Mowbray... man of steel
TONY MOWBRAY fears for his Teesside homeland after the steelworks where his father, Clive, worked for 30 years closed this month.
Life support to an entire region’s industrial heartbeat was switched off when this useless government twiddled its thumbs as the coke ovens in Redcar were turned off.
As that old crook Richard Nixon once observed, the finest steel has to go through the hottest fire – it could almost be a euphemism for Mowbray’s career. Thirty years ago, he was the Middlesbrough captain who won back-to-back promotions after Boro survived financial meltdown by a whisker.
Now ‘Mogga’ is back in the smelting pot as manager at Coventry City, whose promising start in League One makes a nice change from the Sky Blues dabbling in apocalypse.
Mowbray, 51, has never abandoned his roots and his concern for the economic health of Teesside is not just lip service. “It’s devastating for the whole area. Losing your job is one thing, but people have to pay their mortgages, put food in their children’s mouths, and all of a sudden there are thousands of families wondering how they will be able to cope,” he said.
“My father worked at the Redcar steelworks for 30 years as a scaffolder and I used to visit the blast furnaces.
“Watching the sparks fly, the smells and sights of the smelting plants, made it an unbelievable place. It’s an incredibly worrying time for the region if such a hive of industrial activity is going to fall silent.
“I’m not a political animal, and maybe the need for steel around the world is not as great as it once was, but it feels like the heartbeat of Teesside is being taken away. I can feel it, we’re talking about my home.”
Mowbray, who led West Bromwich Albion to the Premier League seven years ago, took over at the Ricoh Arena when Coventry’s heartbeat had been reduced to a faint pulse last season. They only avoided relegation to the fourth tier on the final day at Crawley.
But the arrival of former England midfielder Joe Cole on a one-month loan from Aston Villa last night is a sign of brighter times.
“People keep telling me they have never seen Coventry win promotion, or even be involved in a play-off, in their lifetime,” said Mowbray.
“It’s time this club went from a tailspin of decline to a spiral of success. Attendances at the Ricoh are up to around the 13,000 mark, but if we want to bring the missing fans home, we need to consolidate on a decent start.”