Future Now?

if we can believe what we're reading in the news this last couple of days - then the baggies have just signed a new manager, as well as a talented young striker who should be expected to score at least 15 goals in the championship this season. the news all looks good, but the reactions i'm seeing online are mixed and inconsistent over the apparent appointment of roberto di matteo as the new manager at the hawthorns.

everybody concerned - especially in the dialog of the swindon supporters on the WBA boards at BBC 606, and their reports on simon cox - have been uniformly positive. while one and all seem to agree that the baggies have signed the right man, and he is a potential 15-20 goal-scorer at the championship level; the assessments and criticisms of di matteo are wildly varied. for example, one poster wrote that he was a great choice, and is committed to playing football the "albion way"; while others have said that he is a nothing more than a modern day proponent of the current (and incorrectly named) "catenaccio" school of tacticians.

i did see both legs of the play-off with scunthorpe united, and to tell the truth, i couldn't really make a judgment about DM's management capabilities solely based on this. teams don't always play to their natural style in knock-out competitions; and individual players, as well, are often distracted to the point of second-guessing what comes naturally and change their game when faced with this prospect - so it would be unfair to judge what type of manager DM is based on seeing him only under these conditions. but - and since you must be one to support the albion - as an optimist, i think we've probably done pretty well in this department; and whatever his true style of management is, he seems like a winner. his presence at the hawthorns and the signing of a young, exciting and effective striker - coupled with his high-level friends and contacts inside the footballing world - already feels good (maybe i'm just relieved that we have a manager again, at last!) and should be a recipe for success.

there's been no more news about either robinson or morrison leaving for bolton, as was being reported the last couple of weeks in the news media - and it looks, therefore, like di matteo is inheriting mowbray's old squad fairly intact. the signing of simon cox, along with the return of ishmael miller is as exciting a prospect as we've seen at the hawthorns in a long time. in the championship, i would expect this pair is good for maybe as many as 40 goals, and a much more potent offensive pairing than the new gaffer had at MK; where there seemed to be a lot of 1 and 2-goal matches, low-scoring draws, and single goal wins - especially in the second half of the season. this would tend to bear out that (and in the catenaccio tradition) he likes a good solid defense as his basis; however, a 6-2 (2-2 HT) drubbing of oldham back in march, would suggest that di matteo also lets his forwards and attacking mid-fielders play progressively when the situation allows. in short, and like i said before, he seems like a winner - whatever it takes and with whatever resource is available - and these are the exact qualities that the baggies lacked in last year's premier league.

the days to come will tell the story, but in true albion style i am going to remain optimistic, loyal and look forward to this season with confidence. i mean, we've already started with a better off-season than last year. certainly, the news of a new manager, an exciting young striker - as well as the imminent return of ishmael miller - is better news than kevin phillips leaving to play at birmingham city, and the only other significant development being the signing of gianni zuiverloon.

Football Media Wars

amongst the big news of the week in english football is that SETANTA sports has lost its entire roster of premier league matches. while the company was positively leaking money and had already lost a block of broadcast rights to SkySports, it is expected that the remaining rights, on which SETANTA has defaulted on its payments, will now go to SkySports or ESPN. for me, i don't know what this really means; although, i understand that the SPL is potentially in trouble over its TV rights that are held exclusively by SETANTA, and are a major source of income for them. SETANTA SPORTS CANADA, does not broadcast very many of these SPL matches - i see maybe 10 games a year - so, this must be of more concern in other regions that do have a more extensive coverage of the scottish top-flight than we are afforded here. same goes for the english championship: we only get a few games later on in the season, and we seem to see more of the lower league teams during the various stages of the two domestic cup competitions than we do of them in the league; so i am assuming that SETANTA and SkySports also make their broadcasts of the football league championship available in regions other than where i live. we also do not get any of the extensive coverage of the blue-square premier matches that i constantly see being announced and advertised. we don't have a red-button to hit, and no multiple broadcasts to choose from.

