Mowbray looking forward to Old Firm Clash
Manager looking forward to derby clash.
TONY MOWBRAY played and scored in Glasgow derbies during his Celtic career. On Sunday, he gets a first chance to manage the Hoops in one of world football’s great contests.
The media room at Lennoxtown was much busier than usual on Friday afternoon. Newspapers sent reporters en masse, while camera crews from down south filmed preview packages at Celtic’s picturesque training base.
For the Celtic manager, it didn’t come as a shock. He has enough knowledge of Celtic and Rangers to know the eyes of the world will be on Ibrox on Sunday, but he won’t let the media glare affect him. His only focus is on winning three points.
“It’ll be a competitive game of football and we hope it will be a good game as well,” said the manager. “Rangers are a good football team, but we have good players and will go there in confident mood.
“I played in a few derbies and now I’m getting the chance to manage in one. We’re in a good position in that we know we have a four-point advantage at the moment. That gives us some breathing space, but we’ll be as positive as we can.
“We’ll take the positives out of the game against Rapid and we go to Ibrox trying to get a good result. If we get the win, then we are seven points ahead at the top.
“In the SPL, we haven’t lost a game yet. We’ve won five and drawn one, so we’re going okay. No football team can play to their maximum every week. We said that after the St Mirren and we strive to be better than that this weekend.
“It will be intense on Sunday. I know that. It was intense when I played in the 1990s and that hasn’t changed. It’s a massive game between two huge clubs from the same city. We both want to win the league every year and it will be very competitive.”
The Celtic manager has a number of selection dilemmas to contend with over the weekend. Glenn Loovens, on the bench against Rapid, comes into consideration, while Barry Robson is also pushing for a start. Zheng Zhi has impressed in training, but the derby may come too soon for him.
On the injury front, the manager will check on the fitness of Andreas Hinkel and Paddy McCourt on Saturday before finalising his plans. Aiden McGeady will definitely be available.
“Andy and Paddy did a little bit with the physio on Friday and we’ll wait to see how they are on Saturday,” said the manager. “If they can train, then they will be in contention for the game.”
The fitness of Scott Brown remains a topic of debate and Mowbray revealed the Celtic midfielder will see a specialist on Tuesday as he continues to nurse a slight ankle injury.
He said: “Scott’s in the Scotland squad but he’s going to see a specialist on Tuesday, so we’ll see how he is. We will do what’s best for the player after he sees the specialist. I’m not an ankle expert, but we’ll look after Scott and I’ll speak to the SFA about the game in Japan.”
Manager looking forward to derby clash
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Paddy McCourt Goal against St Mirren
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