Mowbray, Tony – The Celtic Wiki

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Tony Mowbray Timeline to end of time as Celtic manager

M | Player Pics | Manager Pics | A-Z of Players | Managers

Fullname: Anthony Mark Mowbray
aka: Tony Mowbray
Nickname: Mogga
Born: 22 November 1963,
Birthplace: Saltburn, North Yorkshire, England
Signed: 9 November 1991
Left: 6 October 1995
Position: Defender/Central Defender
Debut: Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen, League 9 Nov 1991
Internationals: English (0 Caps); England B Caps: 3
Manager: 16 June 2009 – 25 March 2010
Succeeding: Gordon Strachan
Successor: Neil Lennon

“Every player likes to leave something that people can remember them by and maybe the Huddle is mine at Celtic. I’m delighted to see it’s still going strong, because it’s a brilliant way of uniting the players and the fans. It’s in the fabric of Celtic now.” Tony Mowbray on the Huddle, (2008)

“Every player likes to leave something that people can remember them by and maybe the Huddle is mine at Celtic. I’m delighted to see it’s still going strong, because it’s a brilliant way of uniting the players and the fans. It’s in the fabric of Celtic now.”
Tony Mowbray on the Huddle, (2008)

Tony Mowbray made his debut for Celtic on Saturday, 9th November 1991 in a 2-1 win at home to Aberdeen, aged 27. He was bought to bring in some steel into the side by Liam Brady, but injury hampered his time at the club, an irony in that his career until then was incredibly injury free.

He was out after only his first two games which was frustrating for a side desperate for anything to shore up what was then a declining force. On his return, he made himself well liked and scored in two consecutive games, including one against Rangers in a 3-1 defeat in Jan 1991.

Too often he’d have a good run of games before injuries curtailed the run, and it was the same over and over again.Despite this, he has become part of the club’s modern history. He was more of an honest defender than anything silky, an old style hardened central defender who gave his all in every game and in many ways led by example. Always giving his all, he was a sturdy and productive player.

Liam Brady made a good purchase in him but the injuries ruined any hope that he could actively turn around the whole malaise at the club at the time he was there. However, Celtic were a better side with him than without.Sadly, during his time with Celtic, Mowbray’s wife, Bernadette Doyle Mowbray (whom he had met in Glasgow when he moved to Celtic), died of breast cancer. Tony Mowbray subsequently wrote a book titled “Kissed by an Angel” about their relationship.

In a show of solidarity, Mowbray suggested that the Celtic players perform a huddle immediately before the following match. This remains a common practice amongst the current Celtic players before every game. Known simply as ”The Huddle”, it has since become part of the Celtic matchday tradition and lexicon.

Despite the injuries, he was always involved with the first team, and during his time he was in some ways an “Acting Captain“. Paul McStay was the official Captain but as a person Paul McStay was not the most forthright and generally led by example on the pitch alone rather than by instruction. Fellow Celtic player Andy Walker described how on arrival Mowbray clearly saw the malaise at the club and did his best to rectify it, becoming a dominant voice in the dressing-room (despite his own injuries and circumstances) and pushed the players to bind together, and he became a strong influence on the group. Notably, he did not do this above Paul McStay’s head but in a concerted and dignified manner as he respected Paul McStay as the captain.

It wasn’t a wholly successful period for Celtic during his time, covering the arduous and long drawn-out Sack the Board & Celtic Takeover era, and then the difficult rebuilding phase. Still, he gave his all, and for that the support respected him.

He sadly left with no senior silverware at Celtic. He played in the ignominious defeat to Raith Rovers in 1994 in the League Cup final which was painful. In the run to the Scottish Cup final victory in 1995 he only played in the early rounds but was suspended for the final, and so he didn’t qualify to receive a medal (ridiculous as he played in three matches to the quarter-finals).

In total, he had made 78 league appearances for the club (plus three as substitute), scoring 6 goals, and is fondly remembered for his time as a player for both his commitment and loyalty.

However, nobody was to realise that this was not the last the club were to see of the great man, and he became the Celtic manager on 16th June 2009.

