HE KNOWS IT’S ALL ROVER
Mowbray bows out and says: I’m leaving the club in a better place... the new boss needs to make the young players grow
BY LINDSAY SUTTON
TONY MOWBRAY is on the way out at Blackburn but is not angry or bitter.
Even so, the seasoned 58-year-old has words of wisdom for the club’s owners, for whoever they appoint as his replacement - and a few warnings into the bargain.
After Rovers’ slim play-off hopes were dashed by promotion-hunting Bournemouth, Mowbray admitted: “I’m disappointed for the players and fans, but I’m leaving the club in a better place.
“Now it’s important the club’s next coach is a development coach, a manager with a growth mentality who will bring on the young players here.
“I love those boys, and that’s not too strong a word.
We’ve had five years together and they can see things are bubbling here. That’s why the owners need to get the next appointment right. Emotional intelligence is vital in management.”
Ambitious out-of-contract players such as Joe Rothwell, Ryan Nyambe and Darragh Lenihan will leave, and Mowbray reckons 21-goal striker Ben Brereton Diaz will be sold for around the same £15million brought in by Adam Armstrong last year.
He said: “Ideally, all that money needs to be reinvested. That wasn’t quite the case with the Armstrong cash.”
Mowbray, the longest-serving manager in the Championship, has no job to go to, and admitted: “I love football with a passion, so let’s see what turns up.”
The next target for second-placed Bournemouth is clinching automatic promotion tomorrow in a showdown with Nottingham Forest, the division’s form team, who are one place below them.
Cherries’ boss Scott Parker saw his side “clinically take their chances,” Dominic Solanke claiming his 30th goal of the season, and Phillip Billing bagging two crackers in a nine-minute spell in the second half.
Now it is toe to toe with Forest with two games to go, and Parker (left) admitted: “We need to stay level-headed and focused.
“It’s our opportunity to get promoted, and I look forward to the challenge.
“I have full trust in these boys. We’re easily the fittest team in this division, and we need to be ready. We’ll go for the win, not a point. We’ll try to assert ourselves. I was pleased to see a freedom and enjoyment out there, and that is something to take into Tuesday’s game.”
Bournemouth keeper Mark Travers added: “We need to show a positive mindset. This league is hard to get out of.
“You know it is going to go down to the wire, so you just have to keep grinding away.”