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SPL April 2010
Scottish Premier League News April 2010: Tony Mowbray Canned At Celtic After Defeat To St Mirren
Ali Hannah
Celtic
It has been quite a month for Celtic. A shock 4-0 defeat to lowly St Mirren - who are currently second-bottom of the SPL - resulted in the removal of Tony Mowbray from his managerial post within fourteen hours of the result.
In truth, it was a decision that had been coming. Celtic are currently ten points behind Rangers - who still have a game in hand - and supporters as well as the board had become increasingly disillusioned with the performances of the Parkhead side. Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld believes Tony Mowbray's unwavering determination to stick to his footballing principles ultimately proved to be his downfall at Celtic.
Auld said: "It looked as though it was on the cards, with the performances in the last few weeks and the inconsistency. I thought he would have done a great job there but he wouldn't change his ways."
He added: "Everybody loves philosophy but the players dictate the philosophy and the most important thing in his job was the results. I thought he did a marvellous job at Hibs and West Brom but his philosophy also knocked him down at West Brom as well when they got relegated last year."
Mowbray's fate was sealed when he finally lost the backing of the fans after the loss in Paisley, according to Peter Rafferty, President of the Affiliation of Celtic Supporters' Clubs. The capitulation in Paisley was Celtic's heaviest league defeat, outside an Old Firm derby, in 30 years.
And Fans' chief Peter Rafferty said believed that Mowbray's fate was sealed the minute the final whistle blew: "I don't suppose it came as any great surprise unfortunately because of the way the results have been going. The result was just one result too many for the fans. The manner in which we were defeated didn't go down well at all."
In the interim, former Hoops captain Neil Lennon has taken over the management of the club with former defender Johan Mjallby acting as his assistant. The duo have no senior coaching experience between them, but it has not stopped Lennon from wanting to land the job on a full-time basis.
While Lennon may refer to Martin O'Neill and Gordon Strachan as models in the matter of how to manage Celtic, he is likely to be even more productively influenced by his immediate predecessor, Mowbray, in how not to.
Lennon is too aware of protocol to disparage the work of his predecessor. But his readiness to identify and his pledge to address problems that have brought a stuttreing malaise to the Parkhead club suggest that his primary actions will involve body-swerving Mowbray's litany of errors and carrying out remedial work.
Mowbray's dismissal may have been ultimately triggered by the humiliating 4-0 defeat by relegation-threatened St Mirren, but it had been obvious since the outset of his tenure that he was in the wrong job. Mowbray's commitment to what he regarded as a classical, highly-stylised game built on artistry and fluency of movement had already been exposed as mythical during the single season in which he was in charge of West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League.
As the performances and results of his radically reformed Celtic team deteriorated to the point of irredeemable ignominy. His attempts at rationalising the embarrassment sounded more and more like gobbledygook.
Even amidst the after-burn of events at St Mirren Park, Mowbray seemed to be digging even deeper when he said that there were "positive reasons for a negative result". This was, presumably, an allusion to the disconcerting fact that he had six forwards on the field by the end, with the St Mirren midfielders and forwards galloping gleefully past a hopelessly exposed thin green line of defence and planting the ball behind goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska.
Lennon, who was in Ireland watching a youth international in his capacity as a Celtic coach, was clearly deeply pained, but not entirely shocked, by what had occurred. His concern for Celtic's growing reputation as an easy touch had, by this week, turned into alarm. For someone who played in the O'Neill-inspired Celtic teams of the previous two decades, this absence of mental and physical fortitude would be an insult.
"There's been a softness about the place all season," said Lennon. "I mean, people have criticised Rangers for not have very good players and not being a great footballing side, but they know how to win football matches.
"Our biggest weakness has been a failure to see it through on too many occasions. And I'm not just talking about us losing late goals. I've been just as concerned about the late goals we don't score ourselves. There should be a fear factor about facing Celtic and it doesn't seem to be there now.
