Tony Mowbray, Birmingham City manager, says he respects Sunderland’s decision to remove him as he prepares to play his former team on Saturday.
Mowbray, 60, left the Stadium of Light after 15 months in December, having won only two of his last nine games, and was replaced by Michael Beale.
Despite anger from fans following his departure, Mowbray stated that he has no animosity against Sunderland officials.
“For whatever reason, the club wanted to change. I accepted it,” he said.
“The ownership model is what it is. They wanted to make brave decisions. It is football, I understand it;
Beale claims Mowbray has ‘nothing to prove’.
Mowbray was born in Middlesbrough and went on to captain and manage the club. He claimed that some fans and family members didn’t understand why he took the position at Championship club Sunderland, but he did so to be closer to home.
“Sunderland was the team down the road, and several Middlesbrough fans, including my 14-year-old son, found it difficult for me to manage them.
“It was crucial for me to maintain a work-life balance. For five years, I watched my children grow up twice a week in Blackburn, which was two and a half hours distant from my home.
“I called when the Sunderland job was offered; I could live at home, see my family every night, eat with them, and, on occasion, drive them to school.” The local derby rivalry gone out the window.”
Since his arrival, Mowbray has won three games in all competitions for the Blues.
