Mowbray, tony

Middlesbrough

Tony was born in the suburb of Middlesbrough - Saltburn . In 1982 , at the age of 18, he signed his first professional contract with Boro. At 22, given his indisputable authority on the team, Mowbray was elected captain of the “river crew”, for whom this was a time of almost complete bankruptcy - the club was on the verge of liquidation. In the six years that Tony wore the Boro captain's armband, the team has traveled from their plight to the elite of English football. The merit of Mowbray himself in this was tremendous - he became a real leader of the collective, the “core” around which the whole game of the “river men” was built. From fans, Tony was awarded the title of the legend "Middlesbrough." Fanzin “Boro”, “Take me to the Moon” ( English Fly me to the Moon) , is so named after the phrase uttered by the then “mentor of the river”, Bruce Rochem :

In 1991, Tony moved to the Scottish Celtic , who paid Borough £ 1 million for it.

Celtic

Mowbray's career in Scotland did not work out due to personal problems - the death of Bernadette’s wife from breast cancer in 1995 . It is often claimed that the circle that the Celtic players make before the match, setting themselves up for the game, was first formed as a tribute to the memory of Tony's wife ^[4] . Subsequently, Mowbray spoke about this tragedy in his book “The Kiss of an Angel” ( Eng. Kissed by an Angel ), which earned the respect of the entire British public.

In the same 1995, Tony left Glasgow . In total, for Celtic in various tournaments, Tony played 95 meetings and scored five goals ^[5] .

Ipswich Town

Tony's next club was Ipswich Town . For the "blue", he played five years, becoming the team captain. In the 1999/00 season, Mowbray scored an important goal against the Barnsley club in the final playoff game for reaching the English Premier League . “Ipswich” won in this fight with a score of 4: 2 and won a place in the elite British division. After the match with Barnsley, Mowbray announced his retirement as a footballer.

Club statistics

Tony's coaching career began in the fall of 2002 , when he briefly served as the head coach of Ipswich Town ^[7] .

Hibernian

In May 2004, Mowbray led the Scottish Hibernian Club, replacing Bobby Williamson as team coach ^[8] . In the very first season, under the leadership of Tony, “Hibs” won the bronze medals of the Scottish Championship, and the English specialist was awarded the title of “The Best Coach of the Year by the Journalists ” ^[9] . In the next football year, Hibernian took fourth place in the national championship.

Under the leadership of Mowbray, Hibernian took part in European competitions twice - in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup, the Scots lost in the first round on the sum of two meetings to the Ukrainian Dnipro , in the Intertoto Cup 2006, the Edinburgh reached the final, but they lost to the Danish Odense ".

In mid- 2006, the management of the former Tony club, Ipswich, suggested that the specialist take the post of head coach of the “blue”, but the Scot refused to do so ^[10] . In September of the same year, Mowbray signed a new contract with Hibs until the summer of 2007 ^[11] .

In early October 2006, there were reports in the press about the early appointment of Mowbray to the post of mentor for the English club West Bromwich Albion . On October 10, representatives of the “blackbirds” confirmed the information that they had received permission to negotiate with Tony from the leadership of Hibernian. On October 13, it was announced that the parties had reached an agreement, and Tony moved to England ^[12] .

West Bromwich Albion

As head coach of Albion, Mowbray replaced Bryan Robson , whose job at West Bromwich was unsuccessful - the club left the Premier League following the 2005/06 season. The management of the "blackbirds" set before Tony the task of returning the club to the elite English division. From the first time, the Scottish specialist didn’t fulfill it - his club finished fourth in the Championship , in the West Brom playoff games, Wolverhampton Wanderers won on the sum of two matches, but in the final match held at Wembley Stadium , the team Mowbray lost to Derby County 0-1.

In the offseason, Tony visibly reconstructed the composition of the “Thrushes” ^[13] , parting with such players as Jason Koumas , Djomancy Camara , Curtis Davis , Paul McShane , Nathan Ellington , Darren Carter and Steve Watson . They replaced “West Brom” bought and rented 14 new players. The most expensive purchases of “blackbirds” were Chris Brunt from Sheffield Wednesday (£ 3 million), Leon Barnett from Luton Town (2.5 million) and James Morrison from Middlesbrough (1.5 million).

Despite such serious changes in the composition, West Brom began to show an excellent game. In September, Mowbray was named "Trainer of the Month" ^[14] . By the beginning of 2008, West Bromwich was confidently in the lead in the Championship, and the game of the Tony team was commented in the press and among the fans only in enthusiastic tones ^{[15] [16]} . Albion’s business card was the one-touch pass culture that Mowbray introduced to the Thrushes ^[17] .

As a result, having taken the first place in the Championship, West Brom made the right to play in the Premier League, in the same season the Tony team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup . In the half final duel, the Blackbirds met at the renovated Wembley Stadium with Portsmouth , the only representative of the elite division of England, who reached this stage of the tournament. The meeting ended with a score of 1: 0 in favor of the Hampshire team, the only goal was scored by Nwankwo Kanu from Nigerian .

