Another one of our bright young writers takes a good look at Tony Mowbray this afternoon, and what the Swans could possibly expect this Saturday ( St Andrews, KO 3pm ) It won’t take Tony Mowbray long to steady the ship and get Birmingham City going.

It’s been eight games since the Swans gained a victory over the Blues. That was back in those weird times of pandemics and theatrics in July 2020. Pep Clotet then Birmingham City manager left his role after this game as Steve Cooper lead the Swans upwards to the play offs.

Since then there has been four draws and three losses for the Swans, including that bizarre 3-4 turnaround in front of seventeen and a half thousand hardy souls last February. Both sides have reasons to be extremely cheerful this coming Saturday with new managers in place. Tony Mowbray now ( hopefully ) leading the resurgence at St Andrews, and Luke Williams at Swansea. You would expect Mowbray to immediately be working on organisation and defensive frailties. That in itself will improve the Blues squad for this fixture.

Mowbray has a belief that mentoring each other as players with specific roles has improved his squads at Blackburn and Sunderland, and that’s a fact. He left those clubs in a sound way and you will rarely see or read of too many fans or club owners criticising him. He is a steady hand and that’s what the Blues need more than most. He identifies ability and works towards that players development carefully managing the process. For an older coach he most certainly takes on information quickly and embraces new ideas.

Mowbray at Blackburn : “The biggest area of growth in this football club in the five years is the individual development of our footballers, to try and make the young players first-team players and better and try and hit the targets they get set. The drills are created for each individual on the grass and they work on technique, whether that’s finishing, crossing. That’s what this club does, tries to develop its young players and I hope the evidence is there, that the young players are in and around the team”

A look at Mowbray, now sixty and his football record it’s incredibly impressive with so many games managed. Let’s be honest here he hasn’t chosen easy clubs to manage with the expectation and size, he had to perform, he most certainly put himself out there.

It won’t surprise anyone to learn that Mowbray has brought his trusted right hand man with him to Birmingham. Mark Venus has been with Mowbray for twenty years, a constant figure alongside him. As per Mowbray, Venus is from the north east, now fifty six he will again take to the touchline on Saturday. “ “I played with him at Ipswich Town and Tony was one of the players in the group who talked about football. I must have said some things that Tony quite liked. When he got a job he invited me to work for him and he gave me a chance and I’m eternally grateful for that”

Mowbray’s teams are well known for an aggressive press in midfield areas, when that proves effective they also then high press further forwards. Playing through the lines is an often used term, but without quick ball retention and good possession stats it isn’t possible. At Sunderland Mowbray dominated games in the centre of the park and overall had over fifty percent possession across all his games. We will see aggression on Saturday and most certainly pace which will no doubt please the Blues support after a torrid time with Wayne Rooney.

Photograph Open Source

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