West Bromwich Albion have turned to a familiar face in their bid for promotion, with Tony Mowbray returning to The Hawthorns. Having previously guided the Baggies to the Premier League in 2008, his experience in the Championship is undeniable. To get more insight on his impact and what it means for West Brom’s promotion hopes, we spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld.
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00:00Now, as West Bromwich Albion had turned to a familiar face in their promotion bit, with
00:08Tomi Mowbray returning to the Hawthorns. Having previously guided the Baggies to the Premier
00:13League in 2008, his experience in the Championship is undeniable. Mowbray's success at clubs
00:19like Sunderland and Blackburn show he can develop young talent while keeping a squad
00:24competitive. But with the Championship more unpredictable than ever, can his tactical
00:29approach give West Brom the edge? To get more insight on his impact and what it means
00:34for West Brom's promotion hopes, I spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Firmian World.
00:40Charlie, let's look at West Bromwich Albion and let's just start by looking at the play-off
00:46race. We've mentioned it so many times, it's so close up there, just three points or so
00:53separating the ones who are in and the ones who aren't. The top four are clearly drifting
00:58away from the rest. What's the stance? What are the important games coming up for them?
01:04They need to make sure they're there or thereabouts or a couple of bad results and they could
01:09be right back down the Championship table.
01:12Yeah, it's definitely a high-pressure situation at the Hawthorns. We saw this last season,
01:17even the season before that when Carlos Corbijn came in, they were in a relegation battle,
01:22pushed up, just about missed out on that play-off. It's always so competitive and a championship
01:27I think is one of the most exciting divisions in the world for that reason. This year, West
01:32Brom have kind of been fifth and sixth the entire time. It feels like somehow sticking
01:36in that place despite drawing so many games, more than any other team in a division. I
01:41think the important thing is they've been very difficult to beat. They've not had many
01:45defeats this season in the league, but they aren't scoring enough goals, I think is my
01:50concern. Just one in each of the last five matches, 1-1 draws all the time. It feels
01:55like 1-0s every now and then. It was a bit of a theme under Corbijn, quite a useful theme
02:00to win 1-0, but Tony Mowbray wants to play more exciting, high-action football, hitting
02:06the back of the net as much as possible, outscoring teams. They've not been able to do that yet
02:10and they've signed Adam Armstrong out front, on loan from Southampton, meant to be one
02:14of the most clinical players at this level. Someone like Will Lancashire, coming in on
02:18loan from Tottenham Hotspur, should be bagging goals at this stage. Tom Fellow is not quite
02:22in form. Like Grady Diangano, Jed Wallace, not able to step up off the bench at the moment.
02:27There are concerns, but I suppose having so much attacking depth isn't a bad thing and
02:31eventually it should click. It's just not doing so at the moment. Albion fans are getting
02:35a little bit anxious.
02:36Obviously, in terms of a play-off race, in terms of a run-in where you need to provide
02:43something, Tony Mowbray's got all that, he's got that experience under his hat. Do you
02:48feel that's going to be one of the biggest positives that Albion have right now to boast
02:53in terms of ahead of this run-in? They've got a manager who's been there, done that
02:57before and hopefully he can pull that string. And then if he doesn't, you've got to look
03:02at it on the flip side, if he does fail to get them in the play-offs, can you really
03:05blame him? He's had not long to work with this side. Corbran obviously leaving pretty
03:11much mid-season, breaking so many baggies' hearts and hopefully lays a good groundwork
03:17for the summer and then they can kick on next season.
03:21I think Mowbray is definitely the right man for the job. They wouldn't have appointed
03:24him otherwise. They did spend a long time to source the replacement for Corbran, quite
03:29a few interviewees, but Mowbray in the end, when he had his clean bill of health, he was
03:33able to take on the reins. I think West Brom fans were delighted about that. Maybe not
03:38so much now, considering the results haven't been flowing, or at least the victories haven't
03:43been flowing, but his personality is fantastic. His experience, as you say, recently, securing
03:48playoff football with Sunderland, his spell at the Stadium of Light, very impressive indeed.
03:53And he's got that experience in the high-pressure moments to get them over the line. I think
03:57he will. It'll be very tight. In my opinion, I think West Brom will just about have enough
04:02to finish in that top six. And it's the personality as well, his man management, when some players
04:07haven't got enough confidence, are struggling to hit the mark, struggling to hit the back
04:11of the net. He's able to give them that lift and just speaks to them about general life
04:16scenarios, kind of ignoring football at times, having those one-to-one meetings is so, so
04:20important. And I think that the squad, the team cohesion, very important as well.
04:24Now we've seen at the Hawthorns this season, just how much of an atmosphere it can generate
04:28the players after the game, even after not winning games, if they're drawing matches,
04:33they get a clap, a standing ovation from everybody there. Mowbray joining in as well. So important
04:38to have that kind of personality in the squad. And I think it will be just about enough to
04:42get them over that line.