i am a cable TV subscriber - and the lease on my home does not allow for satellite. we don't have a local SkySports network, and the canadian ESPN affiliate is TSN. traditionally, SkySports events are licensed variously to FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA and SETANTA SPORTS CANADA. for example, i see plenty of adverts on british websites announcing the british & irish lions tour of south africa as being exclusively on SkySports. well, i am seeing these matches broadcast only on SETANTA SPORTS CANADA, obviously territorially licensed from SkySports. i can tell this by the SkySports logo in the top corner of the screen. so naturally, i am curious about what i will be seeing next season and who will be showing it to me, and by which medium!?!?

in fact, i wonder if i will see any changes at all - other than a reshuffling of what i already get. ROGERS SportsNet and TSN have traditionally broadcast live premier league matches on saturday and sunday mornings. they used to do a one-off repeat at about 2 A.M. the ensuing evening, but i don't think that they still do that. these broadcasts are otherwise, not repeated. the rest of the premier league schedule is picked up by SETANTA and (some years) as well, by FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA. although, this year - and unlike last year - SETANTA SPORTS CANADA had all the rest of the premier league matches - as well as exclusive broadcasting rights for both the FA and League Cups - and there was no english football at all on FOX this year.



this meant that they (SETANTA) would broadcast 2 live matches on both the saturday and sunday, and the rest would be broadcast as repeats throughout the rest of the day and at various times throughout the ensuing week. this means that i was able to see something like 95-99% of everything that went on in the premiership last year - and the year before - which is as long as i have been subscribing to these networks. for years and years i got by only on soccer saturday (co-hosted by craig forrest) and the 2 matches on saturday and the 1 match (sometimes 2) on sunday that have been regular fixtures on TSN and SportsNet since the inception of the premier league. however, this means that for years and years it seemed as though i was stuck watching liverpool, manchester united, arsenal, and newcastle united endlessly playing tottenham hotspur!

other than the always extensive TV coverage of the premier league, and the broadcasts of the domestic cup competitions after the 3rd round, we don't see a lot of other english football. as i said earlier: perhaps 10 championship matches a year - no broadcasts from league 1 or 2. as with the championship, they also show a few of the blue-square matches; but towards the end of the season and not many. they do, however (and to their credit), provide full coverage of the playoffs at all levels.


the most alarming thing - and in the post-internet age - is the lack of streaming audio commentary outside of the UK. while a certain number of teams make a licensing deal with the BBC to broadcast their home games, and matches are freely accessible on BBC local radio, as well as live audio streams on the BBC website; these same streams are blocked to listeners outside the UK, and are used by the clubs as content for paid subscription, available through the clubs' websites which also offers video highlights. where the club does not have a licensing deal with BBC, they create their own audio content for the same purpose. if you've read any of my previous posts about this, i have a major critical issue with this particular setup - not that i don't believe in subscription-only-access, necessarily - although with radio (and now its digital equivalent: "online streaming audio"), it has always been a free access media that operates either as a public facility, funded by grant programs and donations; or, as a business that sells advertising time in order to generate revenues... but that is another question. someone wanting to charge me a membership fee to be able to login and listen to a particular event broadcast is one thing; but to have this run only on applications that interfere with the constituent nature of that particular technology in order to retain control over it is another thing. asking me for money - while i believe there are better alternatives in the traditional avenues of advertising funding - is ok. but to ask me for money to access something, and then dictate what software i have to use to the point of denying me access unless i comply to terms that require using a complete microsoft system, is corrupted and compromised, besides being unequivocally unethical. i am a free/open-source software user, currently running UBUNTU-8.04 (64 bit) on a 1.6 MHZ intel duo-core processor. i have not used a microsoft system in almost 3 years. in fact, my current computer was custom ordered to come without an operating system - so it has never even had windows installed on it!

as i write, it appears that ESPN will be taking this block of games - with the monday night games - which i forgot to mention - probably going to BSkyB. actually, it is the monday night games where i sometimes see the football league championship matches. anyway, at least i know, that with affiliate stations already here, and plenty of cross-licensing to be dished out - i probably won't miss any of the premiership games that i'm used to seeing - and, i've no doubt that this particular status quo will be maintained; but i do kind of wonder when they are going to diversify and show us more of the championship and the rest of the football league?