Club	From	To	Fee	League		Scottish/FA Cup		League cup		Other
Ipswich	06/10/1995	31/05/2001	£ 300,000	125 (3)	5	9 (0)	0	7 (0)	1	8 (0)	2
Celtic	08/11/1991	06/10/1995	£1,000,000	75 (3)	6	5 (0)	0	7 (0)	0	6 (0)	0
Middlesborough	27/11/1981	08/11/1991	Apprentice	345 (3)	26	23 (0)	1	28 (2)	2	23 (1)	1
Totals			£1,300,000	545 (9)	37	37 (0)	1	42 (2)	3	37 (1)	3
			goals / game	0.06		0.02		0.06		0.07
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Scottish Cup

1995 (but didn’t receive a medal, played in three early rounds)

“Tony Mowbray’s appointment was a mistake and I ultimately take responsibility for that.” Celtic chairman John Reid

“Tony Mowbray’s appointment was a mistake and I ultimately take responsibility for that.”
Celtic chairman John Reid

Tony Mowbray was announced as the Celtic manager on 16 June 2009. It was initially a very welcome return to Parkhead for Mowbray, following a well-regarded stint at West Bromwich Albion and Hibernian, where despite relegation with WBA he was well respected and had managed the club to the English Championship title (in practise the English second division) the previous year.

A popular choice for many, he garnered the majority of the support’s backing after his impressive first press conference. There wasn’t a big choice to pick from, and in many ways with the stark gulf between the SPL and richer leagues abroad, pushing for a high-profile manager was never going to be a starter. Nevertheless, Mowbray was chosen and he had to pick up the pieces left over by his predecessor Gordon Strachan.

It all began so well. Many managers dream of winning silverware at Wembley (in England at least) and in a strange twist of fate that’s how Mowbray’s career at Celtic began! A victory in the inaugural “Wembley Cup” pre-season tournament saw the Celtic first team walk up the hallowed steps (sic!) of Wembley to pick up the non-event cup, but in another light it was very much a nice cap to a good pre-season which could only have been a better preparation for the side if there were actually a few less games played. A morale booster and set confidence high; it wasn’t to be so good again.

It was never going to be easy taking over following the poor last season under Strachan, with the squad notably flat and devoid of inspiration but Mowbray shored up the squad. Donatti was brought back into the first team, but a bright start was all but over when he was swiftly sold on. He was the only notable departure from the playing squad, he wanted to return to Italy after a mixed time under Gordon Strachan.

On moving in, Mowbray made some big changes to the squad (included N’Guemo on loan, Fortune, Fox and Zhang Zhi), however the inflated cost to bring in players (wages plus transfer fees) was really hampering any ambitions Celtic may have had, and it was really beginning to show. Lots of projects and potential is what Celtic were to work off of for the season, and Mowbray repeatedly made it clear that he was building for the long-term.

Start of the new season and it all began very well, and a string of entertaining and competent victories saw Celtic recover after the miserable end to the previous season, but things changed after the first game against Rangers. That defeat seemed to mark a change in the season. Celtic then began to drop too many easy points and things were beginning to decline.

Celtic were little better in the cup competitions. An early knock-out of the European Cup by Arsenal is no shame, but the performances in the Europa Cup that followed were woeful. Mowbray very much was shown up for his inexperience. In what turned out to be a less than difficult group than Celtic envisaged, Celtic actually were lucky not to finish bottom. Bad substitutions and poor tactics saw Celtic squander good chances to progress in the competition. It very much reflected poorly on Mowbray. In the League Cup Celtic were knocked out early by Hearts. It was beginning to show that Mowbray was unable to handle pressure games. Apart from the away game against Dynamo Moscow in Europe, Celtic had not won any of the tougher matches that mattered most.

If anyone was to simply summarise the season to the end of December, there would be few who would disagree with the conclusion that it was a very poor set of performances overall and it was unacceptable to see Celtic behind Rangers by such a margin into January.

The turn of the year started little better. Despite a great performance against Rangers in the Ne’er Day derby, Celtic drew. Celtic scored only to see them come back within a minute and score. Celtic were squandering chances to get back into the title race.

Too many games were squandered and too many players were under-performing. Mowbray likely didn’t appreciate the task ahead of him when he took on the job, and overestimated the quality and morale of the squad he was handed. His predecessor had left a bit of a mess with a very imbalanced squad.

