Jim's column 7.3.15

Tony Mowbray was unveiled as Coventry City's new manager on Tuesday, becoming the 35th manager since the war & the 13th since the club were relegated from the Premier League 14 years ago.

Tony had a long & successful playing career with Middlesbrough, Celtic & Ipswich Town & made over 570 league & cup appearances – the majority with 'Boro who he captained to successive promotions in the late 1980s under the managership of Bruce Rioch. In 1988-89 they were back in the top flight (the old First Division) & I thought he must have played in that classic game at Highfield Road that season when David Speedie scored a hat-trick of headers for the Sky Blues but finished on the losing side. A Bernie Slaven hat-trick ensured 'Boro won 4-3. It's hard to imagine 'Speedo' scoring three headers against the man-mountain Mowbray & on checking the line-ups I discovered it was one of the few games that Tony missed that season. Later that campaign he played against the Sky Blues in a 1-1 league draw at Ayresome Park and a 1-0 victory in the Zenith Data Systems Trophy.

Middlesbrough were relegated that season & although they returned to the new Premier League in 1992, Tony had moved on to Celtic and the 1988-89 season was the only season he played in the English top flight. He never appeared against the Sky Blues again & never played at Highfield Road.

After retiring from playing in 2000 having captained Ipswich to promotion to the Premier League in his final season, he became coach at Portman Road but in 2004 got his first management job at Hibernian. His success in Edinburgh alerted West Brom & he was appointed their manager in 2006. After losing the play-off final in his first season, he led the Baggies to the Championship title in 2008 as well as the FA Cup semi finals.

In those two seasons he came up against the Sky Blues on five occasions, winning four and losing once. In 2006-07 Micky Adams' City lost 0-5 at the Hawthorns & in the return at the Ricoh soon after Iain Dowie took over, the Baggies triumphed 1-0. The latter game was memorable for two red cards. City's Ben Turner was sent off on his full debut & Albion's Diomansy Kamara followed near the end. In 2007-08 Albion won 4-0 at the Ricoh in a game that saw Michael Mifsud sent off after just 10 minutes. In the return at the Hawthorns a month later City pulled off a major shock by winning 4-2 with two goals apiece for Leon Best & Mifsud. The teams also met in the FA Cup fifth round that season just a week after Dowie had been sacked. City, led by caretaker bosses Frank Bunn & John Harbin, picked up another red card, for Michael Doyle, and were comprehensively hammered 0-5 with four of the goals coming after Doyle's dismissal.

The following season the Baggies were relegated from the Premier League & in the summer of 2009 Tony was lured away to Celtic. His time in Glasgow was troubled & he was sacked before the season was out, having failed to keep pace with Rangers in the SPL. In October 2010 he was recruited by Middlesbrough & for a while things went well. He steered them away from the relegation zone & they finished 12^th. They came up against the Sky Blues at the Ricoh in December & lost to a Marlon King penalty but won the return 2-1 at the Riverside in April. In 2011-12 he led Boro to seventh place but managed to take just one point from the games against City. A 1-1 early season draw at the Riverside was followed in January by a rare Sky Blue win – McSheffrey, Nimely & an own goal on target in a 3-1 victory. The following season Boro finished sixteenth and Tony lost his job at the Boro twelve games into the 2013-14 campaign.

Tony's managerial record against the Sky Blues is therefore:

Pl W D L

WBA 5 4 0 1

Middle sbrough 4 1 1 2

Several readers were surprised at the statistic I quoted last week regarding the home record of Coventry City managers. I said that since we left the Premiership in 2001 only Roland Nilsson had a better than 50% win ratio in home games. On further investigation I can reveal some startling statistics. Since the team moved to the Ricoh in 2005 the team has won only 85 home league games out of 223, a win ratio of 38%. Before anyone says 'The Ricoh must have a curse on it', I can tell you that the win ration since the club dropped out of the Premiership in 2001 is virtually identical. So things were as bad at Highfield Road.

The home records of the managers since 2001 are as follows:

	Pl	W	D	L	Win ratio
Roland Nilsson	20	12	3	5	60.0%
Micky Adams	45	21	13	11	46.7%
Eric Black	11	5	3	3	45.4%
Iain Dowie	22	9	4	9	40.9%
Peter Reid	15	6	4	5	40.0%
Mark Robins	13	5	3	5	38.4%
Aidy Boothroyd	19	7	3	9	36.8%
Chris Coleman	53	19	20	14	35.8%
Andy Thorn	29	10	11	8	34.5%
Steven Pressley	44	15	17	11	34.1%
Gary McAllister	34	9	12	13	26.5%

(League games only)

Chief executive Steve Waggott said last week that he was looking for a manager with a 40% win ration or better (and Tony Mowbray meets that criteria) but most Coventry City managers in the last fourteen years haven't been able to achieve that in home games.

Despite impressive results at Sixfields last season, Pressley's home record was poor & he won only five of 18 games at the Ricoh. Even Mark Robins struggled at home but his outstanding away record leaves us remembering his time as a golden period.

For a comparison with the above table, Coventry City's most successful managers have been Harry Storer & Jimmy Hill. Hill's home win ratio in his six years at the club was 60%, whilst Harry Storer in his two spells between 1931 and 1953 achieved a home win ratio of over 63%. During City's golden era from 1931-1939 under Storer's management the team won 70% of its home games.