Tony Mowbray

Football manager infobox
playername= Tony Mowbray


fullname = Anthony Mark Mowbray
height =
nickname = Mogga, Mowbs, Moz Foz
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1963|11|22
cityofbirth = Saltburn
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = West Bromwich Albion
position = Manager
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1982-1991
1991-1995
1995-2000
clubs = Middlesbrough
Celtic
Ipswich Town
caps(goals) = 348 0(25)
078 00(6)
128 00(5)
554 0(36)
nationalyears = 1989
nationalteam = England B
nationalcaps(goals) = 003 00(0)
manageryears = 2002
2004-2006
2006-present
managerclubs = Ipswich (interim manager)
Hibernian
West Bromwich Albion

Tony Mowbray, (born November 22 1963), is a former professional football player and is currently the manager of West Bromwich Albion.

Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic, and finally Ipswich Town as a tough centre back. He began his coaching career with Ipswich Town and took his first managerial job at Scottish Premier League side Hibernian.

Playing career

Middlesbrough

Born in Saltburn, he became the club captain of his home town club when he was just 22 years old. The club was in dire straits at the time and had gone into liquidation. Known to the boro fans as "Mogga", he became a legend in Middlesbrough for being the local lad who led the club from the hell of liquidation back to the top flight of English football. Mowbray was the linchpin around which the Middlesbrough team was built for more than a decade. The Middlesbrough club fanzine [http://www.fmttm.com Fly me to the Moon] is named after a famous quote that the then Middlesbrough manager Bruce Rioch said about Mowbray - “If I had to fly to the moon I’d take Tony Mowbray, my captain, with me. He’s a magnificent man”. He was sold to Celtic in 1991 for a fee of £1million.

Tony is seen as one of Middlesbrough's greatest ever captains, and is believed to have played a large part in the transition of the club to the higher standard it possesses today.

Celtic

During his playing career with Celtic, Mowbray's wife, Bernadette, a native of Renfrewshire, died of breast cancer. Many believe the "huddle" which Celtic players still perform before each match was arranged as a tribute to Bernadette. However, it was merely suggested by Tony on a pre-season tour of Germany to bring the squad together at a time of uncertainty. The dignified manner in which he handled the tragedy of Bernadette was recorded in his book "Kissed by an Angel" and won him respect from all sides of Scottish football.

Ipswich

He later moved on to Ipswich Town, where he played for five years, becoming the team captain. He scored a famous equalising goal in the 2000 Division One playoff final victory against Barnsley. Ipswich won the match 4-2 and secured promotion to the Premiership. This match was the last of Mowbray's playing career.

Coaching career

Once his playing career finished he moved into coaching, starting as a first team coach at Ipswich Town. He had a brief spell as caretaker manager of Ipswich, following the sacking of George Burley and prior to the appointment of Joe Royle. [Cite news
last = Davies
first = Christopher
title = Mowbray holds fort after Burley goes
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/10/12/sfnips12.xml
publisher = Telegraph.co.uk
date = 2002-10-11
accessdate = 2008-01-15]

Hibernian

In May 2004, Mowbray was surprisingly appointed manager of Hibernian, replacing Bobby Williamson. [cite news
date=2004-05-24
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/h/hibernian/3741809.stm
title=Mowbray is new Hibs boss
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-14] He gained much acclaim for the job he did, winning the Scottish Football writers' manager of the year award in his first season. Hibs finished in the top four in the SPL in his only two full seasons in charge, which was the first time that Hibs had done this in the top division in consecutive seasons since Eddie Turnbull was manager. During his tenure, season ticket sales at Easter Road almost doubled.

Hibs progressed to the later stages of every domestic cup competition in his tenure and made two appearances in European football. Hibs lost heavily to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the first round of the 2005-06 UEFA Cup and on the away goals rule to OB Odense in the 2006 Intertoto Cup. During the summer of 2006, Mowbray was interviewed for the vacant managerial position at Ipswich Town, but he rejected their approach. In September 2006 he signed a 12 month rolling deal with Hibs that was due to take effect on from July 2007. [cite news
date=2006-09-07
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/scot_prem/5323912.stm
title=New Hibs deal for manager Mowbray
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-14] Just one month later however, Mowbray was to move to West Bromwich Albion.

