'Supported me amazingly' - Tony Mowbray praises Sunderland fans and recruitment team

Tony Mowbray has praised both the Sunderland supporters and the club’s recruitment team ahead of his first meeting with his former club.

Mowbray was sacked at the Stadium of Light in early December and has since taken over at Birmingham City.

His new club host his former one at St Andrews this weekend, and that has left him in reflective mood going into the game.

“The people of Sunderland were amazing to me considering I lived, played football for 12 years, and managed for three years the team 30 miles down the road, which were big rivals.

“The people of Sunderland supported me amazingly well and hopefully we gave them a team that they enjoyed for 15 months.

“We tried to win games, tried to score goals, tried to be aggressive and play on the front foot. We had some wonderfully talented players like [Jack] Clarke and [Patrick] Roberts.”

When Mowbray left Sunderland, there were rumours it was due to him being unhappy with the club’s recruitment policy.

However, he has praised that department in the club, although he understandably says he left any ‘allegiance’ to Sunderland behind when he was sacked.

“The recruitment at Sunderland has been very good over the period and they have some good footballers.

“My total allegiances are to Blues and we will be going out there to try and win a football match at the weekend.

“We want to make life as difficult for Sunderland as we can and, unfortunately for them, hopefully send their supporters back to the north east without any points.”

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