Source: FOOTYMAD
Celtic refute Mowbray claims
Only in football can you be sacked but still paid for six months Celtic have an alternative view on Tony Mowbray's claims on how he was stopped from taking managerial jobs at "three or four" clubs before he finally joined Middlesbrough. Mowbray was sacked from the manager's post at Parkhead after a 4-0 away loss to St Mirren in March 2010. However, he was still on the payroll until ne took over at the Riverside Stadium last October. Mowbrays claimed failure to agree his a pay-off stopped him accepting any job offers and that he had to eventually write off around £350,000 to become Boro boss. Mowbray said: "I had three or four other offers before the Middlesbrough job came along. At the time, I was owed a lot of money by Celtic and they weren't prepared to do a deal to allow me to take those jobs, so I didn't take them. I thought they were being unfair so I waited. Then the Boro job came up and I was interested. I spoke with Keith (Lamb, Middlesbrough chief executive) and Steve (Gibson, Middlesbrough chairman) and we knew we had to do something with Celtic. I personally wrote off around £350,000 to take the Middlesbrough job. That's not me boasting, it's just the way it is. I wanted to get back to work really. I think my family were getting sick of me and I needed to get back in." However, a Celtic spokesman responded with: "We are very surprised at these comments. Here are the facts. Only one formal approach was made regards Tony and that was from Middlesbrough. We blocked no other approaches. Celtic paid every penny that was due to Tony under his contract up to the point where he requested to be released from his contract. This we did without hesitation in order that he could resume his career."
