ALONG with Newcastle United fans, Celtic supporters have earned a reputation for being rather too keen to rush to the doors of their club's stadium. It is as if only there can an emotional response to a situation be delivered.
The coronation of a manager is as good an excuse as any to crowd around a porch, which meant it was a surprise to observe crush barriers, though no crush, on arrival at Celtic Park yesterday morning.
It wasn't that Tony Mowbray's popular appointme
nt had failed to grab the imagination. The grim weather had helped keep even the most passionate fans away at first. In any case, the number of fans who gather to welcome a new manager is not a reliable guide to his chances of success, as was shown in the weeks and months after John Barnes parted a sea of people in the same car park ten years ago this month.
That said, the Car Park CSC did stage a late rally. They had ample time to do so. Mowbray is not one to rely on the Gordon Strachan-style quip when answering a question. Each one is given the furrowed-brow treatment. When the press conference was finally wound-up a more than acceptably-sized group were waiting outside the ground to welcome him. Either that, or by the time reporters had stumbled back out into the daylight after hearing Mowbray explain his footballing philosophy it was time for the first home game of the season already.
Mowbray eventually emerged to thank them, and perform the time-honoured ritual of stretching a scarf above his head. Jimmy Johnstone's statue stood nearby, and many of these fans had clearly been drawn here by the thought that here was a man committed to playing Jinky's kind of football.
Some fans had infiltrated the official press conference and applauded as Mowbray made his entrance. 'So who is it then?' joked one wag, with reference to the typically long-drawn out Celtic way of doing things. The club don't tend to do suspense when unveiling a manager. They let the suits on the stock exchange have all the thrills by announcing it there first. Chairman John Reid, though, made a noble attempt to inject some drama. "The fightback starts here today," he growled, just as in his Rottweiler days of old in the government. "Three weeks and three days after the disappointment of losing the title. No one better to lead that fightback than Celtic's own Tony Mowbray."
The man himself seemed implacable and saved the entertainment for the pitch. He was humble and gracious, patiently answering variations of the same question again and again. Yes, he liked to play good football. No, this didn't mean he does not also want to win trophies. One reporter sent up from the West Midlands offered a refreshing new angle. His assignment was to ask Mowbray the question on the lips of West Bromwich Albion fans. Never mind all this talk of the Celtic family, what of the one left behind at the Hawthorns? Mowbray had always preached loyalty from his players, and yet here he was, sandwiched between a pair of Celtic bruisers in chief executive Peter Lawwell and Reid.
"I didn't feel the players at West Bromwich Albion had a reason to up and out because of the relationship with their manager and the very strong bond the coaching staff at Albion had with the players," he explained. "I expected loyalty from them." His own situation changed when his relationship began to sour with chairman Jeremy Peace. He stopped enjoying going into work and thus he accepted Celtic's offer with a "clear conscience". Reid nodded next to him, as though back listening to Tony Blair in the Commons.Unwisely, the chairman then tried to crack a joke: "We think three weeks is a reasonable time to come back from the defeat we had and then rise again," he said, with reference to the time taken to appoint Mowbray, following the loss of the championship. "We know some people do it in three days but they are very much the exception..."
Speaking of Messiahs, Celtic had moved the press conference away from the main stand and into the No7 restaurant in the Jock Stein stand. No pressure, then. The change of location offered Mowbray a glimpse of the park on which he made his debut for the club in November 1991. It looked much as it might have done then, which, for a man intending to play champagne football, was worrying. It seemed rather threadbare.
There is plenty of time until the competitive action begins, though Mowbray was handed a reminder of the temporary life of a football manager. A well-intentioned spokesman for the Supporters' Association interrupted Reid as he was attempting to wind up the formal part of the proceedings. Addressing Mowbray, he said: "These attributes you have out-lined: humility, integrity, honesty and hard work. They are the most important things the Celtic supporters want. Can I assure you of 100 per cent backing from Celtic fans. We won't be looking for anyone's head after one, two or three games."
So it's official. Mowbray has four games to save his job. Welcome back, Tony.
The full article contains 890 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