West Bromwich Albion

In early October 2006, media reports linked him with the vacant managerial position at West Brom. On 10 October, it was confirmed by West Brom that they had asked Hibernian for permission to interview Mowbray, which was granted the following day. On 13 October, West Bromwich Albion announced that they had appointed Mowbray as their new manager. [cite news
date=2006-10-13
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_bromwich_albion/6043410.stm
title=Mowbray leaves Hibs for West Brom
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-04-25]

Mowbray replaced Bryan Robson as Albion manager, and immediately faced the task of returning the Baggies to the Premiership after relegation under Robson the previous season. Although he managed to turn around the club's poor away form, an indifferent run of results at home towards the end of the season meant that Albion finished fourth in The Championship table behind Sunderland, Birmingham City and Derby County, and faced the lottery of the Play-Offs. Despite two-famous victories over old rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi finals, Albion lost 1–0 to Derby County in the Wembley final.

As a result, during the close season, Mowbray set about restructuring his squad, moving out several of Robson's players for multi-million pound fees, after press reports of dressing room division. [ [http://www.expressandstar.com/2007/09/12/boss-i-had-to-clear-decks/ Boss: I had to clear decks: Express & Star ] ] High profile players such as Jason Koumas, Diomansy Kamara and Curtis Davies were sold to Premier League clubs for large fees, in addition to the departures of Paul McShane, Nathan Ellington, Darren Carter and Steve Watson. Mowbray replaced them by signing a total of 14 permanent and loan players in the summer transfer window, making an overall profit in the process. His most expensive signings were Chris Brunt from Sheffield Wednesday for £3 million, Leon Barnett from Luton Town for £2.5 million, and James Morrison from Middlesbrough for £1.5 million.

Despite the large changes in his squad, Mowbray won the Football League Championship Manager of the Month award in September 2007, after Albion gained 13 out of the maximum 15 points and climbed to 2nd in the Division. [cite news
date=2007-10-04
url=http://www.wba.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~1127177,00.html
title=Mowbray wins award
publisher=West Bromwich Albion F.C.
accessdate=2007-10-04] At the turn of the New Year, Mowbray's young Albion team topped the table, receiving growing plaudits from the media [ [http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/coca_cola/article3286759.ece West Bromwich Albion 4 Bristol City 1: Bednar fires Albion to the summit - Football League, Football - Independent.co.uk ] ] and supporters [ [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/sport/albion/tm_method=full%26objectid=20293494%26siteid=50002-name_page.html Mowbray hails Baggies fans - Birmingham Post ] ] alike for their attractive brand of attacking passing football, a reflection of Mowbray's staunch footballing philosophy. [ [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/sport/murphy/tm_method=full%26objectid=20233741%26siteid=50002-name_page.html Mowbray can pass Premier test - Birmingham Post ] ]

Mowbray guided West Brom to the Football League Championship title, meaning promotion to the Premier League and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup. The semi-final, the first to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, pitted West Brom against Portsmouth, the only remaining Premiership team left in the FA Cup. Portsmouth won the match 1-0 with the only goal of the game coming from Kanu.

Mowbray won the Championship manager of the month award for April, [cite news
title=Mowbray claims managerial award
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_bromwich_albion/7391042.stm
publisher=BBC Sport
date=2008-05-08
accessdate=2008-05-14] as well as the League Managers Association manager of the year award. [cite news
title=Ferguson wins managerial honour
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7397622.stm
publisher=BBC Sport
date=2008-05-13
accessdate=2008-05-14]

Personal life

Mowbray is married to Amber and has two sons, Lucas and Max. [cite news
last = Fraser
first = Alan
title = Mowbray, the 'miserable sod' whose life was truly kissed by an angel
url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=556192&in_page_id=1779
publisher = Daily Mail
date = 2008-04-03
accessdate = 2008-04-08] He has been teetotal since around the age of 19. [cite news
last = Walters
first = Mike
title = West Brom manager Tony Mowbray prepares promotion feast
url = http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2008/04/25/west-brom-manager-tony-mowbray-prepares-promotion-feast-89520-20394247/
publisher = Daily Mirror
date = 2008-04-25
accessdate = 2008-04-25] Tony Is Uncle to 3 Kids Named Chantelle Mowbray, Ryan Bage and also T.J Bage however the other side of Mowbrays family live in the north east of england (Middlesbrough.

Managerial stats

:"As of 26 March 2008."

References

External links

*soccerbase (manager)|id=1827|name=Tony Mowbray

Persondata
NAME=Mowbray, Tony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Mowbray, Anthony Mark
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer and football manager
DATE OF BIRTH=November 22, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH=Saltburn, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=