"Well, the players have already been told that the kind of acceptance of defeat they showed on Wednesday won't be tolerated. It takes a special mentality to play for the Old Firm and, if you don't have it naturally, you had better acquire it quickly. I think enough players here do have it and we can work on the others.
"Yes, I'm aware that there might be a familiarity obstacle for me to overcome, to make the jump from coach to manager. But that won't be a problem because I don't have relationships with the players here."
Rangers
While Celtic are in disarray, Rangers have started to stumble and slip too.
The difference is that it will make no great difference to the fortunes of the Ibrox side this term.
Walter Smith's side have already claimed the Co-operative Insurance Cup this month and while Dundee United bundled them out of the Active Nation Scottish Cup, they remain well on course to retain the league title.
And yet there has been a softness about the Ibrox side recently that has rarely been glimpsed at domestically.
At the end of March they received an unexpected going over from St Johnstone that ended with a 4-1 defeat - unheard of in a season which Rangers had never lost more than one goal in the SPL all season prior to their trip to Perth. They had, however twice shipped four goals in the Champions League.
They are still 10 points clear at the top of the league. They still have a game in hand over Celtic. The finishing line is well in sight.
But losing four goals to St Johnstone was an unexpected and embarrassing slap in the face. It was not the sort of blow which necessarily knocked Rangers on to the ropes - they are too far ahead in the league to start sweating after one bad result - but the game did highlight an unusual characteristic. Now and again their defence implodes altogether.
Smith's ability to rationalise the events of that wintry night in Perth - the excellence of St Johnstone, his own team's poor first half, the mediocrity of their defending - would have been understood and accepted by most supporters on the proviso that it did not happen again. But Smith did identify something odd about his back four this season: either they keep a clean sheet or lose a solitary goal, or else things fall apart altogether and they let in three or four.
"I don't think it's a shock to the system or a result we can call a freak. It just shows what happens if we are not on our game," said David Weir, the Rangers captain.
Usually the defence is dependable and efficient. Arguably it has been the cornerstone of what is shaping up to be a double-winning season - although the forwards have also kept their part of the deal. They had conceded only 16 league goals before taking on St Johnstone.
Now and then, though, they have lost the plot altogether . Seville and Unirea Urziceni each scored four times against them at Ibrox but even domestic opposition, albeit very rarely, have found them in a generous mood. Rangers have conceded 10 goals in three games against Hamilton Academical, Dundee United and St Johnstone spread over the past three months.
The deflections which deceived goalkeeper Allan McGregor at the first and second St Johnstone goals were only part of the story against St Johnstone. The Rangers back four were unconvincing and hesitant for the majority of the match. The hosts' movement and passing unsettled them from the start and they did not deal well with deliveries into their penalty area. An unusually poor level of performance spread from centre-halves Davie Weir and Danny Wilson and took in full-backs Steven Whittaker and Sasa Papac.
It was a night Weir should have been able to remember as the fixture in which he equalled Jock "Tiger" Shaw's record as the oldest player - at 39 years, 10 months and 20 days - to appear for Rangers since WWII. Instead he will have no wish to recall it at all. "It doesn't count for anything, to be honest," said Weir when asked about his milestone after the match.
Just about the only advantage his age brought him was being able to call on a vast reservoir of experience as he tried to put the performance and result into some sort of context. "We have never said the league is won," said Weir. "We genuinely don't think that. There is a long way to go, there are a lot of games to be played, a lot of football to be played. Every team is capable of beating you. Nobody would have predicted that result but it shows what can happen if we don't play well enough or approach the game well enough.
"I don't think it's a shock to the system or a result we can call a freak. It just shows what happens if we are not on our game. So we have to be better than that, we have to improve in a lot of aspects and use that as a scenario to show what can happen if we don't do well enough and don't do our jobs well enough."
If Celtic keep winning, Smith's side cannot now win the championship before the SPL split in April.
