This is all a bit puzzling and, as you say, the facts may never be known.
No offence to anyone but it's well known, by some on here, that Mowbray is a bit of a gossip and likes a moan.
He was like it, for all to see, in his press conferences, when he was obviously digging out people at the club.
He may as well have said, 'Why do I keep having foreigners forced on me who can't speak the language?'
It's no surprise he wanted Dack and that he wanted Pritchard at Birmingham.
Looking back at Mowbray''s other rhetoric and it seems he was sometimes suggesting he'd succeeded despite having to play foreigners, and young lads, rather than because of them. Did he throw them under a bus with the way he 'managed' the Boro match when Neil was sent off?
I've struggled to follow what you've said about the way Speakman handled this situation. As it's quite a big issue, and you've said the club were complicit in some seriously bad behaviour, could you spell out what actually happened? I can't understand how a club, where players who could easily move elsewhere, probably for more money, keep choosing to stay at Sunderland ... yet Pritchard was double-crossed and pushed into a situation where he was mentally unbalanced and unable to play for the team. I can't believe the move to Birmingham, which is a long contract and a big commitment, was sorted out so rapidly when 'Speakman pulled the Sunderland offer'.
This is an aging player who struggles to last a game, often performs poorly if started and has a history of calf and ankle injuries. I really don't think he'd be given two and a half years anywhere but Birmingham where Mowbray has clearly pushed for him.
If I was making a guess I'd say Mowbray had a hand in Pritchard engineering the move.
If that's wrong and the club pushed Pritchard into such a mental state, that he was unable to play, and withdrew an agreed contract that's disgraceful. I can't comprehend why they would do that, toss him an inferior contract then expect him to be an asset and play to his maximum. It just doesn't make sense to me, I'm hoping you can clarify things, put me straight and put this to bed.
Which is where I'm going