West Bromwich Albion start searc for Tony Mowbray replacement
Jun 16 2009 by Robert Tanner, Birmingham Post
The hunted have now become the hunters and the boot is definitely on the other foot as West Bromwich Albion begin the search for Tony Mowbray’s replacement.
Mowbray is holding talks with Celtic over their vacant managerial position after Albion chairman Jeremy Peace won his staring contest with the Glasgow giants.
Peace would not even entertain an approach for the Albion manager until Celtic agreed to pay £2 million in compensation and after a week-long stand-off, the Bhoys blinked and agreed to Albion’s demands.
Now Mowbray, who held talks with Peace on Friday night and asked for permission to speak to Celtic, is thrashing out personal terms and is expected to be named Celtic manager in the next few days.
That will leave Peace scouring the market for a replacement with less than three weeks before the players report back for pre-season training.
He will be anxious to fill the vacancy quickly to avoid Albion falling behind their promotion rivals in terms of preparation ahead of the Championship season, but he will also be determined to find a manager who will build on the work already done by Mowbray during his three-year reign.
The two top contenders linked with the job are former Albion captain Derek McInnes, who is building a reputation for himself as a manager with St Johnstone, and Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson.
McInnes would be a popular appointment with Albion fans in a similar way to how Mowbray is revered in Glasgow by the Celtic fans.
McInnes was a gutsy, whole-hearted player during his three years at The Hawthorns and still has friends at the club.
However, Peace is likely to face a fight from St Johnstone chairman Geoff Brown if he makes an approach.
St Johnstone will be keen to keep hold of McInnes, who led them to the Scottish Premier League last season.
However, as Peace found with Mowbray, Brown will realise that he will not be able to stand in his manager’s way should McInnes reveal his desire to head to The Hawthorns.
“We don’t want to lose Derek and talks with him over a new contract are ongoing,” said Brown.
“But, being realistic here, if a bigger club came along for him – and the fact Owen Coyle, his predecessor, has done exceptionally well at Burnley will have been noted by teams – then there’s not a lot we could do about it.
“We’ve heard nothing at all from West Brom but then the chairman in my position is the last person to hear about such an interest because he’s the guy who’ll be looking for compensation, but I recognise there’s no way we could compete with them if they wanted Derek.”
Ferguson’s stock has been rising after leading Posh to the Championship and he is regarded as one of the most highly-rated young managers in the game, but Posh director of football Barry Fry said they would also fight to keep their manager.
“I think Darren would see most Championship clubs as a sideways step in his career, but I don’t think that would be the case with Albion,” he said.
“They are a Premier League club in my opinion and I’m sure any young manager would be interested in them. We have played them four times in the last two seasons and they have a superb squad of players.
“But the situation with Darren is the same as the situation West Brom had with Tony. We don’t want to lose him and we would not welcome any approach.
“Jeremy Peace played hardball with Celtic over Tony and we would play hardball with them over Darren.
“But if they agreed to pay the compensation we wanted then we would have to let him speak to them. We know he will leave us one day because he is destined for the top.”
