Tony Mowbray has been hailed by Birmingham’s chief executive Garry Cook as “the right leader at the right time”.
Which is, perhaps, a tacit acknowledgement that predecessor Wayne Rooney was the wrong leader at the wrong time. Let’s hope so, because it would mean that Cook and Blues owner Tom Wagner are finally appointing their managers on merit rather than reputation.

Whether Mowbray fulfils the Birmingham hierarchy’s previous brief of ‘no fear’ football is debatable, though the missive that heralded his arrival suggests that infamous mission statement has been quietly retired.

What he ha...