Big Ron Says...

i found the best overall assessment of the baggies performance last season in ron atkinson's latest statements in the press. for those of you who didn't get a chance to see or hear this story:

BBC STORY

big ron, it seems, felt much like the rest of us, that the albion were going up and would be able to consolidate fairly easily after nearly a decade now of false starts and a revolving door promotion/relegation existence. in short, it was a wasted opportunity... a wasted season... a wasted year; and that is the thing that hurts most, i think. life is too short for static activity, and mowbray knew - and despite the fact that baggies supporters are knowledgeable enough to recognize the face of progress and a have sense of the bigger picture - he only really had until november to establish the team as promotion contenders, before his time at the hawthorns would have been up.


to characterize last year as a wasted opportunity... a wasted season, even - is as close to the mark as you get. ultimately, that was the most depressing thing about last year: it looked as though we had finally taken the 2 steps forward that would allow us to be competitive and find a place in the premiership, only to come up a little short on ability to get the job done. this exposed a general naive optimism at the hawthorns, as big ron - being pre-eminently knowledgeable about football - pointed out, that there were problems evident from the first match that were never addressed. the final outcome being that it was the same 2 steps forward and then the same 2 steps back that we've been taking habitually for the better part of this last decade.

i've always been a staunch supporter of tony mowbray's; and the only real criticism of his tenure at the hawthorns, is that he wasn't able to figure out the premier league - and as a result was victimized by his own naivety and the inexperience of his players. i mean, both bednar and miller would have scored more goals if they had merely had the presence and experience of a senior striker in the squad. not even necessarily kevin phillips - just a striker or attacking mid-fielder who's been around and has developed some professional wile and guile, and knows what extra qualities it takes to score goals at the premier league level.

i think because of this, the gaffer was initially spending a lot of time on developing a playing formation based around ishmael miller - as well as the development of miller himself, possibly to the exlusion of other things that needed attention - like the lack of a decent inside right back other than jonas olsson. this was a major problem after olsonn was hurt, and those to whom the duty fell (alternately donk, meite, and eventually shelton martis) were all hot and cold in terms of performance. none really had the requisite experience, and each made critical mistakes in spite of some otherwise good efforts and decent play. mowbray also left scott carson in goal too long, and you could see it was burning out the then england number 2 goalie.


we'll never really know, but i have my suspicions that the "miller project" - which saw the albion playing a most uncharacteristic 4-5-1 setup, with jonathan greening in an advanced position as the supporting attacker - would have worked well enough to produce those extra 2 or 3 results that the baggies needed to stay up. but it was certainly a perplexing and frustrating period and the tactics were only just beginning to work when miller was injured and out for the season. there was evidence of this in the goal that miller scored in a losing cause, against newcastle; and the portsmouth match in which he was actually injured. greening had scored to put the baggies up 1-0, and throughout the 2nd half, miller was menacing the portsmouth back line in a series of fast-breaks on the end of long balls and incisive counter-attacks. it appeared only a matter of time before he would score the baggies 2nd. instead, he was injured and whatever mowbray had been working on was - without adequate back-up - lost, and effectively leaving half the season wasted, right there.



after that, the focus shifted to scrambling for forwards on loan deals, scrounging for goals that would just not appear for love, money, nor skill; and an inability to regularly keep clean sheets. it seemed that throughout the year, as if they hit the woodwork as many times as they scored (maybe more) - and while some of the skills and play at the forward position saw positive development after the acquisition of fortune, the goal-scorer that the baggies so desperately needed never appeared - or rather, appeared too little and too late, with chris brunt finding a hot scoring hand for the last 4 or 5 games only - and was the last baggie of the season to see a shot tipped off the post.

i'm sure that big ron saw what the rest of us did: that the baggies were a superior team in the middle of the park with their control passing game - which always looked so effective until they got into the final 3rd, where they largely opted to try and walk the ball into the goal like an old-fashioned south american club might have done. unfortunately, the overall effect was that of indecision and not taking chances when they appeared. likewise, i'm sure that the ex-gaffer also saw the potential weaknesses in the back four and distracted goalie; but i would love to know the full extent of what old ronnie atkinson saw in those first few games, and what observations and advice he might have to quietly whisper in the ear of the club's incoming manager - whoever that might be?

