Celtic close in on Mowbray as Dons talk to McGhee

Published on Sunday 7 June 2009 22:53

TONY Mowbray has emerged as the front-runner to be named the next Celtic manager after the Parkhead club contacted Motherwell's Mark McGhee to inform him his application for the post had been unsuccessful.

Celtic, on the lookout for a new manager following Gordon Strachan's decision to quit last month after failing to secure a fourth consecutive SPL title, have already been thwarted in their attempts to lure Owen Coyle and Roberto Martinez.

Coyle has opted to remain at Burnley and take the Clarets into the English Premier League after winning promotion from the Championship. Swansea manager Martinez, meanwhile, is also heading for England's top flight and is expected to secure a move to Wigan on Wednesday.

With McGhee having already been informed that he will not be Strachan's replacement, Celtic now appear confident of getting their man. And, despite a firm assurance from West Bromwich Albion that their manager is going nowhere, that man looks to be Mowbray.

"I can confirm that we have received no approach from Celtic regarding Tony Mowbray... and we have no desire to lose him," said a West Brom spokesman. Celtic, though, are expected to unveil the 45-year-old this week if they can agree a compensation package with the Midlands club believed to be in the region of between 1 million and 1.5 million.

Mowbray still has two years left on his deal at The Hawthorns, and it is understood Celtic will also have to fork out to release the contracts of his backroom team of assistant manager Mark Venus and No 3 Peter Grant.

Mowbray has been in charge at West Brom since 2006 and won plaudits for the style in which his side topped the Championship in the 2007-08 season. An immediate return followed, however, as a late rally failed to save the Baggies from relegation from the Premier League.

As well as playing for Celtic between 1991 and 1995, Mowbray also has experience of managing in the SPL, taking Hibs to top-four finishes in 2005 and 2006.

McGhee – who along with Mowbray, Coyle and Martinez, had been a leading candidate to take the reins at Parkhead – was told on Saturday that he would no longer be considered. "I got a phonecall and I've been told by someone at Celtic I am no longer in the frame," he said.

That leaves McGhee as the clear favourite to land the vacant post at Aberdeen, and the Pittodrie side are in discussions with Motherwell aimed at securing his release. Like Celtic, Aberdeen hope to be in a position to unveil their new manager this week.

McGhee has been the No 1 choice for the Aberdeen board since Jimmy Calderwood left two weeks ago, but he was thought to have been holding out for the chance to take charge at Celtic. With that stumbling block out the way, it just remains for the Dons to agree a compensation fee – reportedly in the region of 200,000 – with Motherwell.

"There is compensation to agree but the talks were encouraging," revealed McGhee, who played for Aberdeen between 1978-84. "As far as I understand it, I was the first choice at Aberdeen but obviously there's been a delay while I considered all my options. Now I hope we can get the matter settled as quickly as possible.

"For me, there is an element of sentimentality attached to the Aberdeen job. This is an opportunity to manage a club where I had fantastic success and memories as a player.

"The same would have applied at Celtic. So there is an element of going home about the Aberdeen job for me and I quite like that."

McGhee will be returning to a club which he served with distinction until 1984, when he left to play for Hamburg in the Bundesliga. He scored 63 goals in 164 appearances for the Dons and was the PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1982.

His managerial career started at Reading in 1991 before spells at Leicester City, Wolves, Millwall and Brighton. McGhee joined Motherwell in June 2007 on a three-year deal and last summer turned down an offer from Vladimir Romanov to take charge at Hearts.

Speaking at the weekend, the 52-year-old stood by his decision to reject a move to Tynecastle and honour his contract at Fir Park but said circumstances are different this time round.

"If I had left when offered the Hearts job a year ago, my contract would have been extraordinarily better than the one I was on at Motherwell," McGhee added.

"That does not apply with the Aberdeen job so it is not about money. It's amazing the number of people who say to me that the mistake I made was not going to Hearts and that if I had gone there and finished third I would have walked into the Celtic job.

"But last year it would have been wrong to leave Motherwell to go to Hearts. Aberdeen represents a different challenge. There is sentimentality involved for me, a bit of romance to that job."