Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English football manager and former footballer who is currently the head coach of EFL Championship club Blackburn Rovers. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender.
He began his coaching career with Ipswich Town and took his first managerial job at Scottish Premier League side Hibernian, where he won the Scottish Football Writers' Association Manager of the Year award in his first season. He moved on to West Bromwich Albion in 2006, where he won the Football League Championship in 2008, but then suffered relegation from the Premier League the following year. Mowbray was then appointed as manager of Celtic, but was dismissed after nine months for poor results.
Mowbray was appointed to the role of Middlesbrough manager in October 2010. After a poor start to the 2013–14 season, Mowbray left Middlesbrough in October 2013. Following a spell as manager of Coventry City, he was appointed Blackburn Rovers manager in February 2017. He was unable to prevent Blackburn being relegated to League One, but then won promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt. He left Blackburn at the end of his contract in May 2022 and subsequently had spells with Sunderland and Birmingham City. He was reappointed head coach of West Bromwich Albion in January 2025 but was dismissed three months later in April 2025 after a run of poor results. In June 2026, Mowbray was reappointed head coach of Blackburn Rovers.
After playing his first match for the club in 1982, Mowbray became captain of Middlesbrough in 1986 when he was just 22 years old. Affectionately known to Boro fans as "Mogga", Mowbray became a legend in Middlesbrough for being a local lad who led the club from liquidation back into the top league of English football within two seasons.
In 2007, Mowbray was placed at number 7 in a chronological list of Middlesbrough legends compiled by local newspaper the Evening Gazette. The Middlesbrough club fanzine Fly Me to the Moon is named after a quote about Mowbray from ex-Middlesbrough manager Bruce Rioch – "If I had to fly to the moon I'd take Tony Mowbray, my captain, with me. He's a magnificent man". In 1991, after 348 appearances for Boro, Mowbray moved to Scottish club Celtic for £1 million.
During his playing career with Celtic, Mowbray's wife Bernadette, a native of Renfrewshire, died of breast cancer. The episode is recalled in Mowbray's book, Kissed by an Angel. It is often asserted that the "huddle" which Celtic players still perform before each match was arranged as a tribute to Bernadette. However, it was merely suggested by Mowbray on a pre-season tour of Germany to bring the squad together at a time of uncertainty.
He later moved on to Ipswich Town, where he played for five years, becoming the team captain. He scored an equalising goal in the 2000 Division One playoff final victory against Barnsley. Ipswich won the match 4–2 and secured promotion to the FA Premier League. This match was both Mowbray's Wembley debut and the last of his playing career.
Once his playing career finished, he moved into coaching, starting as a first-team coach at Ipswich Town. He had a brief spell as caretaker manager of Ipswich, following the dismissal of George Burley and prior to the appointment of Joe Royle.
In May 2004, Mowbray was appointed manager of Hibernian, replacing Bobby Williamson. He gained much acclaim for the job he did, winning the Scottish Football Writers' Association manager of the year award in his first season. Hibs finished in the top four in the SPL in his only two full seasons in charge, which was the first time since Eddie Turnbull's time as manager that the club had achieved this in the top division in consecutive seasons.
The Hibs team progressed to the later stages of every domestic cup competition during his tenure, and made two appearances in European football. They lost heavily to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the first round of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup and on the away goals rule to OB Odense in the 2006 Intertoto Cup. During mid-2006 Mowbray was interviewed for the vacant managerial position at Ipswich Town, but he rejected this approach. In September 2006 he signed a 12-month rolling deal with Hibs that was due to take effect from July 2007. Just one month later, however, Mowbray moved to West Bromwich Albion.
West Bromwich Albion appointed Mowbray as its manager on 13 October 2006. Mowbray faced the task of returning the club to the Premier League after relegation the previous season. Although he managed to turn around the club's poor away form, an indifferent run of results at home towards the end of the season meant that Albion finished fourth in The Championship table behind Sunderland, Birmingham City and Derby County, and faced the Championship play-offs. Despite two victories over rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi-finals, Albion lost 1–0 to Derby County in the Wembley final.
As a result, during the close season, Mowbray set about restructuring his squad, moving out several of Robson's players for multimillion-pound fees, after press reports of dressing room division.
High-profile players such as Jason Koumas, Diomansy Kamara and Curtis Davies were sold to Premier League clubs for large fees, in addition to the departures of Paul McShane, Nathan Ellington, Darren Carter and Steve Watson. Mowbray replaced them by signing a total of 14 permanent and loan players in the summer transfer window, making an overall profit in the process. His most expensive signings were Chris Brunt from Sheffield Wednesday for £3 million, Leon Barnett from Luton Town for £2.5 million, and James Morrison from Middlesbrough for £1.5 million.
Despite the large changes in his squad, Mowbray won the Championship Manager of the Month award in September 2007, after Albion gained 13 out of the maximum 15 points and climbed to second in the Division.
At the start of 2008, Mowbray's young Albion team topped the table, receiving growing plaudits from the media and supporters alike for their attractive brand of attacking one touch passing football, a reflection of Mowbray's footballing philosophy.
Mowbray guided West Brom to the EFL Championship title, meaning promotion to the Premier League and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup. The semi-final, the first to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, featured West Brom against Portsmouth, the only remaining Premier League team left in the FA Cup. Portsmouth won the match 1–0 with the only goal of the game coming from Kanu. Mowbray won the Championship manager of the month award for April, as well as the League Managers Association manager of the year award.
After a poor 2008–09 season, West Bromwich were relegated from the Premier League, finishing 20th. Mowbray was still thought highly of by the fans, however, and this was evidenced by them wearing Mowbray masks at their last game of the season. Mowbray left the club for Celtic shortly afterwards.
On 8 June 2009, it was reported that Celtic had approached West Bromwich Albion for permission to speak to Mowbray about their managerial vacancy. A compensation fee of £2 million was agreed, and Celtic declared Mowbray as their new manager on 16 June 2009. He was unveiled as Celtic manager at a press conference a day later. His coaching team was Neil Lennon, Peter Grant, Mark Venus, and Stevie Woods. On 12 September 2009 was named as the Coach of the Month of August in the Scottish Premier League.