So What Now?!?!

i was wrong. it now rather appears that the gaffer is going to go manage at parkhead next year - barring any snags in the negotiations, which i am still, in a funny way, half expecting. but then, we would never have gotten this far if TM didn't really, really want the job, now - would we? i really thought that he would have cut out all the speculation a couple of days ago, what with celtic dragging their ass and playing hardball, both through seeking advisement from the english and scottish FA's respectively - as to their legal position over mowbray's contract with west brom, and all the media bullying that they have engaged in. i would have thought that very little of this would have been to the gaffer's taste, and as a result he would stay with the baggies.

but, as has been reported today in the birmingham mail:

Celtic would only confirm that talks with Mowbray are set to begin, with chairman John Reid telling the club's official website: "We can confirm that we have reached an agreement in principle with West Bromwich Albion Football Club and have been given permission to speak to Tony Mowbray and his backroom staff...

It is unlikely that any hitches in negotiations will arise and Mowbray should be unveiled before the Scottish media early next week.

full story

i've been a supporter and admirer of tony mowbray's - and i do think that if he has the right team - and of the necessary talent - he is a great manager. this is simple to draw out merely by comparing the team that won the championship in 08 to the one that was relegated again in 09. in the first case, he had the necessary personnel. in the latter campaign, he most decidedly did not... and that was only just! if he had had a senior striker (i.e. if he had had kevin phillips) then i think the baggies would have been a very different team this year - and would not have stalled on scoring, as they did.

so, in the end - and if he does ultimately go - i shall be disappointed... at least until we all know who the next manager is going to be. i suppose someone like steve coppell seems an appropriate, if unexciting kind of prospect. i really liked mowbray. he was the best thing about being a baggies fan this year. it was a miserable, long and frustrating season where the club played better football than their record would indicate. they lost innumerable matches that they should have won - and the only thing that made me feel better all year was hearing TM's post-game assessments. he had a way of reminding us all about the team's assets and admitted to their deficits as something to be addressed; and he knew - like all of us, and despite the bags of goals they let in during the course of several drubbings - that he was only one goal scorer away from a team that could easily survive the premiership. he was top notch at reminding us of this and helped take a lot of the painful sting out of the season.

i'm disappointed, as well, that he didn't (like owen coyle) blow off this celtic thing the minute they started commandeering the press and went to national FA's asking for judgments on the compensation clause in his contract. i thought that was really ugly stuff - in that, it would have forced mowbray to resign acrimoniously and act in a manner contrary to his nature; so again, i'm disappointed that he wanted the celtic job so badly. on the other hand, he was smart to keep his mouth shut and not make any enemies - and he was loyal enough to the albion by forcing celtic to honour the compensation deal. by the cut-throat standards of modern football management practices, the gaffer's ok!
ossie says
i thought that it was fascinating that ossie ardiles came out publicly and spoke about the situation from his own experience after managing the albion out of the old league 2 in 92-93; and then not sticking around to see the job through to any long-term outcome.

it is a true testament to the quality of the west bromwich albion f.c. organization as a competitive football entity, that he should come out publicly saying that leaving a club just promoted to what was then the second-tier of english football from the third, for premiership giants tottenham hotspur was the biggest mistake of his management career. it is high praise indeed for the organization - and everyone involved with that team knew that they would have seen continued success as long as ossie stayed on as manager. perhaps he's even lobbying for the current post himself, by coming out like this? stranger things have happened at the albion with ex-managers and old players... i'd be as happy with ardiles returning to make amends and take a second kick at it as anybody.

