SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
Coventry City mananger Tony Mowbray was the guest at the Coventry City Diamond Club lunch this afternoon.
One hundred and eighty members and guests attended the club's Annual General Meeting before enjoying lunch and speakers Pete Chambers, the Coventry Music Historian who spoke about the Coventry Music Museum and Billy Bell, who entertained with a few jokes.
Tony Mowbray arrived and was introduced by Joe Elliott to good applause. He said that there would be no players coming in on loan. The club had six players on loan already with Nick Proschwitz having to sit out games and with the imminent return of Reda Johnson and James Maddison, who had told the City boss how good he was, it was like having two new players anyway.
Speaking about Johnson, Mowbray said that he was trying to manage the Benin international whom he knew from his Sheffield Wednesday days and had told Johnson, who Mowbray sees as a big assett, to tell him when he was ready to play for the Sky Blues, which could be the game against Orient on Wednesday.
Mowbray spoke about how he manages and admitted that from the fifteen to sixteen managers that he played under in a twenty year career, he learnt more about what you would not do.
He agreed that whilst a lot of managers are vocal, he tries to learn each player's individual traits and develop a relationship with them.
Mowbray felt that he had inherited an honest and hard working team that did what you ask of them and they were a good bunch of players who worked hard, made mistakes but wanted to consolidate the club's place in League One this season.
Next season, Mowbray said that he would be looking to find better players with the same aspirations and work ethics of those currently employed and described Dominic Samuel as a fast learner.
Speaking about his career, Mowbray said that his first game was Middlesbrough versus Manchester United in 1972 and his love of football which he clearly showed in this talk lasting over forty minutes, grew.
Mowbray had twelve years at Middlesbrough before joining Celtic and the City boss spoke about the harshness of Scottish football whereby finishing second means nothing and for club's like Celtic is seen as failure.
Losing his first wife to cancer, forced him to have a change and he left to join George Burley at Ipswich Town for whom he played his last ever game in the Play-Off Final at Wembley in 2000.
Mowbray had known since the age of 22 that he wanted to be a manager and coached Ipswich in the Premier League, before managing at Hibs, West Brom, Celtic and Middlesborough.
He then felt that the hurt of defeat did not warrant the joy of success and opted to take a year off doing Dad things with the kids before applying for the City job.
The City boss said that he can feel the eyes on his back when he makes a substitution, especially if the crowd think it is the wrong decision but there is alway a logic behind his changes and he is employed to make those decisions, knowing that if he gets them wrong too many times, he will be out of a job.
Mowbray spoke about what needs to be done at Coventry City and said that it will be tough but we have to get better players and look at the club's infrastructure.
He wants the players to be proud of the club and wants to change Ryton where there are no pictures of former players and teams up and only a tiny Coventry City sign. Mowbray wants the players to know they are playing for Coventry City and is looking to find players who can play under the expection of the club and its supporters.
He explained that there was no scouting system currently at the club and not one person looking for players. The City boss wants a system whereby those he sent to matches could provide information on the Scout 7 system so that he could look at players anyone scouting for the club liked the look of.
Mowbray saif that the currency of any club is the quality of players they have and he had told Steve Waggott and co what he thought needs to happen, saying that he was trying to change things and that he might have to use some of the budget to improve things at Ryton, so that the players know they are playing for Coventry City and what it represents.
He also admitted that his job was to light the touch paper and get the owners to invest in the team and the club and to make City supporters proud again.
Mowbray finished by talking about Saturday's trip to Peterborough and said that training had been good. He spoke about Peterborough now being a different side to the one that played under Darren Ferguson and said they were direct and defended in numbers but the players should be going into the game confident that they can get a result.
He felt that confidence including playing on the Ricoh Arena pitch was an issue as was consistency but he was trying to build both.
One hundred and eighty members and guests attended the club's Annual General Meeting before enjoying lunch and speakers Pete Chambers, the Coventry Music Historian who spoke about the Coventry Music Museum and Billy Bell, who entertained with a few jokes.
Tony Mowbray arrived and was introduced by Joe Elliott to good applause. He said that there would be no players coming in on loan. The club had six players on loan already with Nick Proschwitz having to sit out games and with the imminent return of Reda Johnson and James Maddison, who had told the City boss how good he was, it was like having two new players anyway.
Speaking about Johnson, Mowbray said that he was trying to manage the Benin international whom he knew from his Sheffield Wednesday days and had told Johnson, who Mowbray sees as a big assett, to tell him when he was ready to play for the Sky Blues, which could be the game against Orient on Wednesday.
Mowbray spoke about how he manages and admitted that from the fifteen to sixteen managers that he played under in a twenty year career, he learnt more about what you would not do.
He agreed that whilst a lot of managers are vocal, he tries to learn each player's individual traits and develop a relationship with them.
Mowbray felt that he had inherited an honest and hard working team that did what you ask of them and they were a good bunch of players who worked hard, made mistakes but wanted to consolidate the club's place in League One this season.
Next season, Mowbray said that he would be looking to find better players with the same aspirations and work ethics of those currently employed and described Dominic Samuel as a fast learner.
Speaking about his career, Mowbray said that his first game was Middlesbrough versus Manchester United in 1972 and his love of football which he clearly showed in this talk lasting over forty minutes, grew.
Mowbray had twelve years at Middlesbrough before joining Celtic and the City boss spoke about the harshness of Scottish football whereby finishing second means nothing and for club's like Celtic is seen as failure.
Losing his first wife to cancer, forced him to have a change and he left to join George Burley at Ipswich Town for whom he played his last ever game in the Play-Off Final at Wembley in 2000.
Mowbray had known since the age of 22 that he wanted to be a manager and coached Ipswich in the Premier League, before managing at Hibs, West Brom, Celtic and Middlesborough.
He then felt that the hurt of defeat did not warrant the joy of success and opted to take a year off doing Dad things with the kids before applying for the City job.
The City boss said that he can feel the eyes on his back when he makes a substitution, especially if the crowd think it is the wrong decision but there is alway a logic behind his changes and he is employed to make those decisions, knowing that if he gets them wrong too many times, he will be out of a job.
Mowbray spoke about what needs to be done at Coventry City and said that it will be tough but we have to get better players and look at the club's infrastructure.
He wants the players to be proud of the club and wants to change Ryton where there are no pictures of former players and teams up and only a tiny Coventry City sign. Mowbray wants the players to know they are playing for Coventry City and is looking to find players who can play under the expection of the club and its supporters.
He explained that there was no scouting system currently at the club and not one person looking for players. The City boss wants a system whereby those he sent to matches could provide information on the Scout 7 system so that he could look at players anyone scouting for the club liked the look of.
Mowbray saif that the currency of any club is the quality of players they have and he had told Steve Waggott and co what he thought needs to happen, saying that he was trying to change things and that he might have to use some of the budget to improve things at Ryton, so that the players know they are playing for Coventry City and what it represents.
He also admitted that his job was to light the touch paper and get the owners to invest in the team and the club and to make City supporters proud again.
Mowbray finished by talking about Saturday's trip to Peterborough and said that training had been good. He spoke about Peterborough now being a different side to the one that played under Darren Ferguson and said they were direct and defended in numbers but the players should be going into the game confident that they can get a result.
He felt that confidence including playing on the Ricoh Arena pitch was an issue as was consistency but he was trying to build both.