Rangers could be forgiven for counting their chickens but, according to Weir, neither he nor his team-mates are projecting ahead to the day when they will be confirmed as champions. Anyone around the club who was intoxicated by the thought of retaining the title will have sobered up pretty quickly as the St Johnstone goals rained in. Weir said "time will tell" if complacency could become a problem for Rangers, but he thought it unlikely.
"The result would have been disappointing regardless of the situation, regardless of the scenario. We are disappointed but we have to learn from that and use it as a stick to beat ourselves with, to show that that's what is capable of happening if we don't approach things right. We don't need anyone to tell us that it wasn't good enough, although the manager did tell us. To come here and lose like that is not good enough."
Meanwhile, winger DaMarcus Beasley hopes to have his Ibrox future resolved before the start of the World Cup finals this summer. The experienced USA international is out of contract this summer, but is keen to extend his stay at Ibrox.
"I would love to win this title, beat England at the World Cup and then come back and play for Rangers again in the Champions League because I love that tournament," the 27-year-old said.
"If it works out for me like that then I'll be delighted. But if it doesn't then I'll always look back upon my three years in Scotland as one of the best periods of my life.
"Yes, I've had ups and downs because of injuries but we've won a lot of trophies and I'll take those memories with me wherever I end up.
"I mean it when I say I love playing for this club. I've got a bond here now and it would be hard for me to leave.
"This is my third year here and I've got a lot of friendships inside the club and also with the fans. It feels like home for me now here in Glasgow after being here so long. That's a tough thing for me to say being from Fort Wayne, Indiana but it's honestly how I feel. Hopefully that will continue to be the case but, if not, then maybe there will be a new challenge for me somewhere else.
"Ideally I'd like to have things settled before I go to the World Cup. You could go there thinking if you play well you might get a move to this club - but if I don't play what am I going to do?
"I'd rather have something sorted out so I know what I'm doing after the summer and I can concentrate on playing football.
"It's always good to feel secure and know what club you're going to be playing for when the World Cup is over."
Scotland
Craig Levein has been in charge of Scotland for just one game, but he has refused to did not explicitly rule out an immediate return to club management last night amid claims that he could feature on Celtic's radar as they begin their hunt for a new manager.
Levein has tried to make it clear that his focus remains fully trained on his work with the national team just three months into the job, but he remained coy when given several opportunities to put an end to the speculation.
Neil Lennon, in charge at Celtic Park until the summer, remains favourite to succeed Tony Mowbray permanently, with Paul Lambert, Mark Hughes and Roy Keane, also widely quoted as options.
Levein remains a long shot, with odds of 80/1 suggesting the bookmakers believe he does not figure high on Celtic's list of potential managerial candidates, for the time being.
"The reason I don't want to talk about it [the Celtic vacancy] is that I have just taken the job here," he said with typical candour. "I am not interested in anything else. That's why I don't want to talk about it. I have been in the job for three months. I have had one game. I am excited about taking the job and the challenges presented. I don't want to be sitting here talking about anything else other than the Scotland job if I can help it. I am sensitive to things that I think are important.
"I understand how these things work. If I start talking about this then someone else will ask about it. But if I don't talk about it then, eventually, you [the media] will give up."
When asked, though, if he was categorically ruling himself out of a move to Celtic, Levein remained enigmatic.
"I have been through this numerous times in my career," he added. "I would never at any point say I am not wanting that job, or I am not wanting this job. I would never say that. What I am saying to you is that I have a job to do here with Scotland, which I have just started. So let me concentrate on this job."
Levein also revealed he would not be travelling to the World Cup finals in South Africa, but will instead watch Scotland's future opponents for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers in a variety of friendly matches.
"I was supposed to be going with Radio 5 but it didn't quite work out - it meant I couldn't do the things I wanted to do," he said. "So, I am not going to go to the World Cup. I would love to go for the experience but, in reality, for all I am going to get out of it, it is not worth it."
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