However, it must be said that compared to the previous season, the football was much better to watch and the manager was more respectful of the support than his predecessor. The changes in personnel had seemed to make a difference, yet results hadn’t improved since last season.

Mowbray should have rectified this in part with more new players in the summer but he didn’t or he wasn’t given the backing to do so (take your pick as to what you’d rather believe).

Anyhow, one aspect was renewed and that was spats between the Celtic manager and the press. Mowbray was an easy target for the morons in the press, and he let it be publicly known his distrust of them after some incidents. Problem is that they are faceless and unanswerable, but he wasn’t. Both he & Celtic had bigger challenges ahead, so it was a fight best left alone.

Mowbray hadn’t helped the morale of the squad by being willing to publicly criticise the players for poor results, threatening changes in January if things didn’t pick up. This led to early criticism on his man-management style, and the players ended up needing a head-to-head with him to resolve issues before they deteriorated any further. A big contrast to Gordon Strachan who was way overprotective of the same players last season when he was in charge. From one extreme to the other, a balance had to be found.

It shouldn’t be thought that Mowbray was wholly disliked. Players like Fortuné came on the strength of Mowbray’s appointment, and there was little other sign of dissent excluding the above despite periods of poor performances in the first half of the season.

The January period after the Rangers game should have been the revival, but it was the biggest bust that could have happened.

In the winter transfer window, Mowbray moved to make the changes to try to salvage the season. Possibly the biggest clear-out in many a year, he shipped out a number before bringing in Braafheid from Bayern Munich, Kamara from Fulham and unbelievably Robbie Keane from Spurs on loan.

So was this to be a glorious reboot of the season? No, and Celtic continued to lose against lesser teams and the decline was accelerating fast, accentuated when Celtic lost their third league game against Rangers. It wasn’t just another league defeat but also Mowbray’s time as manager was up for many in the support. Rumours had begun over his tenure: Gordon Strachan was to be brought back, Mowbray had offered to resign three times already (but board said no), there were fallouts with Neil Lennon and Peter Grant etc etc.

Amidst all this was the increasingly fractious relationship with the press. Mowbray didn’t help with some of his ramblings getting increasingly inane, such as: “You can look as deep into the result as you want and it’s obviously not a great result but there were positive reasons why it was a negative result”. Answers on a postcard please.

The denouement could never have been penned any worse than it turned out to be. After a string of games that saw Celtic return to some kind of form, Celtic were to face St Mirren in a mid-week league match much overlooked by many. What should have been a straightforward victory turned into a nightmare. The team was lacking any form of composure and allowed St Mirren an unwarranted lead. What should have been a kick up the backside was little other than the start of a roll for St Mirren. Celtic ended up losing by an embarrassing margin of four goals to nil with little reply from the Celtic first team in terms of genuine chances. It was all over for Mowbray, and the inevitable for the manager was there for all to see. It was a devastating swansong for Mowbray.

On 25 March 2010, Tony Mowbray was relieved as manager of Celtic, and placed on gardening leave. He was a good man, but the job was beyond him.

It’s quite an irony in how it started so well with the Wembley Cup, that having easily defeated an unimpressive Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs had at the end of season qualified for their first ever Champions League spot whilst Celtic were struggling with even holding on to even being second in Scotland. That’s the breaks for you.

We wished him the best.

When Mowbray arrived, most fans were happy on his appointment, but his tenure became a difficult experience. There can be no disagreement that Mowbray had to go. Seeing him with his head in his hands as Celtic were humiliated by lowly St Mirren was a sight too far. The poor results spoke for themselves, and he had to be made accountable for this. He may have had the respect of the support as a person, but that doesn’t equate to qualification alone for retaining his job.

The football was entertaining (better than the previous season under Gordon Strachan which is damning with faint praise) and Celtic had European football to compete in. Problem is that it became apparent Mowbray was not equipped technically to handle and manage big games on a tactical or strategic basis. Apart from an away match against Dynamo Moscow in the Champions League, Celtic did not win a single major game in his tenure. Celtic failed to beat Rangers, and in the Europa League, Celtic managed just a single victory. It was a pathetic return.