although i don't get the chance to see nearly enough scottish or championship football, the only manager that i could really get passionate about would've been john hughes from falkirk, but as we all know: he's now moved into tony mowbray's old job at hibernian. from what i saw of the scottish premiership last year, he did a terrific job with falkirk, and was dedicated to a style of football completely in sync with the traditions at the albion. timing is everything in this business, eh?

i haven't heard anything as to who might take over at the hawthorns as mowbray heads north and into the high-pressure hurley-burley of old-firm football. surely they must be talking to someone, and unless they've discovered some hidden talent in him that the rest of us don't know about, i can't take the alan shearer stories seriously...

And... It's Worse Than Ever!

well, there goes my last suggestion... john hughes was appointed the new manager at hibs, the morning after i had advised here in my blog that the albion rush out to sign him in the event that TM leaves for parkhead. but, y'know what? i don't think the gaffer is gonna leave the hawthorns.

although, it does still appears that celtic are winning the war in the press - and are playing hardball by going to the respective national FA's and getting a judgment in order to get around the compensation clause in tony mowbray's contract. it's very ugly stuff indeed - i think he will stay at west brom simply because celtic have not handled this the right way, and i can't see TM's principles allowing himself to be associated with something that was approached so aggressively and done so poorly. if, for example, he had spoken privately and off the record (so to speak) and expressed interest in the job to someone at the celtic organization, then i'm sure he must feel somewhat betrayed and the whole thing terribly compromised at this point due to the mess this has become in the news-media; and where most people would feel that they'd now been forced into a position to accept a high-profile gig like managing celtic; TM will feel, quite conversely, and because of the sensational and public nature of celtic's "negotiating" practices in this case, that he is now being forced to stay at west brom, whether he originally intended to take the celtic job or not.

so he will now stay and yet see through the project of taking west brom back to the premiership and having yet another kick at surviving more than one top-flight campaign. while it certainly doesn't look like it in the press - much of which is still treating mowbray's departure from the hawthorns a foregone conclusion - and while his "silence is deafening" is a phrase quickly becoming hackneyed and overworked in the press to characterize the gaffer's lack of input so far - no one is re-iterating his message.

the fact is, that TM has now been put on the spot, so far as i can tell, in that if he wants the job, he will have to formally resign his post with the baggies and simply sign with celtic. beyond that, it's a matter of the club paying off what mowbray will owe - not what celtic will owe (which legally is nothing) - in buying his way out of contract with west brom. at least, that's as much of the story as i am currently able to understand from today's news reports. and i think that that would be asking mowbray to do something that he wouldn't want to do.

so when i look at the scenario, i just can't see it. TM's too much of a straight shooter, and whatever his feelings about his old club - i can't imagine him being too happy with the press "leaks" and public bullying in the british and international news media.

and now this nonsense about alan shearer!?! unbelievable...

Mozza and Robbo

after weeks of speculation about how a few of the players - and especially morrison - would be looking for transfers in order to keep playing in the premier league, it looks like he might be going to bolton - and fan favourite paul robinson with him too - while the most recent albion hero, chris brunt, is set for a transfer to rangers. i think it's just amazing that these guys get one or two years under their belt in the premier league, and then knowing that there are other premiership clubs that would take them, they are thenceforth self-declared "premier league" players and can no longer entertain notions of staying with a team that has been relegated, and are transfered for what is nowadays considered a prudent £2-3 million each.

