How does Tony Mowbray compare statistically to his Sunderland predecessors?

What do the stats say about Tony Mowbray's performance at Sunderland? Pretty good things, all things considered...

With the dust starting to settle on Tony Mowbray’s sacking at Sunderland, it is understandable that a degree of reflection on him and his time at the club is going on.

As with most times a coach or manager is sacked, views can get polarised and exaggerations in both directions are made. That’s natural.

Context is crucial, and it’s important to acknowledge that right away here, but statistics can also provide a very interesting insight into just how well Mowbray did at Sunderland.

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So, according to the statistics, how does Mowbray compare to every other manager or head coach Sunderland have had at the Stadium of light? Going by win-percentage, it’s actually very well, and when you add in some context it looks even better.

Sunderland managers by win percentage

	Games	Wins	Draws	Defeats	Win%
Lee Johnson	78	40	20	18	51.3%
Jack Ross	75	38	27	10	50.7%
Alex Neil	24	12	9	3	50.0%
Peter Reid	353	159	95	99	45.0%
Mick McCarthy	147	63	26	58	42.9%
Roy Keane	100	42	17	41	42.0%
Tony Mowbray	65	26	18	21	40.0%
Phil Parkinson	48	19	15	14	39.6%
Martin O'Neill	66	21	20	25	31.8%
Gus Poyet	75	23	22	30	30.7%
Steve Bruce	98	29	28	41	29.6%
Sam Allardyce	31	9	9	13	29.0%
Paolo Di Canio	13	3	3	7	23.1%
Dick Advocaat	19	4	6	9	21.1%
David Moyes	43	8	7	28	18.6%
Chris Coleman	29	5	8	16	17.2%
Simon Grayson	18	3	7	8	16.7%
Howard Wilkinson	27	4	8	15	14.8%

The all-important context

Statistics can only ever be an aide to a debate, never the end of it, and if anything proves that then it is the top of this particular list.

Lee Johnson and Jack Ross are ultimately remembered as failures, and they absolutely should be. If someone can’t get a club like Sunderland promoted from League One, they’ve had a shocker, quite frankly.

Alex Neil you have to give credit to for getting the job done in limited time, though.

Then there is Sam Allardyce, who on the surface of things doesn’t look too great at 29%. However, what Allardyce was a master of was winning the games that truly mattered, and that will never be reflected in the stats.

The table also highlights how well Tony Mowbray did considering he inherited a newly-promoted team and a very young one at that. Therefore, to be in the same ballpark as the likes of promotion-winning managers such as Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy is genuinely very impressive. 

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