Mowbray's Rovers aims ahead of third season in charge

Mowbray is two-and-a-half years in to his job at Ewood Park with 10 Championship clubs starting the new campaign with a new manager.

But the Rovers boss knows fans, and owners Venky’s, will want to see the side improve on 15th last season, admitting: ‘mid-table won’t be enough for some people’.

Mowbray believes a new style of play will help Rovers close the gap to the top six, and having splashed out £11m on Ben Brereton and Sam Gallagher in the last two years, he understands that will bring a level of scrutiny.

“At this club the owners have been hugely supportive. I feel as if they can see how we’re trying to build their club, not just throwing the cash around and spending every penny we get given,” he told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“They can see we’re trying to build it and I hope they will be patient, as they were towards the end of the season when we won one in 11 and there was no panic.

“I try and build football clubs and evolve them, evolution not revolution, and sometimes people get sick, supporters generally, of the same voice and same things.

“If you don’t win leagues you don’t really last because to finish mid-table won’t be enough for some people.

“I can sit here all I want and talk about Leeds, Middlesbrough, Derby, Forest, last year Aston Villa, teams like that, but the more expectation you create the more people expect and want to win.

“That’s okay because I would say the owners have supported me. We’ve signed a £6m player and a near £5m player, and they will want to see results and I understand that, that’s the job I’m in.”

Gallagher’s £5m addition from Southampton this summer followed the £6m signing of Brereton last summer.

Mowbray will hope both can have a big impact on his side this season, and said: “I would rather have that money to spend than not.

“I’ve been at some clubs where I’ve not had a bean to spend in three years and people still think you should be winning the league.

“I’m an experienced football manager, I understand football, and we have to try and win games.

“I will be pushing the team as hard as I can. I’m constantly telling you how we’ve got a good group with good values and morals in life, they all work hard and are honest so let’s see where the season takes us.

“As I put in to context, there are 23 other clubs in this league all with ambition before a ball is kicked to try and make the play-offs and get out of the division.

“How many can realistically do that? I’m not sure.

“We fall in to that category, we want to do well, want to be at the top end of the table and the results will dictate how we get on.”

Only seven clubs have the same manager since the start of last season, including today’s visitors Charlton Athletic, with Mowbray the fourth longest serving of any Championship boss.

Rovers is his fifth permanent managerial role, spending two-and-a-half years with Hibs, three with West Brom and Middlesbrough, 18 months at Coventry and less than a season at Celtic. He has three years left to run on his long-term contract he signed at Rovers in November 2018.

In a bid to help them improve on last season, in which they chalked up 60 points, Mowbray feels a new style of play, akin to what he has been known for throughout his career, will help Rovers achieve that.

“My initial plan when I came here was to try and play the brand of football that I always have,” he explained.

“I realised pretty quickly in League One that we couldn’t just dominate the ball because every team was sitting behind it and counter-attacking away and we were losing matches.

“We changed tact, went a different route and we’ve carried on that route for the last season-and-a-half.

“But I feel it’s time now, with the quality of players we’ve got, to go back to a brand of football that I know can win games and win leagues.

“Dominate the ball more, create more chances, have more control in the final third, and let’s see if it pays dividends.

“I’m looking forward to it and I’m sure the players are.”