TONY Mowbray returns to former club Coventry City for the first time tonight and admits his decision to leave the Ricoh Arena was for the ‘right reasons’.

Mowbray quit the Sky Blues after just 10 games of last season, having first joined the club in March 2015.

Tonight’s Carabao Cup tie is his first meeting with his former employers, who he led to a play-off push in his one season in charge in 2015/16.

“The majority of it was good,” Mowbray said reflecting on his spell in the East Midlands.

“I made the decision that it wasn’t for me to keep going, to give someone else an opportunity, and I took the decision to leave.

“How that’s perceived, I don’t know, but it was made for the right reasons for me.

“I have a young family and it was a three-and-a-half hour drive to see the family at home, and I made the decision for my family.

“It was disappointing that ultimately they got relegated.

“I wish them well, they have a manager who knows the club, knows the owners, the supporters, and hopefully they can have a fantastic season this year.”

Mowbray admits the squad of 2015/16 ‘disintegrated’ having been built on the success of loan players such as Adam Armstrong, Jacob Murphy and Ryan Kent.

Injuries hit hard in the second half of that season, as Coventry slipped from the top of League One and missed out on the play-offs.

And after a difficult summer, Mowbray left 10 games in to last season and Coventry were relegated to League Two in May.

Only two players who featured under Mowbray remain at the club, including Jodi Jones who scored a hat-trick in the Sky Blues’ opening day win over Notts County.

“It will be a tough game – they had a fantastic result at the weekend,” Mowbray added.

“They have some decent players.

“When I look at the team, they only have two, in a short period of time, that are still playing.

“Jodi Jones got a hat-trick, a player we signed for £100,000 from Dagenham and Redbridge, he’s a very, very talented young boy and progressing well. He’s a threat to any team.

“We will have to be mindful, they have some experience up top, Stuart Beavon has been around a long time and is very busy, works hard, is good with his back to goal and knows where the net is.

“It is a dangerous game for us and we will have to try and apply ourselves and enforce our game on to them and see where it takes us.”