Each time the support thought Celtic had found a turning point, it became apparent that it wasn’t. The 3-3 draw with Rapid Vienna away showed real grit from the team coming from being three down to grab a point but it was hardly matched again.

Mowbray also seemed to not be able to stop making unnecessary changes, some satirised him as ‘Tinker Tony‘. Scott McDonald after his transfer publicly complained of Mowbray continually substituting him instead of letting him play the full game, although it could equally be said that McDonald had by then rested on his laurels at Celtic and at this time both his own attitude and form were poor. One strange move was with Darren O’Dea. Having loaned him out for the first half of the season, on his return he was made the captain. Two games later he was dropped from the first team after a defeat by Hibs. Next thing the captaincy was passed around to Loovens, Brown etc. Hardly helps stability in the side or instills confidence in some of the players.

In some games, the substitutions made seemed confusing, for example in the away game against Hamburg in Europe (a match Celtic really had to win) Mowbray swapped McDonald (a striker) for Naylor (a defender). For many this example was a clear indication of his lack of tactical nous. His bad handling of tactical changes meant effectively the demolition of the old “Fortress Parkhead” mentality that won Celtic points against even the toughest sides in recent years.

As results went against Celtic, Mowbray seemed to mishandle some of his public addresses, for example the following comment led to a near team revolt, only sorted out with player/team meetings to reconcile the situation:

With hindsight, the fallout with the players after the public criticism showed that there were likely to be irreconcilable differences and it began to show in the results. The players obviously didn’t seem to be playing as a team (or for the manager) and the constant tinkering of the team selection wasn’t helping things. Mowbray just couldn’t bring the best out of his players and this was reflecting poorly on his man management methods.

Mowbray’s last gasp January clear-out had been supported by the board, but the gamble didn’t pay off. Despite some good new players, the bad results just kept happening. This is where possibly Mowbray’s worst decision was made. Robbie Keane had only just been brought in and should not have been a starter in only the next day. Another big error was the sale of Barry Robson. Critics can say what they like but Robson would battle and give his all, and in a side lacking fight his input would be invaluable.

The Board fairly supported Mowbray and allowed him a second chance with the big January revamp. It failed. Anyone who criticises the board has to be fair. Borrowing costs at the time were high so debt was best avoided, and revenue at the club was down due to lost income from less European football, and lower average attendances has meant even less funds for the first team. Possibly the board could have made more available back in August, but Mowbray had spent heavily anyhow and hadn’t been prudent in buying defenders early on.

The other problem is that many clubs aren’t selling like they used to. Exorbitant demands from clubs, agents and players have created a boom in the loans markets. In the past, loans were an exception but it has become more common. Celtic had four players on their books as loan signings, and it’s not good but whilst the club is stuck in the SPL then the club can’t dictate to the richer leagues, and you must take what you can get.

On his departure he complained about the style in the SPL but that’s daft. You have to adapt and take on what is in front of you. Having managed already with Hibs in Scotland, he was more than aware of that. If the SPL style was the problem then how come he failed miserably in the Europa League in what turned out to be a far weaker group than it was perceived to be at first glance? The worst team in the group came top and Celtic just scrapped through to third above Rapid Vienna being just 45mins from being humiliatingly bottom.

His other problem was his inability to cope with the media. Everyone agrees that most of them can be idiots but you still have to deal with them. Publicly criticising them was never going to work especially when Celtic were doing so badly. Mowbray was making rope for his own neck.

This has all been very negative but when the team should have won the league and were languishing effectively 16pts behind Rangers, then how can you excuse that? The only trophy left for Celtic to compete for was the Scottish Cup, and Celtic were to play lowly Ross County next. Bizarre as it may seem, there were enough people seriously concerned about this tie after the St Mirren debacle in the league, and come to pass Celtic lost against them!

