Charlie says new boss Mowbray must find a hero for Celtic faithful

Published on Wednesday 17 June 2009 10:13

CHARLIE NICHOLAS believes new Celtic boss Tony Mowbray needs to find a hero to inspire the Hoops faithful.

The ex-Hibs boss was due to check in at Parkhead today after signing a 12-month rolling contract yesterday.

He will be joined in the east end of Glasgow by Mark Venus, his assistant at West Brom, and Peter Grant, his first-team coach at Albion and a former Celtic team-mate. Current Parkhead coach Neil Lennon will join the new management team but his role is as yet unknown but what is known is that Mowbray will be immediately under pressure to wrest the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title back from Old Firm rivals Rangers.

Nicholas, who had two spells as a striker at the Parkhead club, insists Mowbray has to find at least one player who can excite the Celtic fans.

"I am very happy with Tony becoming manager, he is the right guy to improve the team," said Nicholas. "I just hope that he gets a relatively decent budget because the current Celtic team needs fresh faces.

"I think it probably needs a couple of star names.

"I'm not talking about 50,000 per week (wages) or spending 10million (on fees) but we need to find someone to get the Celtic fans back onside, someone they can sing about and someone who can become a hero. They haven't had one for a little while."

Nicholas is looking forward to an improvement in Celtic's style of play but warned Mowbray results must follow.

He said: "A lot of Celtic fans have said that the team didn't play the Celtic way under Gordon Strachan even though he was successful. But just playing the right way, saying the right things and having the right mentality doesn't always get you the prizes.

"The late and great Tommy Burns lost one league game (as Celtic manager) and Rangers still won the league.

"It was one of the best Celtic teams for a long, long time and Tommy had to bear the burden for that."