tony mowbray's celtic huddle

David Friel
THE origins of the Celtic Huddle can be traced all the way back to the small northern German town of Jheringsfehn. New Celtic manager Tony Mowbray was the man who started it all on July 23, 1995, before a friendly match with German side Kickers Emden. Celtic lost the pre-season friendly 2-0.

THE new Hoops boss wanted to start the Celtic Huddle as a show of togetherness by the players. Years later, he said: “Every player likes to leave something that people can remember them by and maybe the Huddle is mine at Celtic. I’m delighted to see it still going strong, because it's been a brilliant way of uniting the players and the fans. It’s in the fabric of Celtic now.”

THE first 11 players to take part in the Celtic Huddle were: Pat Bonner, Lee Martin, Malky Mackay, Tony Mowbray, Tosh McKinlay, Rudi Vata, Peter Grant, John Collins, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Andy Walker and Brian McLaughlin.

ANDY WALKER can vividly remember the first-ever Celtic Huddle pep-talk delivered by Tony and said: “The Huddle grew beyond all our expectations and we made it clear that, while none of us would be at the club forever, it was important that any newcomer would be told that this was a special part of being a Celtic player.”

THE 11 players to take part in the first-ever Celtic Huddle at Celtic Park, before a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United on August 5, 1995, were: Gordon Marshall, Mark McNally, Tony Mowbray, Tom Boyd, Tosh McKinlay, Rudi Vata, Peter Grant, John Collins, Phil O’Donnell, Pierre van Hooijdonk and Andy Thom.

JOHN COLLINS, another original member of the Celtic Huddle, is stunned at the impact it had on the club. He said: “We were looking for something to bring us together, to give us a bit of final bonding. Some of the lads were a bit shy about it, especially as it was so public, but it just grew from there.”

SINCE it was created in 1995 to the start of this season, it’s estimated that the Celtic Huddle has been performed in 31 countries by the Hoops first-team, before friendlies and competitive matches. Those countries are: Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Georgia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Holland, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, Finland, Croatia, Israel, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, USA, Canada and Japan – next up in breaking new ground is Australia.

AT the end of last season, the Celtic Huddle had been performed before 729 competitive games at home and abroad since 1995. That means over 20million football supporters will have witnessed the stunning sight of the Celtic Huddle.

THE one and only Henrik Larsson holds the record for appearing in the most Celtic Huddles before competitive games. The Swedish legend took part in 312 Huddles during his Celtic career. Jackie McNamara is in second place with 307 appearances, while Neil Lennon took part in the Huddle 300 times. Honourable mentions should also go to Paul Lambert (253) and Stilian Petrov (245). From the first generation of Huddlers, Tom Boyd appeared in it most with a total of 238 appearances.

CURRENT Celtic captain Stephen McManus grew up watching his heroes perform the Huddle and is honoured to now lead the side into it before every game. He said: “All the players and supporters love the Huddle and it really gets us fired up before the games. We are all proud to continue the strong tradition of the Celtic Huddle and will continue to do so.”

CELTIC’S mascot Hoopy the Huddle Hound takes his name from the Celtic Huddle, while many Hoops fans were also members of the World Huddle Club. In addition, Celtic TV’s flagship programme is called the Daily Huddle.

CELTIC teams from all age groups now perform the Celtic Huddle before games. Perhaps the biggest Celtic Huddle ever witnessed on the pitch was after Celtic won the league at Tannadice at the end of season 2007/08.