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...