Mowbray must cope without Fortuné for up to eight weeks

Published on Friday 11 September 2009 22:58

CELTIC manager Tony Mowbray has revealed Marc-Antoine Fortuné will be out for up to eight weeks with medial ligament damage.

French striker Fortun has not played since he injured his knee in the Champions League play-off defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium just over a fortnight ago.

Mowbray, who picked up the Clydesdale Bank Manager of the Month Award for August at the club's Lennoxtown training camp, said: "The prognosis at the moment is six to eight weeks and it's two weeks after the Arsenal game where he was injured in the first half. He hasn't had an operation; it will settle down."

Mowbray quashed speculation he is set to sign French midfielder Guillaume Beuzelin, who played for a Celtic XI in the 1-0 friendly win at Cork City on Wednesday. A free agent since leaving Coventry, Beuzelin is available outside the transfer window. But Mowbray, who had Beuzelin under his charge at Hibernian, said: "We are facilitating Guillame by allowing him to train with us and he goes with Neil Lennon's group. I heard he was supposed to sign for us but I suggest that isn't the case."

Meanwhile, Celtic have implemented their own Clairfontaine-style coaching school in order to address the skills shortage in Scottish football.

Scotland's 1-0 defeat by the Netherlands at Hampden on Wednesday night sparked a nationwide debate about the state of football.

Mowbray points to Clairfontaine, one of France's national football centres of excellence, as a model for Scotland's development. He also revealed Celtic have linked up with a school local to the club's Lennoxtown training centre in a scheme which will allow youngsters more coaching time without disrupting their education.

"Sometimes there comes a line in football," Mowbray explained. "The French – 20 years ago or whatever, when they hadn't qualified for a major competition – created Clairfontaine and started a totally new structure and dedicated coaching to the best players to try and bring them through.

"We have started to coach young players at school. They are up having an hour or two with the football at school before they go to lessons."

Meanwhile, Dundee United manager Craig Levein insists he will not be changing his approach now Mowbray is the Celtic manager – because the principles of facing the Old Firm are always the same.

Levein will square up to his former Edinburgh rival for the first time since Mowbray returned to Scotland and is quietly confident of causing at upset at Parkhead.

The pair clashed often when Levein was in charge of Hearts and Mowbray was Hibernian boss but the United manager insists it is about what the players do rather than the managers.

"We've got to be strong and we've got to make sure our concentration levels are 100 per cent. Tony has come in there and won three games out of three, so he's doing a good job and has had an impact. But from a Dundee United perspective, we're only focusing on what we do."