Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox bring you their take on Tony Mowbray's first West Brom press conference.
Mowbray was appointed as the new Albion coach on Friday - 16 years after he left the club following his original spell.
Jonny and Lewis reflect on an emotive press conference, where Mowbray went into detail on his battle with cancer but also his plans for Albion.
Mowbray was appointed as the new Albion coach on Friday - 16 years after he left the club following his original spell.
Jonny and Lewis reflect on an emotive press conference, where Mowbray went into detail on his battle with cancer but also his plans for Albion.
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00:00Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressAndStar.com, my name is Jonny Drew, I'm here with Albion
00:12correspondent Lewis Cox at the Albion training ground and we've just had a very, very enjoyable
00:16hour with the new Baggies boss, the new returning Baggies boss, Mr Tony Mowbray, was unveiled
00:22to the press this morning, sat alongside sporting director Andrew Nesta, chatted through a range
00:28of subjects from how he wants Albion to play, from his year and his battle with cancer and
00:32his return to football. Now Coxy, I sort of closed down our blog and thought about the
00:39last sort of hour, because Tony Mowbray did speak for a good solid hour, anything and
00:45everything he talked about in the last hour, he talked about it with unbelievable passion.
00:49You know, he might be a bit older, maybe possibly a bit greyer since he was last in the Albion
00:54dugout, but he's lost none of his passion for football and his excitement for what he
00:58can hopefully deliver at Albion really shone through today amongst a host of other things.
01:04Yeah I mean, to be honest it was unbelievable wasn't it, that hour, it was quite something
01:09to witness. I mean, we're working it, we're asking him the questions and it was a true
01:18privilege to sit in on and to listen to. See you Tom. Talksport Correspondent exits the unveiling.
01:28It was phenomenal to witness. I just sometimes I think, you know, I mean you're a supporter,
01:36but first a professional Johnny. You know, the people that are watching this here, you lifted
01:41these fans into that and allowed them to witness it. I know like I've watched some of the TV clips
01:47on local telly tonight and stuff and on Sky, but really something to witness wasn't it?
01:53Even before you get into the nuts and bolts about the health recovery really, that's the
02:00part of it that hits home isn't it? That's what he's talking about and it stops you in
02:04your tracks and the detail he went into, the honesty he went into about his recovery. About
02:09his year with cancer really, with bowel cancer and the dark days, how bad it got. He was
02:14graphic wasn't he? Honest and graphic and that brings it all back into the most important thing,
02:25is getting better for his family. Now I'm sure his kids had a dad and his wife. However,
02:32I was just going to say, a very close second, but the determination of I'm getting back to,
02:41I think even, or near to his dark days, I will manage again. I'll be getting back to being a
02:48manager and certainly in the last few months when he's been in good recovery, been on the way back
02:54to feeling better and obviously it was only last week, less than a week ago he got the All Clear.
02:58You know, I think we need to remember that. That's pretty phenomenal in itself isn't it?
03:03Less than a week ago. The determination and the passion you talked about and the love for
03:11the game is really incredible. We spoke to a few people afterwards haven't we, about his
03:18predecessor, Carlos Corban, was one of the most mental people for football I've ever met, if not
03:24the most. Tony loves the game as much, if not more, but as characters and professionals and
03:34individuals, I don't think you could get too many different ends of the spectrum in terms of
03:40personality and character and that's going to be a big feature, I think, behind these beeping
03:46electronic gates. Yes, apologies for that, we were trying to find another area to record,
03:50this was the only one unfortunately, so you've got car noise and a beeping. The regular viewers
03:54will know it's usually just me and a phone isn't it, but they'll know the regular stuff.
04:00Coxy, one of the main takeaways, you know, there'll be a host of stuff on the Express
04:03and Star website throughout the day, we would say throughout the week, but there's a game
04:07tomorrow, so we've still got to talk about that at some point in the next day, but he talked a lot
04:15about his battle with cancer and like you said there, a very poignant line about his family and his
04:20children and he spoke, he was asked about being an inspiration and if he can be an inspiration
04:24for anyone else who's battling cancer and I think when you strip it all back and take
04:28football away, football kind of doesn't really matter when you hear these things that he's
04:31talking about, but he also talked about how he sees Albion and how there's a lot that's gone
04:36right with Albion, he was very, very complimentary of Carlos Corban, someone who he said he had
04:40a very good relationship with and chatted with a lot. And we knew that, do you remember
04:44Carlos' quotes from how much he respected Tony going back? He did and he said there's
04:50not a lot that needs changing with Albion, but his one line was this team maybe needs
04:54its tummy tickled a bit and it needs a couple of, unlocking a few people, letting off the
04:58leash and that was probably the main takeaway, you know, he doesn't want to lose Carlos Corban's
05:04defensive solidity, that's the word I'm looking for, easy for you to say. However, he wants
05:11Albion to be more attacking, he wants them to play more front foot football and he wants
05:15Albion to be more, he won't say it, but more like the Tony Mowbray we saw 16 years ago.
