AS WELL as being a relief, yesterday's confirmation that Tony Mowbray will today stretch a green and white scarf out above his head as Celtic manager offers the opportunity to reflect on the most recent times when other newcomers to this role have been paraded on the steps of the porch at Parkhead.
It has been a more regular occurrence in recent times. Celtic had only four managers in the first ninety years of their existence, but Mowbray is the 11th to be appointed since 1978. On their coronation each probably offered a variation of the crowd
-pleasing pledge: 'I know the Celtic way; I know the way football is played here'.
Indeed, the following words were spoken by one Celtic manager amid scenes as fevered as anyone could recall on such an occasion. "I have strong ideas about how I want the game played and I am aware of Celtic's tradition of attacking football," said John Barnes ten years ago, almost to the day.
He is a reminder that good intentions are no guarantee of success, although admittedly much of the hype back then was generated by the return of Kenny Dalglish as director of football.
Not even the revered former striker could help Celtic make a positive start to the new millennium.
The Barnes era did, though, begin brightly. Following a successful tour of Norway, where Barnes' view of how the game should be played was related via the talents of ball players such as Eyal Berkovic, Celtic then travelled to Aberdeen on the first day of the season and blitzed the home side with a 5-0 victory. They scored 14 goals without reply in their first three competitive fixtures and defeated Aberdeen 7-0 in the return fixture at Celtic Park in October. Fans cooed at some of the football being played; so, too, did reporters.
But it was too good to be true in Paradise. By February of the same season Barnes had gone, and Dalglish made his exit in the summer after a period in temporary change. It wasn't the golden age many had anticipated with their arrival in a blaze of publicity in June 1999.
Fast forward to now. Barnes has just been unveiled as the new manager at Tranmere Rovers, after an unspectacular spell in charge of Jamaica. He is still struggling to be rehabilitated.
Mowbray, who was still in the process of ending his playing career with Ipswich Town at the end of the Nineties, has accepted the challenge of providing not just stylish footballer for over 50,000 season ticket holders at Parkhead, but also successful football.
It is one of football's curiosities that a defender of Mowbray's burly qualities is seeking to succeed where a player of such exquisite poise as Barnes failed.
But the reason why most are more confident of seeing Mowbray achieve his aims with Celtic than they were in the case of Barnes, parachuted in due to a past friendship with Dalglish, is that he has been preparing for this moment since the late 1990s, when he began coaching at Ipswich.
It was in Suffolk, originally under present Scotland manager George Burley, where he began building a career in coaching which has reached its latest peak at Celtic, with whom he yesterday signed a one-year rolling contract.
Rather than Barnes, it seems Mowbray has more in common with Martin O'Neill.
The Northern Irishman served an apprenticeship in management and was also able to bring a fierce intelligence to the table.
This association will help Mowbray get off to a good start with the Celtic fans. So, too, will his legitimate Celtic ties.
Few Celtic managers, not even O'Neill, have been able to provide such cast-iron proof of his Celtic-mindedness than Mowbray.
He only came up with a concept of the pre-match huddle; a concept that the club believed was such a dynamic representation of the 'Celtic family' that they tried to trademark it.
But after he goes through the rituals required of the new Celtic manager, after he has named the Lisbon Lions team and stressed his commitment to the Celtic brand of football, he will be able to refer back to his own notes, prepared during the years of preparation, including those at Hibs and West Brom, that have led to the moment he greets fans outside Celtic Park today.
