Tony Mowbray: Former Sunderland and Birmingham boss on battling bowel cancer

The ordeal of surgery and the prospect of an uncertain future prompted a change of focus for the husband and father of three.

“When you suffer an illness like that, it’s a problem for the family,” said Mowbray, who also managed Hibernian, West Bromwich Albion, Celtic, Middlesbrough and Coventry.

“I remember sitting in a hospital bed and my kids had tears in their eyes, not sure if I was going to get through it or not, to be honest. “I was very, very sick.

“I returned home after that and the period was very up and down.

“Some days you felt great, and other days I would collapse, pass out, and find myself on the kitchen floor.

“I called Birmingham’s CEO and told him that health and family are what life is about and I needed to get myself together, so I left that job.”

Mowbray describes the “amazing” support from both Sunderland and Birmingham in fulfilling the contracts he signed as “humbling”.

But the “normal working-class boy from the North East”, who played as a centre-back for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich, is keen to earn his wages back in the dressing room and pass on his football and life experience to young players. .

For now, however, he has a more important message to convey.

“If something is not normal, don’t be afraid to go see your doctor,” he said.

“If I hadn’t done that I probably wouldn’t have been here today, or I would have been in a situation where I wouldn’t have been able to have surgery and recover.

“It’s not just you, think about your family.”