CELTIC: New manager Tony Mowbray is determined not to let his team�s pre-season campaign hamstring their campaign from the outset, finds Michael Grant

TONY Mowbray has admitted he "wouldn't have taken on" Celtic's opening friendly in Australia if he had been able to get out of it.

Celtic will fly a 21,000-mile round trip to play Brisbane Roar in what will be Mowbray's first match in charge next Sunday. The arduous trip is reminiscent of a journey the club made to Japan which irritated former manager Gordon Strachan in 2006. Celtic played nine pre-season friendlies on three continents that year. Although this year's schedule is less demanding than that, Mowbray admitted the Australian leg will be physically demanding for his players.

"Let's not disguise it: this is a tough trip," said Mowbray. "The benefits will be that I'm going to be away quite closely with the team for six or seven days and will get to know them and how they react in certain situations.

"I will be living with them really, which is not a bad thing early on to get a feel of their personality and the characters. For a physical preparation, I personally wouldn't have taken it on but I understand why the club has done it. Manchester United do it every year, going to Asia or America to sell their brand.

"The bottom line is that Celtic is a global football club that does have a lot of supporters in parts of the world. I don't sit here and stamp my feet and get upset about it. Here I am at a club where there are financial reasons for selling the brand worldwide and letting the supporters worldwide get a feel for it and see the players. All that is vital."

Manchester United have won the last two English Premier League titles despite gruelling pre-season commitments in Asia, Australia or North America. Mowbray took encouragement from that although he pointed out that United's playing resources were far, far deeper than Celtic's.

"It doesn't seem to do United much harm, Sir Alex would say that to you as they've won championship after championship, but you could also argue that he's got two teams of world class players that he can put out in the Premier League at any given time, and he can pick his fixtures to do that."

After Brisbane, Celtic have 10 days before facing Cardiff City in Wales on July 22 and then Al-Ahly and Tottenham in The Wembley Cup on July 24 and 26 respectively. Their first competitive game will be in the Champions League third qualifying round either two or three days later (they will learn their opponents when the draw is made on July 17). There are also friendlies at home to Sunderland, on August 1, and away to Manchester City, on August 8, either side of the European second leg.

"I will pick teams throughout The Wembley Cup that will be defined by the importance of the games coming up just after it. People will pay a lot of money to go there hoping that Celtic will play their best players but I have got to get the balance somewhere among that.

"We can't play the same 11 players throughout pre-season and turn them out at Wembley three days before we have to travel away to play a game. You can't do it if you want to have a performance that is vital on a Tuesday night. You have to be mindful of that. We'll get through it and make sure that every player has had enough game time so that when the big games come along they are physically and mentally ready."

As Mowbray familiarises himself with the players he has inherited from Strachan he will look for the one who might fill an exceptional pair of boots. Celtic may find it impossible to find another affordable Shunsuke Nakamura in the transfer market, and now that the Japanese free-kick specialist has left for Espanyol, Mowbray must hope that others - most obviously Aiden McGeady, Shaun Maloney or Paddy McCourt - emerge to fill the creative vacuum.

Mowbray mourned the missed opportunity to work with a player of Nakamura's high technique. "I've spent a bit of time watching DVDs in the last few weeks. Nakamura was a player I'd really have enjoyed working with. He's very, very talented and he's got a brain, soft feet' as I call them, he can hit long passes, short passes, and disguised passes. A wonderful footballer, but he's gone.

"I know the Celtic supporters have enjoyed him for four years but whenever a vacuum is created at a club I always feel there's an opportunity for a new hero to step forward. The supporters need people to look up to and to cheer on knowing they are the ones winning the games.

"There is a chance at this club now for someone to step forward and fill that spot. I hope I've got players of that capability. Some of the younger ones have maybe got to step up now and fill that void left by a legend like Nakamura."