould his team into the style and ethos that he wants. If he is given that time the Celtic fans may have to be patient and accept that in order to build something great , there may be some lean times at the beginning of the process. Look at the first few years of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign at Manchester United.

I wonder if the fans and the board will have enough patience with Mowbray to give him that chance?