Some fans were bracketing Mowbray in with his old manager Liam Brady. That is unfair, and despite lack of success there were major differences and very different circumstances. For example, Mowbray didn’t do as badly in the transfer market unlike Brady. Players like N’Guemo, Fox and Rasmussen came over well and performed on the park for him (although into the long-term was a different thing, with N’Guemo not loanned back, Fox sold prematurely and Rasmussen simply not working out). Rogne and Ki looked like good moves also, although their value was shown much later. In truth, there were some failures as well such as Zhang Zhi. As for transfers out, Mowbray had cut the deadwood in the squad left over from his predecessor. The comparison to Brady was really just crude, and in any case the measurement of which was the poorer manager is irrelevant. The club simply has to learn from the errors made.

There is though one big similarity between Brady and Mowbray. Both stated the desire to play attractive entertaining football, but it was to be to the detriment of the defence. Effectively the result was that the worse our defence became, it fed through and demoralised the rest of the team. For Mowbray who was a centre half as a player, it’s quite a surprise to see him place less significance on defence than elsewhere. There is a lot to admire about the wish to play attractive football, but a manager has to be pragmatic and should not use a footballing philosophy as a cover for deficiencies elsewhere. Many managers with higher profiles than Mowbray have failed on similar lines elsewhere (Ruud Gullit at Newcastle is a good example).

The support do respect Mowbray as a person. Unlike his predecessor, he never peeved off the fans with unnecessary retorts and he understood what it meant to be at Celtic. He had great attributes as a player (despite being of limited ability) but as a manager for Celtic he just didn’t have sufficient adequate knowledge or experience that the club required to keep up with the standards we’d reached over much of the past ten years. Celtic were hardly in Europe for long whilst he was a player for Celtic, so he didn’t gather much experience there and this was to work against him. He seemed to not have learnt enough from his one season in the EPL to make a difference either.

Tony Mowbray had been through a lot at Celtic in his entire time at the club, in both personal and professional terms. We’d hoped he would again find his managerial level (as he did at WBA and Hibs) and be a success at another club. A fresh start was probably a good thing, and he will have learnt a lot from his time as the manager of Celtic.

We wished him the best.

Post-Celtic
His return to Middlesborough (now as manager) lasted around three seasons. It wasn’t a successful time, and he was relieved of his duties in October 2013. Similarly followed a short & unsuccessful stint at Coventry in an admittedly impossible environment.

Success and stability followed at Blackburn Rovers who he managed to promotion from the third tier back to the second tier, but then left them in May 2022 having failed to manage them to win promotion to the top tier.

He next made an emotional return as manager to Sunderland, but this ended swiftly, being sacked in December 2023. He moved onto Birmingham City in 2024, but very soon had to step aside due to medical reasons (“significant and unexpected surgery”).

[….]

Domestic
		Premier League					Scottish Cup						League Cup
	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
Home	14	9	4	1	28	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1
Away	16	8	2	6	28	24	3	3	0	0	8	2	1	1	0	0	4	0
Total	30	17	6	7	56	33	3	3	0	0	8	2	2	1	0	1	4	1

Europe
	Champions League						Europa League
	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
Home	2	0	0	2	0	3	3	1	1	1	3	2
Away	2	1	0	1	3	3	3	0	2	1	4	5
Total	4	1	0	3	3	6	6	1	3	2	7	7

Wembley Cup

2009

“I know I maximised my career, to get to where I got in football, I wasn’t a superstar. I was just a centre-half who used to try and win headers, but I got the most out of myself by living the life – eating, sleeping, drinking. I haven’t drank alcohol since the age of 18 because I wanted to be the best footballer I can be.”
Tony Mowbray (2023)

‘I caught the beginning of the stadium. I caught just that wind of change and I remember thinking that when this place is full it is going to be quite an arena. I felt the warmth and swell of the Celtic support.’
Tony Mowbray, (2004)

‘I got to the final with Celtic when they won it against Airdrie. You could say that I have won the Scottish Cup with Celtic but I did not get a medal. I played in many games that season, although I did not appear in the final. That’s football for you.’
Tony Mowbray (2005)

“I’m a manager with a belief really. I try and manage on a philosophy of playing, a philosophy of life and I try and expect the standards from my players that I try and bring myself to the party. I feel, however you live your life, whatever you do away from the training pitch, however you apply yourself, will bring the benefits….so I am a philosopher coach. If you want to stick a label on something; I believe in a way of playing, I believe in a way of living your life and I try and bring those qualities to the job…integrity, honesty, humility. I want my footballers to be all those things as well if we can, so when we win I don’t want us bleating about it and when we lose we just get back to hard work, take it on the chin and move on. Humility for me is one of the most important human traits and allied with hard work, you give yourself a chance.”
Tony Mowbray (June 09)

