Tony Mowbray says he doesn’t give any thought to his contractual status and will continue to take a long-term view to his management of the club.

Mowbray’s deal at Ewood Park runs out at the end of the season but the manager says that has no bearing on his decision-making.

The 57-year-old has clocked up over 750 games as a manager, having started out at Hibernian in 2004, with Rovers his sixth permanent job.

He signed a long-term contract extension at the end of 2018, following Rovers’ promotion back to the Championship, which would run until 2022.

And he told the Lancashire Telegraph: “I have never really been interested in contracts.

“I have never ever sat down, ever, and asked for a contract or thought about contracts.

“In my mind, I’ve been a coach for over 20 years, I’ve never once, ever, asked about contracts.

“You have to manage as if you’re going to be here forever, that’s how you have to manage football clubs.

“Generally, if you’re doing well, people give you contracts, they knock on your door and say ‘we want to do this, or that’.

“Then you have to make a life decision, a lot of it is around my family and what’s best for my family, my kids, my wife, how far away is it.

“I’m 57, I make decisions for my kids and my family, I’ve always done that. I’ve moved my family to Glasgow, to the West Midlands, we’re now based in the north east of England and everything is a decision long-term.

“This football club, I like the challenge of building a football club so when I go in, and even if I get a six-month contract, I build for the future, put roots down.

“Young Academy players are training with our first-team on a daily basis because they’re the future, the ones who are good enough and can be first-team players for the next five or 10 years, or who can be sold to a Premier League club. It’s important that you don’t think ‘that won’t affect me, I don’t have to think about them’.”

Mowbray joined Rovers on an 18 month deal in February 2017, when replacing Owen Coyle, and then signed a new year contract that summer following relegation to League One following talks with the owners.

Only four managers have now taken charge of more Rovers matches than Mowbray who has won 92 of his 227 games. He knows results will dictate his future, and that had he not enjoyed success with Hibs in his two-year stay at Easter Road then he may not have had a career in management.

He added: “I just manage as if I’m here all the time, how manage the club and the young players.

“Young Ash (Phillips) trains with our first-team at 16, why? He’s not really going to affect me, yet if I’m here for the next five years he’s going to be a £20m or £30m footballer.

“I have to manage for the day but you manage the club as if you’re here forever and I think that’s how your mentality has to be. But I know that if I lose the next five matches on the bounce I probably won’t be here.

“It’s football management, you have to prepare your team, work hard, inspire your players, you have to have a plan for the future, know which players you want to go forward with and which ones you can cut.

“It’s the job, but you manage as if you’re going to be here long-term and that’s the way you have to do it.

“If you win, you’re not under any pressure, everybody thinks you’re great and no-one questions the tactics, the substitutions, you just keep going.

“When you lose, everything gets questioned and that’s football and if you are going into this business you have to release and understand that and you take the consequences along the way.”

Chris Hughton became the first Championship manager of the season to lose his job when sacked by Nottingham Forest after defeat to Middlesbrough on Wednesday meant they had just one point from their opening seven matches.

Mowbray says management is getting harder because of the pressure and short-term nature of the job, and says results are the only thing that will ensure longevity.

He said: “Undoubtedly the job is becoming so much more difficult. My first job as a manager was in 2004 and I’ve been coaching ever since I finished my playing career in 2000, so over 21 years I’ve been a coach.

“The differences are there are more people having an opinion on who’s doing well and who’s not.

“Before the local paper could have fans letters in it, or the radio station could have a phone-in, but now you’ve got a social media world where everyone can have a say immediately and every game, if you get 20,000 inside a stadium you have 20,000 managers who would all do it differently.

“When you lose as a manager, most of the people in the stadium would have done it differently.

“I know how tough a job it is, as I do you live away from your family, you commit your whole life to the team, to the job, you lose sleep over it, ‘did you pick the right team?’, ‘did you make the right subs’.

“Chris Hughton, as has been said a lot over recent weeks, he is an amazing human being, a fantastic man, I’ve had many conversations with Chris, so it’s sad.

“Nottingham Forest, 20,000 people every week in the stadium, emotional, passionate, support base who have in the past had glory days and clubs are difficult to manage because the supporters demand and expect, and rightly so, it’s about the culture and where does the culture begin? The manager is a big part of that but the owners or chairman and the people who make the decisions are part of that as well.

“You have to win matches to stay in your job in modern day football.”