Latest Birmingham City news from BirminghamLive includes Tony Mowbray on the coaches he has inherited from Wayne Rooney
Tony Mowbray is willing to give the three coaches he has inherited from Wayne Rooney a chance at Birmingham City.
The ex-Sunderland boss has brought long-term sidekick Mark Venus to Blues, but the rest of his staff is currently made up of coaches he hasn’t previously worked with. Ashley Cole, John O’Shea and Pete Shuttleworth are still in place after Rooney’s exit, as well as goalkeeping coach Maik Taylor.
Many thought Cole, O’Shea and Shuttleworth would follow Rooney and Carl Robinson out of the exit door but Mowbray is open to working with them. “I come in with an open mind, I come in without an agenda,” Mowbray insisted.
The new Blues boss was keen to stress the importance of Venus, who has worked alongside him at all seven of his previous clubs. Both Mowbray and Venus hail from the north east and the pair struck up a bond during their playing days at Ipswich Town.
Mowbray said: “Mark coming with me is really important. We are two different human beings really. I talked earlier on about not going to university and not having degrees, yet Veno is the cleverest guy I know. Stocks and shares, knowing which horse is going to win the 3:20 at Kempton… he is pretty bright!
“I lean on Veno and his brain at times. I bring the emotion and the passion. I think the combination works well.”
Cole, O’Shea and Shuttleworth have the chance to fit into Mowbray’s plans. Former England left-back Cole has become a more prominent figure on the training ground since the departures of Rooney and Robinson.
“What I’ve got around me, the extras as I arrive, I have to suss out really,” Mowbray added. “I have already talked to all the coaching staff individually and got their own views. I think things will develop.
“What’s important is we put the team at the centre of what we are trying to do really and it will evolve itself. Every time I go to a new club I don’t go in with an agenda – ‘I’m getting rid of him, I’m sacking him, he’s moving on’ – I don’t do that. I have to find out about the people.
“Sometimes the people want to stay and grow, and learn from you. Sometimes the people want to leave for whatever reason, they want to be a manager now and think they have been here long enough.
“I’m pretty open about it. Let’s see how it goes. People will be making their own minds up of what they want to do. The staff will be the staff. If we need to add some because people leave, that’s what we will do. If nobody leaves, it’ll be fine and we’ll get on with it.
“They are football people so I can associate with them and connect with them. If it was me, and I was a young coach once upon a time… I stopped playing in 2000 and George Burley was the manager at Ipswich Town. When he left Joe Royle came in. It was a totally different experience. Two hugely different men who did totally different things, yet you learn from them.
“I became a product of the different people I learned from and listened to, and it helps you grow and develop. If Ashley and John want to become coaches and managers somewhere down the line, they will take something off this one and nick something off that one, and they will use this because it was great, and definitely wouldn’t do that. They learn, so I’m happy to be a part of their journey. As long as we all put the team at the centre then we will be fine.”
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