05:20It's not going to be as good as that because that was an exceptional team, but he wants
05:23it to be more in terms of those principles, but building on what Carlos has done already.
05:27It'd be some effort in the second half of the season if this squad reached 100 goals
05:31in all competitions, wouldn't it? We'd be seeing a few 6-0s. Look, yeah, you're right,
05:35that was the main footballing takeaway from this presser and I've just put that on social
05:40media was, look, Tony wouldn't have had to have watched all Albion games this season
05:47or last season or whatever to know that the deficiency was in the final third. The goals
05:54against record under the predecessor was phenomenal, the defensive record all in, the structure
06:00and organisation and discipline, that's Carlos Corbijn, isn't it? It got Albion into the
06:05play-offs and that's his strength and credit and fair play to him. The deficiency is clearly
06:11on the other side of the halfway line when it comes to productivity in the final third,
06:17creating chances and scoring goals, clear as day and he wouldn't have had to, as I say,
06:21watch games to find that out. Look at the, he referenced the draw run, didn't he? 11
06:26draws in 13 or 12 in 13, whatever it was, only a month or so ago and yeah, those comments
06:33you mentioned, those quite powerful comments really about, and he referenced individuals
06:38and basically all the attackers in doing so, didn't he, in letting them off their leash.
06:42And when he talked about it, he expressed it with excitement of what they can do. Yeah,
06:46he was raving about Grady, wasn't he? And yeah, I mean, I'm speaking to one or two people
06:53who actually know Tony well and look, his reputation of developing players, developing
06:58young players, what can that do for Tom Fellows? Look how far Tom Fellows has come in 12 months,
07:05his assist record, where could he go? What more could Tony unlock? But actually, Mikey
07:11Johnson I think, and Tony will know more than us about Mikey Johnson, not from Celtic, obviously
07:16Tony's got a strong connection with Celtic, hasn't he? And he'll know all about Mikey
07:19and what he could do for that player is something I really do. Yeah, but he raved and waxed
07:25lyrical about Grady, didn't he? He's, you know, where has he been this season until
07:30last couple of weeks? And then, I don't want to give too much away, but unprompted at the
07:34end of the presser, you're kind of thinking, I saw you say on the live blog, it looked
07:38like the unveiling was being wrapped up. All of a sudden, unprompted, no one asked, gives
07:43his honest opinion on Jed Wallace and John Swift. And you'll be able to read what he
07:48said sort of soon and what honesty, but what sort of clear understanding of it. Look, he
07:55said, Jed Wallace, one of the best wings in the division for many a year, but what's going
08:00on? He's started three games this season. John Swift, what a player at Reading, double
08:04figures for goals most of the season. What the hell's happening here? You know, what
08:07was he saying? Are they unhappy? You know, what's going on? And I think, reading between
08:12the lines, conversations he's had with them already and he's going to have, well, hopefully
08:18be able to unlock these players for at least the rest of the season. But the balance is,
08:25how do you get a fit and firing and the best out of Jed Wallace while you're doing likewise
08:29with Tom Fellows? And look, that's a conundrum, but if they're all fit and firing, then I'll
08:33be playing well, creating more and scoring more goals and winning more games. But the
08:39clear message, clearly, and supporters will like to hear this, he even referenced getting
08:43them off their seats more. Let's not forget Andrew Nesta sitting next to him was also
08:48on the same note. So clearly, and this is nothing new, we knew this, but the board's
08:53thinking in this appointment, in this project, is that we want to be more entertaining. We
08:59want to score more, create more, get more of a good atmosphere and vibe going around
09:03the place. And it feels like, I'm not expecting Tony Mowbray's Albion to start winning 4-5-0
09:09every week, but a clear change in style is on the agenda and it's going to be happening soon.