“At that time, the fact is that Celtic were going nowhere as a club, and a lot of the players who were there — guys like Mark McNally, Mike Galloway and Pat McGinlay — were sick to death of hearing about Celtic’s 1988 double-winning team. So it was a strange dressing room atmosphere to be a part of. What I remember about Tony was him coming into this as a Celtic player, realising that there was this problem, and setting about doing something to fix it.
“He was a great presence and influence around some of the younger players at the club, who were clearly having trouble coping with the demands of being at a club like Celtic. Tony would speak to them, encourage them, lift their spirits. And it was big Mogga who introduced ‘the Celtic huddle’, which endures to this day, simply as a symbol of the players saying, ‘Come what may, we are in this together, we play and fight as a team’.
“At that time Paul McStay was the captain of Celtic, but Paul was a captain who led by example. Tony always bowed to Paul, appreciating the huge number of games McStay had played for Celtic, which was something Tony respected. But Tony’s became the dominant voice in the dressing-room. He had a great way of binding players together, and he became a huge influence, despite the fact that so much of his time at Celtic was hampered by injury.
“Everyone associated with Celtic remembers that awful, difficult time that Tony had. But there was this great dignity and humility about Tony. He went through the dreadful tragedy of losing his wife to cancer while he was a Celtic player, and anyone who knew Tony and saw the way he handled that situation will know what an impressive figure he is.”
Andy Walker on Tony Mowbray (June 2009)

“It is up to the players to prove they are worthy of staying at this club and playing in front of those fans. I think the Celtic fans will be happy with the endeavour, the effort, the commitment and the desire. We probably need to win our last three games, so let’s give it a go. We give them 10 out of 10 for effort but I have never questioned their effort. I can question their quality, as I did last Saturday against Motherwell, and as I do again. I saw our quality and I saw their quality. The players are honest, hard-working players and they are very harsh on themselves.Players will get opportunities to remain at the club, but the quality needs to improve and I have to work hard to do that.”
Tony Mowbray with his comments on his own players which were badly taken (Oct 2009)

“Maybe it isn’t a league for trying to force games, maybe it is a league for playing defensive football, negative football, and having quality in attack. Hopefully the supporters will understand the reasons. I left some very young defenders exposed but it was done for the right reasons. You can look as deep into the result as you want and it’s obviously not a great result but there were positive reasons why it was a negative result.”
Tony Mowbray after the 4-0 defeat by St Mirren (2009)

“Tony Mowbray’s appointment was a mistake and I ultimately take responsibility for that.”
Celtic chairman John Reid

“I’ve heard the word crisis used over the past few days, but listen, I had Tony Mowbray as a manager – that was a crisis. We’re playing well now but back then we weren’t playing any football whatsoever and the crowds were down to 15,000-20,000. That was an extremely hard situation but this isn’t even close to that. This is one defeat. It’s not an issue. Teams lose, it’s about how you come back physically and mentally. We’ve got to keep ourselves and the fans going.”
Scott Brown comparing poor start in season 2015-2016 to days under Mowbray and sticking the boot in unnecessarily (Aug 2015)

Kissed by an Angel (1995)

