New Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray has revealed his delight at getting the chance to manage the club he supported as a boy.
Mowbray, a former Boro player, succeeds Gordon Strachan in the Riverside hotseat following the Scot’s decision to step down following a disappointing start to their Championship campaign.
It is the second time in his managerial career that Mowbray has taken over from Strachan, having succeeded the former midfielder at Celtic in June 2009.
Mowbray lasted less than a year with the Scottish giants before being place on ‘gardening leave’, but having ironed out a few details with the Parkhead club he is relishing his return to management in a job he could not ignore.
The former Hoops and West Brom boss told Sky Sports News: “There was a few issues to resolve.
“But since I was six or seven I have been a Middlesbrough fan, so when the opportunity arose – it didn’t take me a moment’s thought.
“This is a club I have been passionate about all my life and I have this opportunity to guide them back where they belong. Our ambition is to get the club moving back in the right direction.
“I have been away for 19-and-a-half years, and every week my phone goes and tells me how Boro did, this is a special place and people who live in Middlesbrough know – you meet Boro people everywhere and they are very passionate about their team because when the Riverside is bouncing it is a special place and we need to get the fans back on board, so how much though did I give it? Not much thought.”
And Mowbray insists his Celtic failure, following success at Hibernian and West Brom, has not dented his confidence.
He added: “I have got no problems with my ability as a football manager.
“To try and build entertaining sides after 10 months and then a decision is made to chance that is fine – it wasn’t my decision so it does not hinder my belief to build teams that are entertaining.
“This is a big job, not the starting job you want it to be – the Championship is antirational and abrasive, whether you’re playing a team at the top of bottom it is a battle, we have to start winning games and we start at the weekend and we need to get the belief and the confidence going.”