Tony Mowbray side undone at own position of centre-half, says Tommy Gemmell

IT is a matter of some irony that the last person to inflict a four-goal domestic defeat on Celtic before Wednesday's capitulation against St Mirren, other than a Rangers manager, was a Lisbon Lion.

Tommy Gemmell was in charge of the Dundee team who beat Celtic 5-1 at Dens Park in 1980, a margin of defeat that was finally equalled three decades later in Paisley. But the reversal didn't get the Celtic manager the sack as happened to Tony Mowbray yesterday. Billy McNeill, the captain of the Lisbon Lions, remained at Parkhead for a further three years before accepting the manager's post at Manchester City.

"I recall that game well," said Gemmell yesterday. "We won 5-1 after Celtic had opened the scoring through Roy Aitken.

"It's amazing to think it has taken another Scottish club 30 years to emulate that feat. Celtic shouldn't lose four goals in a game and, of course, that happened earlier in the season in the 4-4 draw with Aberdeen. That is most unlike my old club.

"Mowbray was a centre-half in his playing days and you would expect him to have some sort of expertise in that role and what is expected of his central defenders. That hasn't been the case.

"There hasn't been a settled double-act in the middle of the rearguard and he has chopped and changed the back-four throughout the campaign.

"I believe there has been something like 15 players utilised in the back four since the start of the season. That's unsettling, for sure.

"The Lisbon Lions had Jim Craig, Billy McNeill, John Clark and myself for most of the season.

"Big Jock (Stein] might have tinkered with the attack, but, as a former centre-half, he rarely touched the defence. He knew the importance of getting it right in that department.

"Celtic have been beaten in 13 games under Mowbray and, in fact, have lost seven SPL matches, one more than Motherwell and Dundee United. That's unacceptable."

Gemmell reckons the Celtic players got bad vibes from Mowbray. He said: "There seemed to be little verve or enthusiasm from the manager on the touchline. Certainly, he wasn't the most animated boss I've ever seen.

"Sometimes you need good vibes from your manager. You need to see his involvement from the dug-out.

"The Celtic players rarely got that from Mowbray. His head went down after St Mirren's second goal the other night.

"Yet there was still a third of the game still to play. Something could have been salvaged and the players would have looked at their manager for some inspiration."

Gemmell also believes Mowbray got off to a bad start when he realised he wasn't first choice as Gordon Strachan's successor.

He added: "Celtic apparently went for Roberto Martinez before he left Swansea for Wigan. And they were also linked with Owen Coyle before he quit Burnley for Bolton.

"So, Mowbray would have realised he was third-choice for the post. That should never have been the case.

"Everything should have been done and dusted before he was unveiled as manager – Martinez and Coyle should never have been mentioned."