Celtic manager faces a whirlwind start but will employ a measured approach to bringing change, writes Michael Grant

IN his own words, here are the things Tony Mowbray is not: he is not a dictator, he is not a disciplinarian. He does not get over-flustered, he does not come into a club and start slashing at things with a big axe. He does not rely on a cheque book and he is content to work with "no money" so long as Celtic are honest with him about the budget. He won't be consumed by Old Firm life because he will escape it now and again by having play fights with his two kids in his back garden. Not that he has a back garden: it'll be a while before the Mowbrays find a permanent place to live around Glasgow.

When a Celtic manager has his first press conference it is a meet-and-greet session where the new guy has about 100 folk queueing up to shake his hand and say hello. Mowbray's tongue was still working overtime in interviews two hours after he started at Celtic Park.

By then he was down to a one-to-one with the reporter who had travelled to Glasgow from a Birmingham paper to ask some pointed questions on behalf of aggrieved WBA supporters.

Mowbray had all the time in the world for the media on day one. Among all his patient, thoughtful answers he let slip an acknowledgement that a silent, invisible clock was ticking over his head. His first competitive game in charge of Celtic could be only 38 days away from then as they will play in the third qualifying round of the Champions League on July 28 or 29.

That's just 38 days to avoid another Artmedia Bratislava, a little over five weeks to get the players fit and organised, gain first impressions of who will be most useful to him, play friendlies in Brisbane, Cardiff and London, resolve the futures of Shunsuke Nakamura, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Paul Hartley, make his first moves in the transfer market, and research and prepare for facing a European opponent whose identity won't be known until the draw is made on July 17, just a week and a half before the first leg. Phew!

Mowbray's first hurdle is going to rush towards him. "The bottom line is it's there, it's going to happen," he said. "I can't sit here and say Christ, I'd like another couple of weeks, can Uefa push it back?' It's not going to happen so we have to get on with it."

Mowbray had so much rushing through his head it was easy to understand him saying, "We're playing Premier League sides like Sunderland and Manchester City" when in fact it's Sunderland and Tottenham.

Either way, Mowbray liked the look of the schedule he had inherited. He said: "It's a busy pre-season. I think they are the right games for us to play. Very, very tough games.

"What you've got to hope is we can more than compete in those games and give a good account of ourselves, so the team can come out of those games in a confident mood. Hopefully we'll go into the European qualifiers knowing that, whoever we draw, they might not be any better than Tottenham or Sunderland."

He doesn't really know how good his own team is, of course. There were difficulties to overcome when he arrived as WBA manager in 2006 and inherited an ageing squad full of set-in-their-ways, seasoned professionals assembled by Bryan Robson. Perhaps there will be teething trouble at Celtic too.

"It wasn't an easy start for me there at West Brom," Mowbray said. "It wasn't get on great with all the lads and have a great time'. It was a case of saying we train at this time, we do this, you don't do that in my training sessions'. It wasn't about being too disciplinarian, just putting down your own markers, your own expectations, from day one.

"All those things do take a bit of time to bed in and you've got to earn the respect of your players on the training ground and vice versa. I hope that can be done pretty smoothly, but sometimes it can't."

It says something for Mowbray's man-management that WBA players Paul Robinson, Borja Valero and Marc-Antoine Fortune have stated they would happily follow him to Celtic. There was a similar response from Hibs players when he left Easter Road for the Hawthorns three and a half years ago. Mowbray said: "I think that's because I treat players like men. I treat them properly. I'm not a dictator. If we have a problem or an issue I like to sit down face to face and talk it through, give them my side of the story and listen to theirs. I think players appreciate that even if there's a conflict.

"Celtic want me to be myself. The way I manage clubs is what you see now, my basic personality. I'd like to think I'm thoughtful and respectful, I try not to get over-flustered, too high or too low.

"I try to concentrate on what I believe is right and work hard. As long as there's an openness and a transparency about what the boundaries are I'm happy to work with loads of money or no money, it doesn't matter to me."

Mowbray would consider selling one his most valuable players - he didn't name names but Artur Boruc, Scott Brown, Aiden McGeady and Scott McDonald come to mind - if that would raise money for three new ones. "You might have to sell a star player to bring in three players you think can benefit the team.

"If the team functions better without the star player because the other three are working the unit better, then that has got to be beneficial for the team, the club and the supporters because then you are winning football matches. That's what top managers do, they make big decisions at crucial times to benefit the team."

Did he have a big decision to make on the captaincy - Gary Caldwell was Mowbray's when they were both at Hibs - given Stephen McManus is not a certain starter ahead of Glenn Loovens?

"I don't know. I don't know their personalities so it would be unfair of me to say. McManus is the club captain at the moment and I'm not the type of guy who comes in, takes a big axe to everything and makes massive changes. I like to get a feel for things and see what's right."

Asking about the captaincy was taking Mowbray into the minutiae of managing his new players, which was a little unfair given that he had yet to hit a training pitch with them. There were other, pressing issues to address His wife, Amber, is pregnant and a home must be found for her and their two young sons.

"We're not a family that could live apart. I take my comfort and solace from family. People always ask, What do you do to get away from the game?'," Mowbray said. "In my opinion the most dedicated managers never get away from the game but you do need somewhere to go home to.

"For me, at the moment, it'll be to kick the ball around in the garden with my two kids, to have a play fight and tickle them on the tummy, lift them on my shoulders. That's what getting away from football is for me, really."

No matter how long he stays at Parkhead, only the Mowbray family will ever take his mind off the Celtic family.