Tony Mowbray reveals bowel cancer diagnosis after stepping away from football

Tony Mowbray hopes to return to football after revealing he is recovering from bowel cancer having stepped away from managing earlier this year.

The 60-year-old as his health didn't allow him to continue and has confessed he's endured the "toughest year" of his life sine. Initially he only planned to be away from the game for a short period before he learned more about his illness.

Mowbray won four of his eight matches at Birmingham before illness meant he had to step aside after he'd replaced at St Andrew's.

He was hopeful of leading the Blues' charge to Championship survival, but wasn't able to see the job through as they suffered . Mowbray recalled collapsing and blacking out on the kitchen floor before informing Birmingham he had to quit - but more difficult times were ahead.

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He told : "It's been the toughest year of my life. Out of the blue, my illness was diagnosed and my came crashing down, really. The way I would go to the toilet had changed and so they had a look and I got diagnosed with bowel cancer.

"When you get an illness like what I got, it's about the family, really. I remember sitting in a hospital bed, my kids had tears in their eyes not sure whether I was going to get through it or not, to be honest. I was very, very ill. Some days, you were feeling great and other days, I would collapse and black out and find myself on the kitchen floor."

Mowbray has been a success throughout the football league. He won promotion from the Championship to the top flight with back in 2008. A decade later he ensured Blackburn Rovers returned from League One to the second tier.

Despite the battles he's had with his health the former Celtic boss is adamant he wants to return to the dugout and believes he will eventually be well enough to fulfil his ambitions.

"I do want to go back to work because football is in my blood, it's what I do," he said. "I still have issues, I'm still, at the moment not 100% ready for work. But somewhere down the line. My body's telling me that I'm not ready yet. Today I stand here, I'm not ready, I haven't got the energy that's required to be a football manager. But I will, I'm pretty sure."

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