Tony Mowbray is expected at the Academy of Light this morning to finalise his appointment as Sunderland's new head coach. As ChronicleLive revealed yesterday evening, Mowbray has agreed in principle to take the reins and fill the vacancy left by Alex Neil's departure to Stoke City.
The deal still needs to be signed but, with Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, his lawyer and Black Cats board member Igor Levin, and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman all at last night's U21 game at Eppleton, the key personnel are on Wearside to complete the appointment. Assuming the final talks are concluded quickly, there is a chance Mowbray could take training today and his appointment will be confirmed ahead of tomorrow's game against Rotherham United at the Stadium of Light.
Former Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough, and Celtic boss Mowbray quickly emerged as favourite to succeed Neil over the weekend, after the latter decided on Friday to take over at Stoke - a move that was eventually confirmed on Sunday evening. While Sunderland are understood to have also considered other candidates including Chelsea first team coach Anthony Barry and MK Don's Liam Manning, they made their move for Mowbray and talks progressed rapidly with the 58-year-old.
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At Sunderland, Mowbray will be reunited with Stuart Harvey who was his head of talent ID and player analysis at Blackburn before he left in April last year to become the Black Cats' head of player recruitment. Mowbray spent four-and-a-half years in charge at Blackburn before leaving this summer at the end of his contract.
He took over at Ewood Park with the club second-bottom of the Championship and while he could not save them from relegation, he led them to automatic promotion from League One the next season and under him they finished 15th in their first season back in the second tier, followed by 11th the following season, 15th in 2020-21, then to an eighth-placed finish last term after spending the majority of the season in the top six.
Mowbray's managerial CV also includes winning promotion to the Premier League with West Brom in 2008. He is set to fill the vacancy at Sunderland left by Neil, with the club rocked on Friday when the Scot told them he was leaving after a successful six-month spell at the Stadium of Light in which he led the club to promotion from League One and then oversaw a positive start to life back in the Championship after a four-year absence.
Stoke are understood to have offered Neil a substantial increase on the salary he was earning at Sunderland, with the Black Cats unable to match that sum. Neil was absent from Sunderland's weekend home defeat against Norwich City with his assistant Martin Canning in charge instead, although Canning is now expected to follow Neil to the bet365 Stadium.
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