Axe falls on former Celtic boss

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.