The weight loss was awful – four stone in all. The operations were scary. The not knowing is one of cancer’s most evil weapons, uncertainty as you stare at your body desperate to have clarity on what is going on inside. The discomfort is relentless. The worries about your family never end.
But it’s the waiting that Tony Mowbray mentions most. The weeks waiting in hospital felt like years. The pattern of treatments and meetings and check-ups, waiting for good news and fearing bad. Walks with the dog on the beach, getting stronger but still waiting for the call. Waiting for the football results to come in, just to feel like you were still part of it. When the distraction is so wretched, you just miss football more.
Mowbray was Birmingham City manager in February 2024 when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He soon stepped down from his role, underwent major surgery and then an extensive, intensive period of chemotherapy. He has got the all-clear and is back at Blackburn Rovers, who he managed for five years between 2017 and 2022.
Mowbray looks on during Blackburn Rovers’ pre-season friendly against Nottingham Forest (Photo: Getty)
Being back in football, Mowbray says, is like walking into your home after a period away, basking in its familiarities and comforts. It is all he has ever known and, quite frankly, all he ever wishes to.