All Competitive Matches

1963: Born November 22, Saltburn, North Yorkshire.
1981: Signs for Middlesbrough as an apprentice.
1982: Makes debut in September in 1-1 draw at Newcastle at the age of 18. Goes on to win promotion to the top flight from Division Three.
1991: After making 419 appearances, scoring 30 goals and representing England at B level, he joins Celtic in November for £1million. Makes debut for the club in 2-1 home win over Aberdeen aged 27.
1995: Transfers to Ipswich in October for £300,000 having made 93 appearances and scored six goals for Celtic.
2000: Plays final game against Barnsley in the First Division play-off final at Wembley in May 2000 after scoring eight goals in 149 appearances. Appointed full-time coach after Ipswich’s promotion to the Premier League.
2003:
Acts as caretaker manager for four games during the period in between the sacking of George Burley and appointment of Joe Royle.
2004:
May – Appointed manager of Hibernian. July – Knocked out of Intertoto Cup by Vetra Vilnius of Lithuania in first competitive games.
2005:
April 9 – Hibs beaten 2-1 by Dundee United in Scottish Cup semi-final.
April 30 – Hibs claim stunning 3-1 win at Celtic to dent Hoops’ Scottish Premier League title challenge.
August – Guides team to 3-0 win at Rangers, which is the club’s first victory at Ibrox for 10 years.
May – Hibs finish third in the SPL table to claim UEFA Cup place. September – Hibs beaten 5-1 by Dnipro in UEFA Cup first round.
2006:
May – Rules himself out of managerial vacancy at Ipswich after talks with chairman David Sheepshanks.
September – Signs a new 12-month rolling contract with Hibs to take effect the following summer.
October 11 – Hibs grant West Brom permission to interview Mowbray and he is appointed manager two days later.
2007:
May 28 – West Brom lose Championship play-off final 1-0 to Derby after finishing fourth.
2008:
April 5 – West Brom reach FA Cup semi-finals but are beaten 1-0 by Portsmouth at Wembley.
May 4 – West Brom win the Championship.
2009:
May 17 – West Brom are relegated from the Premier League following 2-0 home defeat by Liverpool. They finish the season bottom of the table.
May 25 – Mowbray is linked with a return to Celtic after Gordon Strachan resigns as manager.
May 26 – West Brom say they “fully expect” Mowbray to honour the final two years of his contract.
May 28 – West Brom insist they have received no approach from Celtic and would not welcome one. They issue near-identical statements on June 1, 3 and 6 following renewed speculation.
June 8 – West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace confirms an official approach had been made for Mowbray but is determined to hold out for £2million compensation.
June 13 – West Brom announce they have given Celtic permission to talk to Mowbray after agreeing a compensation package.
June 16 – Mowbray is confirmed as the new manager of Celtic on a 12-month rolling contract.
July 9 – Mowbray makes Marc-Antoine Fortune his first signing in a £3.8million deal from Nancy.
July 29 – Mowbray loses first competitive game in charge as Celtic are beaten 1-0 at Parkhead by Dinamo Moscow in Champions League third qualifying round first leg.
August 5 – Celtic win 2-0 in second leg against Dinamo to reach the play-off round.
August 26 – Arsenal thrash Celtic 5-1 on aggregate in play-off round.
September 17 – Celtic suffer late collapse to lose Europa League Group C opener in Hapoel Tel Aviv.
October 4 – Celtic concede twice in the opening 16 minutes to lose the first Old Firm derby of the season 2-1, Mowbray’s first SPL defeat in charge.
October 28 – Celtic suffer shock 1-0 League Cup home defeat to Hearts.
November 22 – Another late collapse sees Celtic lose 2-1 at Dundee United in the SPL.
December 2 – Celtic finally record their first Europa League victory of the season at the fifth attempt but a 2-0 win over Hapoel is not enough to prevent them being knocked out of the competition.
2010:
January 3 – Celtic blow a 1-0 lead to draw 1-1 with Rangers in the second Old Firm derby of the season and stay seven points behind their arch-rivals.
January 20 – Mowbray describes as “nonsense” reports he has told midfielder Scott Brown he is not part of his long-term plans.
January 27 – Celtic throw away yet another lead to lose 2-1 at home to Hibernian to leave them 10 points behind Rangers.
February 1 – Celtic complete sensational loan capture of Robbie Keane from Tottenham, the last of eight transfer-window signings. The window also see big names Gary Caldwell, Barry Robson and Scott McDonald leave the club.
February 2 – Keane’s debut ends in defeat as Celtic lose to Kilmarnock for the first time in nine years.
February 28 – Celtic lose third Old Firm derby of the season 1-0 to fall 13 points behind Rangers.
March 24 – Celtic are thrashed 4-0 at second-bottom St Mirren to stay 10 points behind Rangers having played two more games.
March 25 – Celtic confirm the departure of Mowbray, assistant manager Mark Venus and first-team coach Peter Grant.