Tony Mowbray became Blues 10th permanent manager or head coach in a tad over seven years after replacing Wayne Rooney.
And perhaps what is of particular significance is that Mowbray was chosen after a recruitment process.
In most recent years, Blues have had in mind the new manager they want to bring in after summarily dismissing the guy in the hotseat.
Eustace was moved out to make way for Rooney; just as Eustace came in to take over from Lee Bowyer.
We all know Blues had Gianfranco Zola lined up to replace Gary Rowett, with the Italian himself paving the way for Harry Redknapp.
Garry Monk came in a day after Steve Cotterill was axed, Pep Clotet after Monk was binned; Aitkor Karanka, Bowyer . . . and on it goes.
Previously when Blues were in a pickle and scouring the market like they had been post-Rooney, it was after Chris Hughton resigned and left for Norwich City and then also after the next man in – Lee Clark’s vacancy in the dugout was filled by Rowett after some searching.
To a degree it was similar after Redknapp went, as Blues leaned towards and eventually appointed his former assistant Cotterill after a period of Lee Carsley as caretaker.
Mowbray’s arrival, though, was different. Blues expected Rooney’s tenure to work and when the malfunction became clear and they had to act, the owners kept an open mind as to who came next. There was nobody primed as the next cab off the rank.
The search was, I understand, data-driven and the Blues decisions-makers, with Craig Gardner and Garry Cook heading the hunt, wanted someone with experience and a good track record, able to develop players and also play a certain way.
There was no lurching seemingly randomly from one kind of manager to the next, ad hoc, as we have seen before.
Blues also had to be mindful of finances and their current standing as the longest-serving Championship club that has not done much on the field other than brush regularly with relegation.
Steve Cooper and Graham Potter might have been dream appointments to many, but realistically they were the longest of long shots. Regardless of their cost, neither was that keen, as I understand it.
So Mowbray, available and refreshed after his dismissal by Sunderland early into December, stepped into the breach after Blues gave careful consideration.
There will always be succession planning at the smartest, most modern of clubs – identifying and keeping tabs on the potential next manager after the current one and the next after him – as, for example, Brighton and Hove Albion pride themselves on.
Blues have not been set up to organise like that until most recently, and the same goes for the player recruitment.
Yes, it might have been expedient to dispense with a manager’s services just before the transfer window opens so the new boss can bring in his players, but things don’t work like that any more, either.
Blues are building a recruitment model for the club, led by the club, not by a manager wanting this and that or, say, an agent/agency on a consultancy basis.
Gardner, the Technical Director, and Frank McParland, the Head of Recruitment, plus Joe Carnall, the Chief Scout, have been forward planning for this current window and the summer window since the previous one.
The incumbent manager has an input which of course is considered and valued. But there has to be agreement on the players sought and factors of affordability – Blues will still be tempered by P&S in the summer as well as this month – and suitability to how the team plays, and will play in the medium to long-term.
So what of Mowbray and his trusty assistant, Mark Venus, who has also arrived at St. Andrew’s?
On the face of it, the 60-year-old’s appointment is a good, sensible and shrewd one. The right hand on the tiller at this juncture.
He has experience of more than 850 games as a manager. He has won the Championship (with a flamboyant West Bromwich Albion side in 2007/08) got Sunderland to the play-offs last season and finished 8th with Blackburn Rovers in his final second tier season there after winning promotion from League One in 2017/18.
He has shown a knack of getting teams to function without being wedded to one particular style of play. Mowbray can go ‘no fear’ – to coin a phrase – or be more defensively-minded and counter-attacking.
A self-confessed football romantic, he prefers his teams to be proactive and set the agenda, he encourages attacking, one-on-one duels and entertaining fare that engages the crowd.
He has gone on record to say that he believes ‘expansive’ football is the best way to bring success.
But Mowbray has also shown a pragmatic side, especially as his managerial career has progressed from the first steps he took more than 20 years ago, He has used the squads at his disposal in ways that suit the personnel, and suit circumstances at the time, to get results.
He is happy to develop and trust youth and the feedback you get from players who have been under his charge is never nothing but positive.
On paper, he seems like a good fit for where Blues are and what they need right now. And also to help them evolve, implementing the desired alterations in style incrementally.
Whilst Rooney might have gone at it to force change at 100mph, ruffling feathers along the way, Mowbray is sure to be more considered and measured. But ultimately he will want his Blues to have the kind of dash and finesse he favours and the owners request.
Those who know Mowbray well will all tell you the same thing: that he is a gentleman, humble and although having a seemingly austere air, knows what he wants and is needed and how to go about it, all the while in a caring manner, maintaining high personal values.
When he was in his pomp at Albion, myself and Chris Lepkowski, the Baggies correspondent at the time for the Birmingham Evening Mail, always used to smile at his endearing turn of phrase when it came to appreciating talent: ‘ . . a wonderful technician’, ‘ . . he’s got lovely soft feet’.
A football enthusiast, a football romantic indeed.
Keep Right On 
2 responses to “Trust the process”
Very happy with Mowbray…Glad that the owners didnt pussy foot around waiting for Wayne time to appear…I fully expect Mowbray to put round pegs in round holes which hasnt always been the case…also got to be remembered that Cooper and Potter were fired because they didn’t hit the highs that were expected of them rightly or wrongly…they will be waiting for teams that are in the prem knowing that if they come in and get relegated any money from that will be way in excess of what we would have given them and puts them in a top championship side straight away….I hope that we see the end of signing injury prone players too…no offence meant to them but we need players on the field not in the treatment room. Mowbray will i’m sure have addressed this in his interview ,he is a footballing man and will have done his homework and taken advice ..The owners are still in big credit with me and we are lucky to have them after what we have had to put up with in comparison..Years of neglect is slowly being wiped away and underneath that grubby door handle is a shiny brass knocker…up the Wagner
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Sounds great
And he might actually play Kevin Long, which will be a good start!
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