Birmingham City kickstart life under their new manager this weekend, with a home game vs Swansea City.
Tony Mowbray takes charge of his first Birmingham City game this weekend, with his side hosting fellow strugglers Swansea City in the Championship.
And it’s a first league game in charge for Swansea’s new boss Luke Williams who arrives from league Two side Notts County, with his new Swans outfit currently sitting in 15th place of the table compared to Blues in 20th.
Following the exit of Wayne Rooney and the subsequent arrival of Mowbray, Birmingham City fans have newfound optimism for the season ahead.
For Mowbray, achieving a comfortable Championship finish will be the aim this season, but having arrived on a two-and-a-half year deal, there’s scope for Mowbray to start delivering on the club’s long-term vision.
Tony Mowbray reveals Tom Wagner conversation
American businessman Tom Wagner took ownership of Birmingham City in the summer.
He went about a positive summer of business, spending millions on the likes of Dion Sanderson and Lee Buchanan, with several others arriving under John Eustace.
And the season started well. Birmingham City were in 6th at the time of Eustace’s sacking, with the board taking a gamble on Rooney.
But the Birmingham City board and Wagner are nothing if not ambitious, and brave too, with Mowbray echoing that in a recent interview with BBC Radio West Midlands.
He said:
“The owner [Tom Wagner] called me from the States full of enthusiasm, full of passion, full of drive, talking about their plans, that it wasn’t just words, that it was going to happen.”
Mowbray also revealed his own ambitions for returning to the dugout, just a few weeks after being let go by Sunderland.
“I’m at an age when still we want to be successful, get to the Premier League and then manage there again,” he said.
“I did have some other options and there were other clubs asking. But I know the Midlands, and I felt this was an amazing opportunity.
“I bring knowledge. I bring experience. I’ve been managing 20 years now. And I’m not silly. If there’s a project that’s going to take 10 years, then I’m not going to be here at the end of that project.”
Rooney gone, time for Birmingham City and Mowbray to push on
The Rooney experiment seemed destined to fail from the beginning.
But it’ll prove to be a big learning curve for the new owners who’ve made a very steady and quite exciting appointment in Mowbray.
Although he’s not some young, innovative coach from overseas which seems to be the trend right now, he is a vastly experienced name, and he does play an attacking brand of football which will no doubt remain a priority for the owners.
Just this season, Mowbray had Sunderland in the top six, and coming off the back of a relatively poor summer transfer window and with a lengthy injury list.
So there seems to be no reason why he can’t emulate the same with Birmingham City, though of course it’s a different task with different owners.
The first port of call will be getting Birmingham City up and away from the drop zone.
Birmingham City are actually in quite a perilous position right now with just six points between them and Sheffield Wednesday in 22nd, though the Owls are steadily climbing the table, and they could quickly drag Birmingham City into a relegation battle.
Swansea at home is a fairly nice opener for Mowbray, though the fact that they too have a new manager in place makes this a difficult one to prepare for.
But it looks like the first of many games in charge and another fresh start in this ambitious Birmingham City project under Wagner.
Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 3pm.