"I can't face playing in the Championship again. I feel I've proved myself in the Premier League," said robinson in the mirror recently. robbo has been at the hawthorns for 6 years - so that's what? 3 years in the championship and 3 years in the premier league?

when i look at football from years past, and think how the greats like dixie dean, stanley mattews, tommy glidden, w.g. richardson, bobby robson, bobby moore, gordon banks, peter osgoode, johnny giles, tony brown, clive allen and many others all routinely played in the 2nd division, following the fortunes of their clubs as they struggled with football's up and downs, seeing through both the good times and the bad - i can't help but wonder what are the differences between the players of yesteryear and the relative prestige (or lack thereof) of the old 1st and 2nd divisions when compared to that of the modern premier and championships?

the differences - while being symbolically representative of the same two tiers of football - are immense, not least in the area of prestige, and in the public perception. the premiership, through its visionary use of live television broadcasts of its matches, has created a cosmopolitan international football league dominated by the four most popular clubs. before the advent of the premier league, english football was much more competitive at the top-flight.

while other countries like italy, spain and portugal have long had familiar teams that would dominate their domestic competitions year in year out; the english 1st division had a different complexion every year, and it was only possible to really be competitive and win titles for two or three years at a time before another set of teams would, in turn, follow and dominate for the next few years after that. while inter-milan or juventas, real madrid and barcelona - not to mention the stranglehold dominance of celtic and rangers on scottish football - have long been perennial sure-bets to be contesting league titles and domestic cup competitions; the english 1st division was being won by the likes of derby county, nottingham forrest, leeds united, ipswich town - as well as, arsenal and liverpool; with heavy contention coming from clubs like: west bromwich albion, norwich city, QPR, bristol city and manchester city, amongst others.

three years out of five in england saw 2nd division teams in the FA Cup finals, with sunderland and southampton taking the trophy from leeds and manchester united respectively in '72 and '76; while west ham narrowly beat fulham in the 1975 final, to become the only 1st division team to win a cup final against 2nd division opposition during the 1970s.

the premier league - barring the fact that blackburn rovers were the competitions' first champions - is not in this same spirit at all - and is less a "domestic" football competition and more like a first cousin of the champions league than anything else. which means, really, that the championship is a kind of "downgraded" descendant of the old 1st division, and although it has taken a while for some of the really big clubs to devolve and get there, it is beginning to happen. newcastle united being relegated to the championship, for example, really brings a whole level of top-flight glamour to the division, that can't be seen as anything but positive as far as creating added interest in the championship goes - and, as this is going to start to happen with increasing frequency - they are going to have to find a way to increase the value of the whole division. the only way to do this will be with TV - and they are going to have to do something, because, as we have already seen in the recent past with derby county, nottingham forest, southampton and charlton athletic - is that really big clubs who have made the commitment to premier league football, cannot afford to play in the championship for more than a couple of years. so if they are relegated and then unsuccessful in gaining promotion back to the premiership, they then get in trouble financially and often cannot avoid eventual relegation to league 1.

so as the tottenham hotspur, blackburn rovers, bolton wanderers and manchester citys' etc. devolve into fodder for relegation, the nature of the championship will have to change - in order to save the bigger clubs - and as it does, maybe it will develop sufficiently that players like morrison, robinson and brunt - along with their contemporaries and their predecessors of ancient relegations - will be able to stay on and display the loyalty that used to make it possible for a more competitive football environment to flourish.

Has it Really Come to This?

what is going on?!? ever since tony mowbray's name became linked to the open management position at celtic - the news-media has been all over the place in the most shocking, ill-informed and perplexing of manners. yesterday morning (afternoon to those of you in the UK) it was announced on FOX SPORTSWORLD's SOCCER REPORT that tony mowbray will be introduced to the press as the new celtic manager on monday morning. anywhere i looked in the press was conflicting on the issue with west brom denying that there's anything happening at all.

if you read the mainstream press, and give it any credence - and despite the fact that west brom have denied that any move has been made - it's a foregone conclusion that TM will be managing at parkhead next year. i'm not sure what to make of this. mowbray himself has said nothing; the west brom website has not posted anything in the last 4 days; jeremy peace has denied that celtic have approached him or the club and that mowbray will be back managing west brom at the beginning of this next year's championship campaign. the only thing that i've read that seems authentic is an article i found online, saying that the source of the story is based on information leaks from the glaswegian club, that are premature and as such, have reflected badly on the celtic organization. other than that, i can only see this as another oddity of football in the modern world, and possibly an indication of the deteriorating ethics and the desperation for success at any cost, as the game gets both faster and richer, and the power concentrates more and more every day towards the top and at the highest levels.

