Tony Mowbray ‘would not have signed current West Brom players’ after sack
West Brom recently parted ways with manager Tony Mowbray after a disappointing return to the Baggies this season.
Mowbray replaced Carlos Corberan after the Spaniard moved to Valencia mid-season, but it did not go as anticipated, with West Brom dropping out of the play-offs.
The 61-year-old made a hero’s return to The Hawthorns, having overseen a successful spell in the late 2000s, but he has now been dismissed after a disastrous run of form.
There are several factors behind Mowbray’s failure to make a positive impact at West Brom, and one of his former coaching assistants has now highlighted where it all went wrong.
Mark O’Connor gives Mowbray West Brom verdict
One of Mowbray’s old coaching staff, Mark O’Connor, has pointed out the problem with West Brom’s players under him.
“Tony is an old-school manager and wants his players to perform on the pitch, but I don’t think he’s got the best out of the players,” O’Connor stated on BBC Radio WM.
“If I’m being brutally honest and knowing the way Tony works, the players he had at West Brom weren’t ones he would have recruited, so he’s worked with players he knows he wouldn’t be next season if that was the case.”
| Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
| 10 | 44 | 14 | 18 | 12 | 60 |
“Sometimes you have to move your philosophy with who you work with and who you’ve got.
“I’m not saying Tony didn’t do that, but when you look at the players under Carlos Corberan, they were different to those under Tony – he likes men and characters and people who will put things on the line, and he wasn’t getting that.”
Mowbray failed to maximise West Brom squad
Corberan was at West Brom for two years before his shock departure, and the squad was built with his ideas and philosophy in mind.
Mowbray represented an emergency appointment, with very different tactical styles and methods of working, and he failed to adapt to Corberan’s squad.
The squad also failed to adapt to Mowbray’s ideas, with their form dropping off a cliff, and defeats such as the recent loss at Coventry City also showed that the players were not invested in their coach.
Whoever replaces Mowbray now has an uphill battle on their hands as they will aim to push for promotion with this squad, and adjustments will need to be made in the summer transfer window.
With a miracle needed to reach the play-offs, with the gap sitting at six points with two games to go, Shilen Patel can quickly change his priority.
Does he want a tactician like Corberan, or will he go old-school like Mowbray again? Only time will tell, but the proof has been in the pudding this season.