Celtic: Team building remains a work in progress

TONY MOWBRAY sighs. The exasperation is evident. "It frustrates me a little because it's not the squad I want. For me it doesn't have the balance and it frustrates me that people think we are the top dogs. The league proved otherwise. Yes, we had big-name players but you don't win football matches by reputation."

It's a sentence he could have uttered any time during his first few months in charge at Celtic but it's actually one from the archives and it's West Bromwich Albion he is talking about.

The theory is that Tony Mowbray has taken a title-winning side at Parkhead and, somehow, made it worse. Statistics have been trotted out to back up the hypothesis, but other realities don't support the findings. Forget what Gordon Strachan's players achieved two or three seasons ago, last season they lost the league and they did so with a run-in of 19 league results which were in fact inferior to Mowbray's first 19 league results.

Mowbray did not inherit a team of winners as they themselves insisted when he dared to criticise their shortcomings as they took up from where they left off last season, which is why he is now scattering them to the wind. Some suggest he is panicking. The truth is that he is following a tried and tested pattern. Forget the individuals, it's about the team. Midway through the January transfer window, it is still a work in progress.

When he first arrived at The Hawthorns he was in possession of a squad burgeoning with Premiership stars but they had failed to safeguard their place on that stage. Too many players who believed in their own good press. He saw out that season and those household names could not win promotion. Mowbray revamped it, bringing in his own names and putting his own stamp on the play and ultimately he took West Brom back into the top flight. The story, in part at least for now, is being reprised.

"I see enough quality in the squad at the moment but we have lost Gary Caldwell and Barry Robson who were big characters in the Celtic dressing room and as we move on I think we do have to add some experience.

"But I think also when you lose big characters out of a dressing room then other players in there who didn't realise they could be a big character actually find that quality within themselves. A new leader comes out of the dressing room. He's been sitting there a little bit timid listening to everyone else but all of a sudden he finds his voice and we're looking for strong characters."

Mowbray's first 19 league games may not be worse than the run enjoyed by his predecessor but that does not mean it proffers a return considered acceptable by Celtic support. The fans made it known they wanted a different blend of football than that served up under Strachan but have been equally unequivocal this term in their unwillingness to compromise success as they wait for the transition to be completed. And with Rangers establishing a decent lead at the top of the table there is no room for uncertainty or weak personalities come match day.

Mowbray believes that the character will become evident, though, by the time he has completed his wheeling and dealing.

"I've seen it happen many times when the guy who hasn't had a lot to say for the last year or so becomes more vocal. However, having said that we are still trying to add a bit of experience to the squad to improve, one, the quality and two, the personality.

"When I arrived at West Brom I had a very experienced side which Bryan Robson had put together, but that team basically disappeared and by the time I left there were only about two players left. But Jonathan Greening, for instance, was a quiet little talented football player amongst a lot of big personalities and he grew into a leader on the pitch and off it in our dressing room.

"He was our captain, basically because of his talent to start with but then he found his voice and knew the responsibilities, and he was talking for the squad and the team and he had issues to deal with and he became a natural leader.

"That can happen here, but you listen to Hooiveld and he's not a shy boy and is already vocal on the training ground and in the dressing room. It would be unfair to say who I think can step up but I'm pretty sure some personalities will grow out of it."

That is the reason he is taking his time deciding who will replace Caldwell as captain.

But if patience is evident in that decision-making process, the desire to bring in new faces to provide more competition and cover for his starting XI is tangible. But that is a trait he has always been imbued with.

As is his willingness to bring in young players. He has made no secret of the fact that at Hibs he enjoyed working with youngsters who had promise and something to prove and were more willing to absorb his philosophies. There was that tough initial period at West Bromwich, similar to the one he is enduring at Celtic now. Back then he wanted players who would fight and scrap but who would adhere to his football decree of trying to entertain. He got his wish back then. Which is why he is demanding the same now.

Back into those archives and he is talking about dealing with players who are set in their ways. "But I'm the manager here and I will do things my way. Sometimes when you are backed into a corner you have to come out with your claws showing. Every manager is different but players have to realise that you either do it the manager's way or you leave."

That was his stance in 2007 at West Brom and bigger names than any currently on Celtic's books discovered the hard way that he wasn't joking. On his part there were no regrets as he was ultimately proved a success. Celtic players should maybe take heed.