The Mowbray house gets a mate

Albion duo Tony Mowbray and Peter Grant are colleagues, close friends and for the moment housemates.

But Albion's new first-team coach reckons no amount of friendship will prevent sparks flying between him and his temporary landlord at some stage this season.

Baggies fans need not worry. Mowbray and Grant have argued before and the newest member of the Hawthorns coaching staff insists a spot of disagreement can only be good for the cause.

The duo's paths first crossed in 1991 when Mowbray joined Grant at Celtic and there was instant common ground.

Both were students of the game with coaching aspirations and they struck up an instant friendship.

As Grant recalls, their similarities did not always come across on the field.

He said: "There's no doubt you could see Tony's potential. We are similar in that respect.

"We could both see that we weren't the most gifted individuals in the world.

"The one thing we had was a great knowledge and understanding of the game. We had to, otherwise we wouldn't have been on the pitch.

"We had to be good organisers on and off it. We fell out on the pitch and he'll be first to tell you I could moan when I wanted to, but it set the standard."

For now, Grant is watching his Ps and Qs, having been offered a room by the Mowbray family for his first few days at Albion, giving him time to find his own accommodation.

Grant still believes there is scope for the occasional heated debate as the Premier League season draws nearer.

He said: "Yes there is and a I think Tony knows that. He knows I'm not one to keep things bottled up.

"We are football people and we want to take this team forward. There will be differences of opinion.

"If there isn't, then I think you're kidding each other and we're not like that.

"We all have opinions, but I know that as manager the buck stops with you so you need good people around you."

Grant is confident he fits into the category of 'good people'.

He has served as assistant to Alan Pardew at West Ham and been manager of Norwich.