from what i can see - from the international perspective - and what i think is being reflected here, is the power of the "big four" in england, and the "old firm" in scotland, to bulldoze what they want by forcing the issue in the most public of forums, the news-media. these teams have become so powerful and have enough money at their disposal, that they pretty much get things merely by clapping their hands and making them so. i don't know enough about the process of sports-media or managing football to know what the full ramifications of these actions actually are; but when i see the celtic chairman - careful not to address that any deal has been made, or even approached yet - is in the press saying what a good manager tony mowbray is going to make when he takes over, and hails the advent as a "new dawn" for the glasgow club - he's talking up his advertising directly to his subject and those who have vested interest in it - attempting to force individuals into situations that they will be unable to (for whatever reason) resist or pass up.

perhaps, for example - it would, at this point, and among the general public - appear to be a poor professional move on TM's part not to take the celtic job if it's there, as it would affect - in no small way - any future employment opportunities that might be destined to come his way. if, let's say, mowbray wants to eventually manage a "big four" team - and i have always personally thought that manchester united will be looking at him when sir alex eventually retires - then the celtic bigwigs are putting him on the spot in the biggest way. because, make no mistake about it; while the albion are a huge club in their own locale - and surprisingly so, celtic are internationally famous and their colours and traditions have been transplanted all over the world - through the british immigration of the 1950s to the advent of champions league football as a major international TV attraction. while the comparison of the albion with celtic is much more favourable to the midlanders from a UK perspective - outside the country... the albion are next to non-existent and celtic are famous like manchester united, real madrid, inter-milan or barcelona... not that that justifies any of this, but it does show us that integrity is lost and the biggest of the clubs in britain are not above public bullying and employing the meanest of cajoling tactics on us all through their use of the media to pave the way for their ever increasing ambitions.

personally, i hope mowbray stays and honours his commitments to the baggies and shows all these top-flight teams what integrity looks like. i am a mowbray supporter, though - and i do believe that in some ways, his problems this year had a lot to do with the fact that he did not have a team that was as good a team as he is a manager. i also think that he is popular with a majority of the supporters - but for those who still haven't gotten over gary megson leaving, and for whom mowbray is a dour, complex and introspective individual, these stories are going to do nothing except cause rifts and confusion amongst the faithful; as well a thousand and one ridiculously inappropriate suggestions as to who should be at the helm for the baggies. in this regard, celtic have behaved abominably.

as for the gaffer himself, this is probably unexpected and while a welcome opportunity - from a professional point of view - is something that is really going to be difficult for a man of such high ethical standards and integrity. on the one hand - you've got european football guaranteed at celtic; as well as your job of winning the league title; and perhaps a cup or two just to pad out the CV and give the supporters a little extra icing. so the expectations are simple and clearcut and judgment of your success will be straightforward and clearly evident. while at west brom - gaining promotion aside - the challenges are more long-term and perhaps even abstract in comparison.

even as i write this, newspaper stories are showing up online and it is definitely beginning to appear, that in this case, the glaswegian giants have managed to pull off their coup and the media war is swinging in their favour. it has turned up in the times-online in the form of an article about all the close ties and traditions associated with mowbray at parkhead; and how it was in the latter part of his playing career and he was hampered much of the time there by a recurring hamstring problem... pure emotional kind of stuff about his first wife; his personal dignity and his natural leadership capabilities that (presumably) took him into management.

another story on GOAL.com is much more specific and says that the deal has been signed, with a 1.4 million compensation package, and he is ready to be introduced to the press.

A compensation fee of £1.4 million has reportedly been agreed between the Glasgow giants and the West Midlanders, with the unveiling of the new manager at Parkhead anticipated to occur on either Monday or Tuesday.

they are citing their source as the times.

it is my hope, that if we all wake up tomorrow morning to find tony gone, the club does the smart thing and rushes out to try and secure the services of john hughes from falkirk before swansea snap him up.