Tony Mowbray breaks silence on 'toughest year of my life' and reveals 'amazing' Birmingham City support

Tony Mowbray has opened up on the most difficult year of his life, during which time he was forced to give up the job at Birmingham City which he was just settling into after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. Mowbray has revealed that being told he had cancer earlier this year, following a routine check up, was a bolt from the blue and has meant a difficult period for his entire family.

Mowbray, sacked by Sunderland last December, took up the reins at St Andrew's in January and he had an immediate impact, winning four of his first eight games and also bringing in Paik Seung-ho in the January transfer window. At that point, Blues were looking up and improving under Mowbray after the departure of Wayne Rooney, but then came the diagnosis and a requirement to step away from his role.

Initially it was hoped that Mowbray might be able to return, but his recovery is ongoing even now - although he has outlined that, while the illness and the condition is taking its toll, he intends to return to work at some point in 2025. In the meantime, Mowbray has revealed he watches every Blues game and remains thankful for the support he has received from the club during this testing period.

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"I'm okay. Strangely enough, because of the illness I've had, I'm not probably not as well as I was then [Mowbray's last visit to the Riverside on the opening day of the season]," Mowbray told BBC Radio Tees. "When I came to that game, some people won't know, I had a stoma bag attached to my stomach.

"I felt fine, there was no problem. The stoma bag has been removed and my body functions are all active again, but because I haven't worked my stomach muscles for nine, ten months, I've got a lack of control in a pretty delicate area. It's a bit of a gamble for me coming today.

"It's difficult to keep me away from football. I'm here because I love the game, I want to watch the Boro. How am I? I'm fine in myself, but it's very difficult the condition I'm living with at the moment. The doctors tell me it will resolve itself in time and I look forward to that day.

"Humbling is the word [as regards to the goodwill and support he has received]. I played with my emotions and hopefully, people feel, I talk with my emotions, whether I'm a player or manager, I think the supporters of football clubs know that with me they get truthfulness, honesty. People warm to working class values of honesty and hard work.

"It's been the toughest year of my life, or our lives, as we talk as a family. It was out of the blue that my illness was diagnosed. I was still Sunderland manager this time a year ago. My house got burgled a year yesterday. I was at Sunderland in a board meeting and I got a call from my young son.

"I left the meeting and raced home to see the house full of police officers. The start of the year started really badly for us as a family. I understand football, I lost my job at Sunderland. Then I had an amazing phone call and meeting about joining Birmingham City. That club saw me as the guy who could bring them together and take them on a journey hopefully back to the Premier League. I was happy to do that.

"Then my world came crashing down. I'd had a doctor's appointment through the LMA, where you go to Manchester and have a check up. It's like an annual, full body MOT - your hearing, your eyesight. Part of it was having a colonoscopy. I got diagnosed with bowel cancer. It was shattering - I had to go to the football club I was newly employed at [and inform them I couldn't continue].

"I'd had eight games. We'd won four, drew two, lost two and we were doing pretty well. We'd just beaten Sunderland and Blackburn, my previous two clubs. Things were looking good, the place was bouncing, the stadium was full. I was really looking forward to having a great time there. Unfortunately ten days later I was in a hospital bed in Manchester having a ten-hour operation. My life changed.

"Professionally there's a sadness. I watch Birmingham every week. I look at the players and they have changed practically the whole team, there are maybe only two or three left, but I knew the owner had a plan. It was going to be an exciting part of my career. I wish them all the very best and I hope they get the job done in League One.

"Sunderland and Birmingham City have been amazing. A year without work, a year without money, yet those football clubs have looked after me and honoured the contracts I signed. That's humbling, they're almost giving me money not to work. They've been so fantastic to me and my family.

"I'm hoping that in another couple of months I might be ready for work, once my body settles down after a recent operation, but I do want to go back to work. Football is in my blood, it's what I do. I want to get involved with a group of young men again, talk to them about life and football and what it takes to be a winner, try and inspire them - but I'm not ready yet."