Returning Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray says beating cancer has made him realise how lucky he is.
Mowbray is back at Ewood Park, four years after his first five-year spell, and says he has a new outlook on life after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in February 2024.
He quit as Birmingham City manager as he underwent treatment and says he feels re-energised since being given the all-clear.
Mowbray has been re-appointed on a long-term contract by Blackburn and told BBC Radio Lancashire: “I didn’t expect to get as ill as I did and spend so much time in hospital, having major operations and going through chemotherapy, but it’s given me a new look on life.
“When I walk around the Christie Hospital in Manchester and see the hundreds of very, very seriously sick people with their bandanas on, with no hair and looking very frail, it makes me feel how lucky I am in life.
“I’ve got an amazing family, an amazing wife, three brilliant kids and all I’ve ever done in my life is play football and manage football teams.
“I feel really blessed, honoured, proud to be coming back to such an amazing football club. I’ve amazing memories here, had some great times and I want to try and bring them back if I can.”
Mowbray, who had a second spell in charge of West Brom last year and has also managed Hibs, Celtic, Middlesbrough, Coventry, Sunderland and Birmingham, insisted he was not ready to retire at 62.
“I need more in life, I’m not ready to retire,” he said.
“I’ve got a lot of friends who say ‘Mogga, just retire. You don’t need the pressure, the hassle. People telling you that you don’t know what you’re doing, your team is rubbish’.
“But I lived with that all my life as a player and a coach and I can face up to it and take it on the chin.”
Some Blackburn fans have lost patience with owners Venky’s because of the club’s decline. They finished 20th in the Championship last season and were the second lowest scorers with just 42 goals.
Mowbray, who guided Rovers to eighth in the Championship in his final season, said: “I feel I’ll be supported. I don’t sit here wanting to be king and do everything.
“I’m delighted we have a sporting director who can do that.”
The returning boss believes he can develop the team and score more goals.
“I think I can put them in better positions, get the ball in the box more, get more bodies in the box so when the crosses or shots come in, there are more people in there to stick it in the back of the net,” he said.
“I sit here quite confident we can make it a better team.”
