Dogged Tony Mowbray refuses to compromise attacking principles as Celtic's title challenge turns to dust

IN THE Glasgow footballing domain you are not damned in yourself; you are damned in comparison.

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray finds his world closing in on him not because his team have failed to win back-to-back league games in three months: not because the team of new players continues to malfunction, but because Rangers are romping away with the title in defiance of all Scottish football conventions.

As they showed in last week's derby, the Ibrox men have an unerring knack of finding a way to win league games. Their rivals, meanwhile, contrive to do anything but. Granted, in the pair's match-ups this season Walter Smith's side have benefited from desperately poor refereeing decisions. But even that merely strengthens the impression that Mowbray's management of the club may be bedeviled. Against a Rangers side who haven't bought a player for 20 months, Celtic are squandering profound fiscal advantages and stand in danger of being obliterated in the title "race".

Yet Mowbray's defence on such matters is sounder than that produced by his team. "The fine margins of football are that we could be sitting here four points behind," he says. "It might seem illogical to talk like that when the gap could be 13 points, but it isn't if you break it down. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that we could have won the last two Old Firm games. There are no excuses. I would have hoped the team we've tried to put in place would have had better consistency, won more matches and been closer. But, in my mind, I understand that fine margins are dictating this league and it ain't much of a swing to make it go the other way."

Perhaps all it might take is for Celtic to develop an appetite for winning ugly. Mind you, that didn't work for them last season – when they served up mind-numbingly sterile football – even if it is what sets them apart from Rangers presently. And it won't happen. Just as Mowbray wouldn't compromise on his expansive football as West Bromwich Albion slid out of the English Premier League, so he won't be tempted to ape in any way the Smith style.

"The bottom line is two coaches that have a different philosophy of football. I spoke to Walter about that and he sets his team up as he sets his team up. They've found decent consistency. I just don't play like that; my teams don't play like that," he says. "I've been successful to an extent playing attacking, attractive open football. Once you get it right and it clicks in to place, the teams that win the leagues, wherever it is in the world, are generally the teams with the guy who sticks the ball in the net and the strikers who perform in expansive teams. In the English Premier League, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea all play an expansive game. I sit here knowing where I am in the process of putting a team together that will hopefully win, and win for a long time.

"We'll get there and hopefully you'll see it and we will be sitting here talking only about football. At this moment we are not in a great period. Rangers have done exceptionally well. To go this far and only lose one league game is a great credit to them. But still I'm very confident we'll get there."

New-look Celtic versus skint Rangers is shorthand for the way this season has unfolded, but Mowbray is less convinced that the Ibrox side have been disadvantaged. "Is it a negative that Rangers haven't bought a player? Because it can be seen as a positive. Do they know their team? Do their players know each other's game inside out??" he asks. It is a squad whose aggregate cost in transfer fees was greater than the Celtic side they faced last Sunday – attributable to the fact that the Ibrox club's 14m net spend on players this past four years is double that of Celtic's. "Listen, am I aware of that?" asks Mowbray. "You bet I'm aware of that. I look at the individual players that they've got and they've got some very, very talented boys. Some expensive footballers, I would suggest to you. But I never look on that as an excuse. I believe I can build a team with better footballers who can win more consistently."

Belief in his ability to do that is fast ebbing from those of a Celtic disposition. It could well recede permanently if the club were to lose their Scottish Cup quarter-final against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday. It is the sort of short-term view of which Mowbray despairs. He has made changes to the squad and hauled up the general standard, but failed to mould the talent acquired into an effective side. The need to play 19-year-old centre-backs and the absence of a "fast, strong, bullying 27-year-old centre-back" is how he accounts for his team's vulnerability. He says it is a temporary state of affairs that can be resolved in the summer.

But whatever the problems, it makes no sense for Celtic to be so fragile against teams with a 20th of their budget.

"I wanted success to happen right away," Mowbray says. "It's not easy; no game of football is easy. Whether they're earning 200-a-week, if they are organised, fit and disciplined they will give you a hard time. I watched Championship players playing for the Republic of Ireland against Brazil this week and for an hour you wouldn't have known who was potentially going to win the World Cup. I came away thinking we've got no right to think we can just go and turn up and beat Kilmarnock and Falkirk and St Mirren."

Celtic must turn up and beat two of these teams in the next nine days or else the heat turned on Mowbray will be of blow-torch intensity. "I was at a dinner last night – 120 years of Celtic – and it shows you all the great trophies and cups and stuff," he says. "But have people not seen bad days, bad years, bad seasons, barren eight, nine years? In my mind we are going through a period of time – hopefully a short period – which we'll come through and you'll look back and think: 'Christ, why did I ever worry?' But whilst you're going through it I understand the concerns. I don't have those because I'm driving the car and I'm pretty confident. But I understand the frustration and the disappointment. I understand the questions."

Well and good, but Mowbray also has to start providing the answers.

KEY QUESTIONS

Will Celtic stand by Tony Mowbray?

If Rangers romp to the title and Celtic fail to win the Scottish Cup it's hard to see a second season for him.

Are those the only factors?

The genuine prospect of a Rangers takeover could also count against Mowbray. If the Ibrox club have fresh investment it could panic their city rivals.

What about season ticket sales?

Ultimately, it may be supporters who decide Mowbray's fate. If his team gains some momentum, cuts the gap and wins the cup then punters may not desert Celtic. If the opposite is true, Mowbray would become a hard sell. There are predictions of 10,000 to 15,000 supporters not renewing their season tickets and that could cost Celtic up to 8 million.

How much of it is Mowbray's fault?

He says himself there are no excuses, but it deserves to be pointed out that, because of injury or unavailability, he has not yet even been able to field what he considers his strongest starting XI.

How low have Celtic dipped?

For the first time in ten years Celtic will almost certainly go into the last day of the season without a chance of winning the title.