West Brom manager Tony Mowbray’s record only bettered by two other Championship coaches, one is now in the Champions League

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Tony Mowbray has impressed on his return to West Bromwich Albion.

With big boots to fill after Carlos Corberan left for Valencia, Mowbray made an emotional return to the Hawthorns.

Many were unsure if he would be a success but with four games to go, West Brom are in the hunt for a play-off spot.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
5	Bristol CityBristol City	42	16	16	10	54	45	9	64
6	CoventryCoventry	42	18	9	15	59	54	5	63
7	West BromWest Brom	42	14	18	10	51	39	12	60
8	MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough	42	17	9	16	61	51	10	60
9	MillwallMillwall	42	16	12	14	41	41	0	60

Given the off-pitch turmoil that has engulfed the club in recent years it’s a remarkable achievement and if they can pull off promotion to the Premier League, that would be the icing on the cake.

It seems that West Brom knew it would happen all along.

• READ MORE: Tony Mowbray must do what no other West Brom manager has done to earn Premier League return

The genius decision behind Tony Mowbray’s West Brom appointment revealed

In the latest episode of the Training Ground Guru podcast, West Brom’s sporting director Andrew Nestor appeared to chew the fat and give an insight into his time at the West Midlands.

Nestor was asked about the decision to appoint Mowbray and like everything in football these days, data played a part and it emerged that only Vincent Kompany and current Leeds United boss Daniel Farke ranked better.

“We had a data-led approach on that as well. Through our networks, we know of good Head Coaches around that could have been available,” Nestor revealed.

“We had our data team look at performances of coaches across every league and what we did there is a bit different to evaluating a player. It was more looking at the strength of a squad, both the individual players within the squad as well as the squad as a whole, and their expected performance.

“And then we looked at whether their Head Coach created an uplift in performance. Because sometimes it can be hard to tell.

“Tony ranked extremely high and therefore was immediately on the shortlist once Carlos left. We actually ran one model specifically on the Championship, just to look over the past 10 years historically who had created the most uplift given the squad that they had in circumstances around the club.

“And he was third overall, behind (Vincent) Kompany and (Daniel) Farke. But then of course we have to look at whether this is someone who fits the game model, the style, (who) is going to come in and be able to work with the players we have and within the system and culture that we’re building.”

Tony Mowbray’s record in his second spell as West Brom manager

It’s always a bold move to go back to a manager that had previously been at the club, but West Brom have reaped the rewards for their decision.

Of course it’s not been perfect, but with only four games of the season remaining and West Brom within touching distance of a play-off spot, their Championship season could be extended for a while longer yet.