Tony Mowbray will make his first return to West Bromwich Albion tomirriw, nine years after leaving for what he described as ‘emotional reasons’.

Mowbray guided the Baggies to their first league title in 88 years when securing promotion to the Premier League in 2007/08 having been beaten in the play-off final in 2006/07.

His last match in charge actually came at Ewood Park in May 2009, a day best remembered by Rovers fans as Tugay’s final appearance for the club.

Mowbray’s men had been relegated from the Premier League the previous week, but was still held in high regards by West Brom fans who were disappointed to see him leave for Celtic that summer.

Mowbray admits that decision was an emotional one, having spent four years at Celtic Park as a player, during which he lost his first wife to breast cancer in 1995.

Opening up on his decision to leave, Mowbray said: “I made that decision for emotional reasons.

“I don’t need to go in to it other than I had a loss in my life and it happened up in that part of the world and the supporters at that time had been amazing and were very supportive.

“When they came calling I thought it was the right thing to do so it was an emotional decision, not a professional decision.

“In hindsight, it’s easy to say, ‘you could have bounced straight back with West Brom and spent all of those years in the Premier League’ because the team was so much stronger, better and cuter and able to stay in Premier League because it was pretty much the same group. But you can’t go through life with regrets, you make your decisions and I stick by them.

“I will always have a fond place for West Bromwich Albion, they were very good to me and hopefully I was good for a few of those players, a couple of them are still there 10 years down the line.

“I like the people of the West Midlands, I like the club, and after the weekend I wish them well on their journey hopefully back to the Premier League.”

Mowbray made a number of signings during his time at the Hawthorns who have since become household names, with two of them, Chris Brunt and James Morrison, still playing for the club.

His path with West Brom didn’t cross during managerial stints at Middlesbrough or Coventry, but he heads back with Rovers tomorrow, adding: “It’s my first visit with a team. I’ve been to watch games and had different responses, some negative because I chose to leave the club.

“It was an emotional decision, I’m an emotional guy. I live my life for my family and my football.

“It was never an easy decision because the fans were so good to me.

“I look back and me getting saluted on the day we got relegated against Liverpool before coming here on the final day, and I think that was because of what we achieved in three years.

“We built a team and there were some young players, the likes of Graham Dorrans who had just arrived and was player of the year the following year in the Championship. So it was a really good group.”