Hooiveld captaincy hint

Tony Mowbray has dropped a strong hint that Jos Hooiveld could be his captain.

The Dutch defender is expected to make his debut on Wednesday against Hibs but has already made a big impact off the park.

Since arriving at Celtic last summer Mowbray has shared the captaincy between Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus with Darren O'Dea leading Celtic in the Scottish Cup win against Morton.

Mowbray is from the old school that sees the captain's job as more than just wearing an armband and leading the team out and clearly looks to the centre of defence for leaders.

The Celtic boss admitted: "We're looking for strong characters and for a new leader to come out of the dressing room.

"You listen to Jos Hooiveld, who's not a shy boy and who's already vocal both on the training ground and also in the dressing room.

"It would be unfair to say who I think can step up for us but I am pretty sure that some personalites will grow out of it.

"A captain will evolve, I think. That's how personalities come out of the dressing room. Darren O'Dea was our captain on Tuesday - he had a tough time at the end at Reading but his personality and character are very strong.

"Whether he's in the team or not, he's got raw attributes and his personality comes out."

Mowbray has spent the January transfer window overhauling his squad and is looking for fresh characters to emerge.

He added: "I see enough quality in the squad at the moment but we have lost Gary Caldwell and Barry Robson who were both big characters in the dressing room.

"When you lose big characters out of a dressing room other players can find that quality within themselves. When I arrived at West Brom I had a very experienced side which Bryan Robson had put together but that team basically disappeared and by the time I left there were only about two players left.

"Jonathan Greening, for instance, was a quiet little talented footballer among a lot of big personalities and he grew into a leader on the pitch and off it.

"He was our captain, basically because of his talent to start with - but then he found his voice and knew the responsibilities he had. He became a natural leader."

Hooived played for Celtic's development side in the 2-1 win in midweek at Blackburn where he formed a new look defensive partnership with Thomas Rogne.

The Norwegian defender isn't expected to become a first team player this season but has already made a favourable impression on his new manager.

Mowbray said: "I've been very impressed with what I've seen in training. He played alongside Jos Hooiveld in a bounce game against a very strong Blackburn Rovers side this week - the strikers were Jason Roberts and El-Hadji Diouf so it was a good test for the centre-halves.

"They had a lot of international first-team players involved but our young side won the game, which was at their training ground, 2-1 and both centre-halves did really well.

"Thomas is only 19 years old but when I look at the physicality of him compared to some of the boys we have at our training ground, he's a man already.

"He isn't particularly for this weekend, next weekend or the weekend after. I think you buy Thomas Rogne and hopefully save yourself £5m two years down the line when the club needs a centre-half and you've already got him."