Tony Mowbray (2009-2010)
Tony Mowbray signed for Celtic in June 2009 after Celtic paid a £2m compensation to West Bromwich Albion. Mowbray was known in the English game for his attacking style of play and that seemed to suit the type of play Celtic fans had become accustomed to.
Mowbray brought in his own coaching staff, which included current manager Neil Lennon. The season started off with so much promise with Mowbray’s men turning round a 1-0 Champions League deficit to Dinamo Moscow with a 2-0 win in the return leg. Celtic eventually lost out to Arsenal in the play off round.
Mowbray’s signing policy was questionable after paying over £3.5m for Marc Antoine Fortune and the signings of Zheng Zhi, Edson Braahfeid, Diomansy Kamara and Llandry N’Guemo. However, Mowbray did also recruit Ki Sung Yeung and Robbie Keane but overall his transfer dealings were failures.
Mowbray’s domestic season started off brightly, unbeaten in his first seven matches but then fell at Ibrox in the first Glasgow Derby of the season. Not long after that result, Hearts despatched Celtic from the league cup in the quarter final stage in October. Both those results where sandwiched between a disastrous Europa League campaign where Celtic managed just one win in a group that contained Hamburg, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Rapid Wien.
Further defeats to Hibs, Kilmarnock and another to Rangers put the gaffer under immense pressure but the final nail in Mowbray’s coffin was the 4-0 defeat by St Mirren at Love Street. He was then dismissed in March with Celtic picking up no honours that season.