Tony Mowbray ‘pretty sure’ he will return to management after cancer recovery

Tony Mowbray is eyeing a return to football as he continues his recovery from bowel cancer.

The 60-year-old resigned from his post as Birmingham manager in May three months after initially taking temporary sick leave.

Former Hibernian, West Brom, Celtic, Middlesbrough, Coventry Blackburn and Sunderland boss Mowbray is not yet ready to step back into management but has revealed he will assess his options in the new year.

Middlesbrough legend Tony Mowbray opens up about his bowel cancer diagnosis and says that he wants to return to football in the future ❤️#Boro | #UTB | #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/IhnVmO96jh

— BBC Sport Tees (@BBCTeesSport) November 9, 2024

He told BBC Sport Tees: “I love football, I do want to get back into the game. Today I stand here, I’m not ready, I haven’t got the energy that’s required to be a football manager. But I will, I’m pretty sure.

“I’m going to take my amazing wife away on holiday in the next couple of weeks and in the new year, maybe, I’ll see what’s out there, what opportunities come and hopefully my body is telling me that I’m ready to go.”

Mowbray stepped back from football in February after a shock diagnosis which brought his world “crashing down”.

He said: “It’s been the toughest year of my life. Out of the blue, my illness was diagnosed and my world came crashing down, really.

“The way I would go to the toilet had changed and so they had a look and I got diagnosed with bowel cancer.

“When you get an illness like what I got, it’s about the family, really. I remember sitting in a hospital bed, my kids had tears in their eyes not sure whether I was going to get through it or not, to be honest. I was very, very ill.

“Some days, you were feeling great and other days, I would collapse