Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers fell into the same Tony Mowbray trap: View | OneFootball

Tony Mowbray has an excellent managerial CV and will be gutted to be out of action at the moment.

Taking on the top job at Birmingham City in January, he looked set to guide Blues away from the relegation zone, but he has been forced to stay away from the touchline due to health reasons and this was a big blow for the Midlands side.

They may have Gary Rowett at the helm for now, but having Mowbray in charge from the time of his appointment until the end of the season would have been ideal for Birmingham.

However, Mowbray's health must come first and even if he retired tomorrow, he can be extremely proud of what he has achieved during his managerial career.

Having multiple promotions on his record, the 60-year-old has brought a lot of happiness to many football supporters and can bow out of the game with his head held high, whenever that may be.

Before he was forced off the touchline, he looked refreshed and eager to take on a new challenge at St Andrew's, so it may be some time yet before he retires.

His two jobs before his current one at Birmingham came at Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland, taking on the former job first before spending a brief period of the game ahead of his appointment at the Stadium of Light.

He left both clubs in a better position than he found them in - and both teams haven't gone on to do better since he left. Without Mowbray, the grass has certainly not been greener on the other side for either team.

It's right to point out that Blackburn were in a great position during the 2021/22 campaign and had a favourable set of fixtures, but blew it and finished outside of the play-offs in the end.

That was a travesty considering how well they did for much of the campaign, but Mowbray should have been the man to take them forward into the next campaign.

Helping Ben Brereton-Diaz raise his game and developing some of Rovers' younger players at the time, including John Buckley, he did an excellent job.

Transforming the Lancashire side from a League One team to a Championship promotion competitor, the 60-year-old did brilliantly at Ewood Park and didn't deserve to leave on the expiration of his contract.

His future should have been sorted by the club's ownership well before his deal expired in the summer of 2022 - and Rovers have suffered at times since then.

In fairness, they did finish seventh at the end of last season, with Jon Dahl Tomasson doing a fairly good job during that campaign.

But he wasn't a huge upgrade considering Mowbray finished eighth at the end of the 2021/22 season - and Blackburn have struggled massively this term.

If Rovers could take a fit and healthy Mowbray back now, they probably would, although current boss John Eustace is trying his best to guide the club away from the drop zone.

Sunderland have struggled since Tony Mowbray's departure

It's right to point out that results didn't go Mowbray's way during the latter stages of his time at the Stadium of Light.

There were some calls for the 60-year-old to be sacked just before he departed, but many of the Black Cats' supporters were keen to see him stay and weren't craving a change of management.

Not only had he picked the Wearside club off the floor following Alex Neil's shock departure to Stoke City during the early stages of last season, but he also guided them to a sixth-placed finish despite having very few striker options at his disposal.

They lost out to Luton Town in the play-off semis in the end, but they did reasonably well under Mowbray during this campaign too, with their highlight of the season arguably coming in a 5-0 win against Southampton.

They were in ninth place at the time of his departure - and even though his results record in the games leading up to his sacking wasn't great - he didn't deserve to be dismissed.

His successor Michael Beale struggled and was sacked just two months after his appointment - and Mike Dodds hasn't been able to get the best out of the Black Cats either.

Dodds has spent much of his spell without having Jack Clarke at his disposal so you have to cut him some slack for that, but even with that in mind, sacking Mowbray hasn't been a good decision in hindsight.

Even at the time, many people thought it was the wrong decision to get rid of the 60-year-old.