The new era for Celtic is about to commence since Tony Mowbray has been appointed to take over from Gordon Strachan, and the new boss will have his work cut out for him as the expectations are always high at Celtic Park. The fans were skeptical when Strachan was brought to replace one of the most successful managers in club’s history, Martin O’Neill but former Manchester United midfielder soon proved his worth at Celtic Park and lead the club to three consecutive SPL titles. The Bhoys also twice made it to Champions League last 16 during Strachan’s reign but the boss decided to step down from the post after his side were beaten by Rangers to the SPL title last season.

A lot of well-known managers were in the mix but the club management opted for talented Tony Mowbray, even though he failed to save West Brom from relegation to the Championship last season. Nevertheless, Mowbray has built an excellent rapport with the players during his time at the Hawthorns, whereas his side played attractive attacking football even though they were fighting for survival and these are just some of the things that helped him get the job. He lacks some experience at the highest level having only coached teams like Hibernian and West Brom, and this is going to be first high pressure job in his career.

On the plus side, Mowbray has spent four years of his playing career at Celtic and that will definitely help him a great deal. He has a good knowledge of the players in the SPL, having coached Hibernian for two years and he has already stated that he doesn’t intend to make big changes to the playing squad. Nevertheless, the fans are hoping for the team to retain the SPL title and that will be Mowbray’s first task this season. He will have to sign a couple of new players since Nakamura has left the club, while Hartley is likely to do the same. It is still too early to say how the team will fare next season, since the transfer window has only just started but the team will definitely be reinforced, and Celtic fans are likely to see a lot of goals from their side this season.

The club have continued the tradition of appointing young, talented managers and considering they had a lot of success with both O’Neill and Strachan, the fans are certainly hoping that Mowbray will prove a worthy successor. I will reserve judgment on the new boss at least until the Christmas holidays, but it looks as though he can be a real deal for the Bhoys.