While Lee Johnson and Alex Neil were Hume’s first two managers at Sunderland, it was Mowbray who promoted the defender back into the first team and enabled him to establish himself as a first-team regular with the Black Cats.
Mowbray left Sunderland in December 2023, and was subsequently forced to step down from his following job at Birmingham City in order to receive life-saving treatment for bowel cancer.
Having been given the all-clear after a lengthy spell of surgery and chemotherapy, the 61-year-old made an emotional return to management in January when he embarked on a second spell in charge of West Brom.
The Baggies currently sit in sixth position in the Championship table, meaning that with Sunderland in fourth, and increasingly looking assured of being in the play-offs, there is a decent chance of Mowbray taking on his former employers come the end of the regular season.
“Everyone was really sad and disappointed to see what he (Mowbray) had to go through and what happened to him,” said Hume, who is currently on international duty with Northern Ireland ahead of friendlies against Switzerland and Sweden. “It’s just nice to see a person like that back in football.
“He’s one of the nicest people in football. I think anyone will agree with you. He’s a great coach, so it’s just great to have him back in the league.
“Hopefully, we don’t have to see him in the play-offs because you don’t want to beat them, do you? It’s just great to have him there.”
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Mowbray was a key figure in the development of a number of the players who are currently playing integral roles in the club’s attempts to secure promotion.
He cemented Anthony Patterson’s place in the starting line-up, blooded Chris Rigg, championed the signing of Jobe Bellingham and helped ease a young Eliezer Mayenda into the first-team ranks.
He also helped turn Hume from a stand-in defensive cover option to Sunderland’s first-choice right-back, backing the Northern Irishman when he was forcing his way into the starting ranks ahead of Lynden Gooch and encouraging the 23-year-old to become a specialist on the right of the back four rather than a utility defender.
“When we moved into the Championship, it was Tony Mowbray that gave me my chance,” said Hume. “Just before, I think it was Goochy that got injured on Boxing Day, and that’s when I first went onto the team. After that, I just kept myself on the team.
“I was speaking a lot with Tony before that about going out on loan in the January, but obviously I ended up getting on the team and that didn’t happen. It was just a bit of luck, really. Ever since then, I’ve loved playing my football, and I just keep kicking on.”
Hume joined Sunderland from Linfield in January 2022. With Fulham’s interest in the most recent transfer window having led to suggestions of a £20m price tag on the full-back’s head, the fee of around £200,000 that the Black Cats shelled out to sign Hume just over three years ago now looks a massive bargain.
It didn’t always look that way though, with the defender making just three appearances during his first eight months on Wearside before then dropping back out of the team towards the end of Neil’s reign.
“When I first came in, we were second in League One, but then Lee Johnson got sacked and we had a dip in form,” said Hume. “I was hoping to get on the team then, and I got my opportunity, and then Alex Neil came in.
“Then, we started going on that push to get into the play-offs. I kind of understood it at the time, where he had to go for experience and boys that knew what he was doing, how to get the job done, basically.”
