Tony Mowbray was tonight sacked as manager of Middlesborough.
Ten games into the new season the axe fell on the former Celtic boss with the club sitting in 16th place in The Championship with 12 points from 12 games.
Mowbray’s departure was widely predicted following Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Barnsley where Paddy McCourt was among the scorers for the home team.
A short statement on the club website tonight said: “MIDDLESBROUGH Football Club have today announced that manager Tony Mowbray has left the club with immediate effect.
“Assistant manager Mark Venus will take charge of the team until further notice.
The club would like to place on record their sincere thanks to Tony Mowbray for all of his substantial efforts, dedication and integrity. He leaves with the very best wishes of all at the club.”
Mowbray took over from Gordon Strachan on 26 October 2010 and won 61 out of 153 games with 55 defeats and 37 draws.
His reign got off to the trickiest of starts as he walked into a dressing room containing four players he’d shipped out from his time at Celtic- Stephen McManus, Willo Flood, Barry Robson and Scott McDonald.
Despite finally clearing out that quartet in the summer results this season have been disappointing with Mowbray cutting the same forlorn distant figure on the touchline as he did throughout his time at Celtic.
Speaking before getting tonight’s news he was typically resilient telling BBC Tees: “You can ask whether I am losing the support of the fans but it’s not about the individual, it’s about whether it’s felt the football club is moving in the right direction,” he continued.
“And that’s not just me, it’s the owner of our football club and the supporters too. The players didn’t capitulate against Barnsley despite being 3-0 down at half-time [the match ended 3-2] so I think they still believe in what we are doing here.
“And with the supporters, there has been both positive and negative reaction from them and I don’t think there’s a manager in the world who has total support of his club’s fans.”
This calendar year Boro have won 5 out of 33 matches, losing 19 and drawing 9.
Gee Boro! What took you so long? Fact: Celtic fans have to go back to Lou Macari’s short reign from October 1993 to June 1994 to find a manager with a win rate worse off than Mowbray’s. Macari, who like Mowbray spent time as a player with the Hoops, won just eight of his 25 matches. He ripped our side apart in the January 2010 window and spent a fortune on duds. How did the board let this happen? He let Scott McDonald go when he was scoring for fun. Neil Lennon was left to clean up the mess and look how they are going now! Check this: Middlesbrough England 26 October 2010 to 21 October 2013 P153 W61 D37 L55 WIN %-39.87!! Nuff said!
Thanx for that. I’d blanked out his tenure with us. I’d forgotten that he dismantled the team for no apparent advancement. But he was still one of the family. God bless tony with whatever you do in the future. HH
I don’t think the big man has the temperament to be in management and maybe a tendency to read what the laptop loyalists opine and take it as gen.
I would like to say in his defence though, he was at the helm during the worst season of ‘honest mistakes’ in the history of scoddish football as they geared up for get the huns into the cl at any cost was put into action.
They knew the huns needed cl money or they would have went down the drain a season before they did, and so it was to be.
And a bigger waste of a cl place will never be seen again.
I think that would have torn the soul out of any manager in the game.
HH
Sweeney,
Remember the 2 games at Owebrox that season? I know you can’t excuse Mowbray’s poor results and performances but those games go into the Celtic pantheon of WTF?!?
The 2 blatant pens turned down in the 1st game and Majid ‘wink wink’ Bougherra getting of the hook when committing about 8 bookable fouls on Robbie Keane. Who knows what would have ensued if honesty prevailed. Big Tony the Tiger would probably have still proceeded to feck it up but we’ll never know for sure.
He’s missing that edge needed in todays game Frank, maybe a touch of the Sir David Hay school of ‘just to nice a guy’.
Big Tony was a great player for Celtic and gifted us our now world famous Huddle and we should never forget that.
Oh well, another one for him to ‘take on the chin and move on’.