The West Brom clash on Monday will see Mowbray face an old club of his, he was the Baggies manager back in 2006 where he gained promotion to the Premier League with them.
HAPPY MEMORIES
“It’s a lovely club, wonderful people and there's still a lot of people there from when I was there, back in 2007. I was there during the era where it was “Boing Boing Baggies” really they were going up, going down, going up, going down and that didn't really change during my tenure.”
GOOD TIMES
“I enjoyed living in the West Midlands, two of my children were born in the West Midlands. I lived around the Solihull area and Birmingham is a lovely city to explore. Happy memories, we had two Wembley appearances, a Play Off Final, winning the league but yeah happy days, happy memories.”
WEST BROM ANALYSIS
“Carlos (Coberan) is now in charge, I think the new manager is starting to put his identity on the club. I’ve been watching them this morning and they’re on a good run, obviously they got beat in a friendly this week against Elche CF who are a spanish team but as I watched them their personnel was similar but they have different rotating options in their team now, similar to what Huddersfield did. I think they’ve got really good players you know at Blackburn Rovers Jed Wallace was a player that i tried to sign but he went to West Brom. And I think Jon Swift was their best attacking midfield option so they’ve got two really high quality footballers there and then you throw in Grady Diangana and they’ve got a really good squad of experienced footballers.”
TOUGH GAME
“We are expecting a really tough game, they’re a team with an identity that's how they play. They’re a very experienced, good, technical football side and I'm sure they will give us some problems on the day but I’m sure we will give them some problems as well.”
DEFENSIVELY STRONG
“They’ve won three on the bounce in the league, from what I'm seeing and what I'm looking at their defensive side have got three clean sheets in those three games. They’ve really tightened up out of possession and they’ve found a way to score.”
STEWART RETURN?
“I think there’s a chance, he’s been playing matches on the training ground and he scored a really, really good goal to be honest with you. But it was freezing cold and it wasn't an ideal game but it was good for his confidence to be back playing in an XI v XI football match. We’ll see how he trains the rest of the week. He was cooling down today with some of the lads that played that game but he’ll train in the days before the game at the weekend.”
BENCH AT LEAST
“I think at a minimum he will make the bench as long as he feels strong and confident because when players have been out for a while it’s not just the manager's decision if he is ready. I have to make sure that he feels confident in his body and that he’s ready to impact the game. How’s he been? Always positive and a really good character around the building. I think he’s earned all the respect of all the team through what he’s achieved during his time at the club.”
TEAM NEWS
“There’s one or two not training, Pritchard isn't training as he came off with a slightly tight groin but I'm sure he’ll be fine. Luke O’Nien is not training but he was out running today so I'm sure he’ll be fine as well.”
BALLARD
“Danny Ballard is training though, he’s been fully training the last couple of days. We are looking at maybe giving him some game time at Reading away on Monday for the U21’s and that’ll be him back up and running.”
PLENTY TO CHOOSE FROM
“We’re nearly getting there where everybody should be available really Michut is another one who is back out there training and should be ready early next week. So fingers crossed we can keep them fit and selection issues will be more of a problem for me I suppose.”
