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Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English football manager and former footballer who was most recently the manager of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender.
He began his coaching career with Ipswich Town and took his first managerial job at Scottish Premier League side Hibernian, where he won the Scottish Football Writers' Association Manager of the Year award in his first season. He moved on to West Bromwich Albion in 2006, where he won the Football League Championship in 2008, but then suffered relegation from the Premier League the following year. Mowbray was then appointed as manager of Celtic, but was dismissed after nine months for poor results.
Mowbray subsequently took the manager's role at another of his former clubs, Middlesbrough. After a poor start to the 2013–14 season, Mowbray left Middlesbrough in October 2013. After a spell with Coventry City, he was appointed Blackburn Rovers manager in February 2017. He was unable to prevent Rovers being relegated to League One, but then won promotion back to the EFL Championship at the first attempt.
In 2007, Mowbray was placed at number 7 in a chronological list of Middlesbrough legends compiled by local newspaper the Evening Gazette. The Middlesbrough club fanzine Fly Me to the Moon is named after a quote about Mowbray from ex-Middlesbrough manager Bruce Rioch – "If I had to fly to the moon I'd take Tony Mowbray, my captain, with me. He's a magnificent man". In 1991, after 348 appearances for Boro, Mowbray moved to Scottish club Celtic for £1 million.
The Hibs team progressed to the later stages of every domestic cup competition during his tenure, and made two appearances in European football. They lost heavily to FC Dnipro 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 mid-2006 Mowbray was interviewed for the vacant managerial position at Ipswich Town, but he rejected this approach. Mowbray rejects Ipswich approach, BBC Sport, 19 May 2006 In September 2006 he signed a 12-month rolling deal with Hibs that was due to take effect from July 2007. Just one month later, however, Mowbray moved to West Bromwich Albion.
As a result, during the close season, Mowbray set about restructuring his squad, moving out several of Robson's players for multimillion-pound fees, after press reports of dressing room division. Boss: I had to clear decks Express & Star, 12 September 2007.
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 Championship Manager of the Month award in September 2007, after Albion gained 13 out of the maximum 15 points and climbed to second in the Division.
At the start of 2008, Mowbray's young Albion team topped the table, receiving growing plaudits from the media and supporters alike for their attractive brand of attacking one touch passing football, a reflection of Mowbray's staunch footballing philosophy.
Mowbray guided West Brom to the EFL 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 Premier League 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, as well as the League Managers Association manager of the year award.
After a poor 2008–09 season, West Bromwich were relegated from the Premier League, finishing 20th. Mowbray was still thought highly of by the fans, however, and this was evidenced by them wearing Mowbray masks at their last game of the season. Mowbray left the club for Celtic shortly afterwards.
Mowbray was described as "beleaguered" by The Herald after Celtic fell 10 points behind Old Firm rivals Rangers in the SPL title race after a 2–1 Celtic Park defeat by Hibs. Mowbray refuses to admit title race is over as Hibernian put massive dent in Celtic's championship hopes , The Herald, 27 January 2010.
Mowbray decided to make significant changes to his squad during the January 2010 transfer window, selling Gary Caldwell and Barry Robson, which apparently caused disruption to the team in the immediate aftermath of those deals being completed. Robbie Keane was recruited early in 2010 on a loan deal from Tottenham Hotspur amid great excitement; however, further poor results, particularly a record 4–0 defeat by St Mirren, led to Mowbray being sacked on 25 March. It was reported in May 2010 that Celtic had yet to agree compensation with Mowbray and his management team. LMA – Mowbray still waiting, Sky Sports, 23 May 2010.
Middlesbrough began the 2011–12 season well and Mowbray won manager of the month for September. Middlesbrough relinquished the only unbeaten record in the league after a 2–0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in October 2011. After a poor start to 2012, Middlesbrough's form picked up in late February with four wins in five games. Middlesbrough finished 7th in the 2011–12 season, missing out on a play-off place by one position.
After an unbeaten run in October 2012, Mowbray won the accolade of Championship Manager of the Month for that month. On 21 October 2013, it was announced that Mowbray had left the club with immediate effect after a run of two wins in 12 games in the 2013–14 campaign.
Following protracted negotiations at the end of the season, Tony Mowbray agreed to sign a two-year contract extension to remain as Coventry City manager.
Mowbray resigned from Coventry City on 29 September 2016 after a string of results without a win.
Mowbray signed a new contract that would keep him at the club until 2019, with an option of a further 12 months after that as well. Under his managership, Blackburn won promotion back to the Championship after a single year in League One. Their promotion was assured on 24 April, after a 1–0 away win against Doncaster Rovers.
In the 2018–19 season, Mowbray led Blackburn to a final finish of 15th in the Championship. In the EFL Cup, they reached the third round before being eliminated at AFC Bournemouth. In the FA Cup, Blackburn were eliminated in the third round after extra time in a replay against Newcastle United.
In the 2019–20 season, Mowbray secured an 11th-place finish in the Championship. In the EFL Cup, the team reached the second round before defeat at Sheffield United. They were beaten in the third round of the FA Cup at fellow Championship side Birmingham City. Mowbray left Blackburn at the conclusion of his contract in May 2022 and was replaced by Jon Dahl Tomasson as head coach. He had served five years in the post.
He led the Black Cats to the play-offs, finishing sixth in his first season. Sunderland won the first leg against Luton Town 2–1 at the Stadium of Light but lost 2–0 in the second leg, losing 3–2 on aggregate.
On 4 December 2023, Mowbray was dismissed by Sunderland, with the club in ninth position in the Championship.
On 21 April 2025, Mowbray was sacked by the West Bromwich Albion, after a run of poor results.
| Middlesbrough | 1982–83 | Second Division | 0 |
| 1983–84 | Second Division | 1 | |
| 1984–85 | Second Division | 3 | |
| 1985–86 | Second Division | 4 | |
| 1986–87 | Third Division | 7 | |
| 1987–88 | Second Division | 5 | |
| 1988–89 | First Division | 3 | |
| 1989–90 | Second Division | 2 | |
| 1990–91 | Second Division | 5 | |
| 1991–92 | Second Division | 0 | |
| Celtic | 1991–92 | Scottish Premier Division | 2 |
| 1992–93 | Scottish Premier Division | 1 | |
| 1993–94 | Scottish Premier Division | 1 | |
| 1994–95 | Scottish Premier Division | 1 | |
| Ipswich Town | 1995–96 | First Division | 3 |
| 1996–97 | First Division | 0 | |
| 1997–98 | First Division | 1 | |
| 1998–99 | First Division | 2 | |
| 1999–2000 | First Division | 2 | |
Ipswich Town
Individual
Blackburn Rovers
Individual Awards
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