In April, Mowbray was again awarded the title "Trainer of the Month" ^[18] . In the same month, the League Coaches Association recognized him as “Coach of the Year” ^[19] .

The 2008/09 season for West Bromwich and Mowbray was unsuccessful - the team took the last 20th place in the Premier League and again flew to the Championship.

Celtic

On June 8, 2009, the press service of the Scottish “Celtic” reported that Mowbray was negotiating with the Glazow club for possible employment of an English specialist as the head coach of the “Celts” ^[20] . As a result, on June 16, Tony became the new mentor of the “white-greens”, it was also reported that the Scots paid £ 3.3 million in compensation to West Brom ^{[21] [22]} . On June 17, Mowbray was introduced to the team and the Scottish press at a press conference specially convened for this purpose ^[23] . Tony said that his assistants at Celtic will be Neil Lennon , Peter Grant , Marc Venus and Stevie Woods ^[24] . On August 12, Mowbray was named "Best Coach of the Month" in the Scottish Premier League ^[25] . But things were not going well for Celtic - by the middle of the season the Celts were 10 points behind their worst enemies from the Rangers . The homely defeat of the “white-greens” from “Hibernian” on January 27 led to the fact that the fans of Glazgovtsy demanded that the management dismiss Tony ^[26] . Mowbray further aggravated the situation by selling club leaders Gary Caldwell and Barry Robson , as well as leasing team captain Stephen McManus ^[26] . On January 28, Tony set the club's anti-record - his coaching performance was worse than that of John Barnes , a former Celtic mentor who was fired in the middle of his first season in the white-green camp for poor results ^[27] . The patience of the leadership of the Glazgov people snapped when March 24, Celtic unwittingly lost to St. Mirren 0: 4. The next day, Mowbray was dismissed from his position as head coach of the Celts ^{[28] [29]} .

Middlesbrough

October 26, Tony was appointed head coach of his native club - Middlesbrough ^{[1] [2]} .

In his first season, Mowbray managed to keep Boro in the championship at the helm, and next year he didn’t have one place to lead Middlesbrough to the playoffs of the tournament. In 2013, he left Riverside after scoring only two victories in twelve matches.

Coventry City

March 3, 2015 was appointed to the post of head coach of the football club " Coventry City ", who was in the relegation zone of League One , signing a contract until the end of the 2014-2015 season.

Tony was given the task of keeping Sky Blues in League One for 14 games before the end of the championship, and in the end he accomplished a “lame” feat, in the final round, he saved the team from relegation in a game against Crawley Town

On September 29, 2016, Mowbray was dismissed after failing to win a single victory in the new season 2016-2017.

Blackburn Rovers

On February 22, 2017, Tony Mowbray signed a contract for a period of 18 months with the Blackburn Rovers football club , which was fighting for survival in the 2016/17 season . The Englishman replaced the Irish Owen Coyle in this post

The specialist managed to put the team on the game and improve the results - in 15 matches Blackburn suffered only 3 defeats. However, the "tramps" anyway knew the bitterness of relegation to League One .

Despite the drop in class, the club owners supported Mowbray. After lengthy negotiations that took place in India , on May 23, 2017, it was announced that the manager would continue to work at Iwood Park .

On June 9, 2017, Tony Mowbray signed a two-year contract with the option of renewing one more. Under his leadership, "Blackburn" won a ticket to the Championship a year after departure. Officially, the promotion was issued on April 24 after the victory over Doncaster Rovers with a score of 1: 0. In the final standings, "tramps" took 2nd place, losing " Wigan Athletic " just three points.

Coaching statistics

And - games, B - winnings, H - draws, P - defeats,% of wins - percentage of wins

(data corrected as of October 9, 2018)

as a player

  Middlesbrough

• Leaving the Third Division Football League : 1986/87
• 3rd place in the Second Division of the Football League : 1987/88

  Ipswich Town

• The winner of the playoffs of the First Division of the Football League : 1999/00

as a coach

  West Bromwich Albion

• Championship Winner: 2007/08

  Blackburn Rovers

• Leaving the League One : 2017/18

Mowbray's first wife, Bernadette, died on January 1, 1995, at the age of 24, eight months after their marriage to Tony. ^[30]

Mowbray is now married a second time. He and his wife Amber have three sons, Lucas, Max and Oliver ^[31] .

Tony is an ardent fighter for a healthy lifestyle. He has never smoked and does not drink alcohol at all from the age of nineteen ^[32] .

• Player and (eng.) On soccerbase.com
• Coaching statistics on soccerbase.com (English)
• Mowbray's profile on the Middlesbrough official website (English)
• Mowbray's profile on transfermarkt.de (it.)
• Mowbray statistics on www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com (eng.)