Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England) is a football manager, who as of 2009^[update] most recently managed Queens Park Rangers and is assistant manager of Newcastle United, and former professional footballer and Northern Ireland international.

[edit] Playing career

At 16 Dowie was rejected by Southampton and later went to the University of Hertfordshire to study for a M.Eng Degree in Engineering. On completion he became an employee of British Aerospace, whilst keeping up football at non-league level playing for Cheshunt alongside his brother Bob. He left Cheshunt to improve his fitness and signed for St Albans City, then moved on to Hendon. While playing for Hendon, Dowie was spotted by Luton Town who snapped him up in the 1988-89 season, when they were in the First Division. An old-fashioned centre-forward, he then moved in quick succession to Fulham (a brief loan spell), before establishing himself as a first team player in the 1989-90 season when his 8 goals in 29 league games helped Southampton finish seventh.ref name=profile>"Profile: Iain Dowie". The Times. 2003-08-01. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/charlton/article1084332.ece. Retrieved 2009-04-04. </ref>

On 22 March 1991, with Luton still in the First Division and Dowie still a first team regular with 7 goals from 29 games that season, Dowie agreed to join Second Division promotion chasers West Ham United for £480,000. He proved himself to be a competent deputy for the injured Trevor Morley as his four goals in the final 12 league games of the season secured the Hammers promotion as Second Division runners-up. But when the [[1991-92 in English football|1991-92 season] began, Morley had returned to fitness and Dowie found himself on the sidelines until his £500,000 move to Southampton on 3 September 1991 after less than six months at Upton Park. He played alongside Alan Shearer and Matthew Le Tissier - two of the country's highest regarded strikers in the early 1990s - and scored nine goals in 30 league games to ensure that the Saints finished high enough for a place in the new FA Premier League. His good form continued in 1992-93, despite the loss of Shearer, as he scored 11 league goals. His tally dropped to five goals in 39 games during the 1993-94 season, though the Saints avoided relegation again, and he managed another five goals from 17 league games in 1994-95 before manager Alan Ball decided that he wanted younger partners for Matthew Le Tissier in attack, signing Gordon Watson and Neil Shipperley while dropping Craig Maskell and selling Dowie to Crystal Palace for £400,000 on 13 January 1995.

His spell at Palace was a frustrating one, as they reached the FA Cup semi finals where they lost to Manchester United after a replay, and despite a dynamic fightback after being three goals down to Newcastle United on the final day of the season, they still lost 3-2 and were relegated from the Premier League one season after promotion. [1]

He then spent two uneventful years back at West Ham United before moving across London to Queen's Park Rangers, where he ended his days playing in defence, and being player-manager of QPR's reserve side. Dowie also had a brief spell as caretaker manager of QPR in the autumn of 1998, between the dismissal of Ray Harford and appointment of Gerry Francis.^[1]

[edit] International career

Although Dowie was born in England, his father was born in Belfast and Dowie scored 12 goals and gained 59 caps for Northern Ireland.

[edit] Management career

[edit] Oldham Athletic

After retirement from playing, Dowie then became assistant manager of Oldham. However, following the dismissal of manager Mick Wadsworth, Dowie became manager and led the club into the Division Two play offs after spending heavily. At the end of the 2002-03 season. Unfortunately financial trouble hit Oldham and Dowie lost much of his first team squad. Funds were so hard for the club at the time that Dowie along with the remaining members of the squad were not paid for several months. Dowie tried to stick out the post for as long as possible until he decided to move on citing the need to support his family as a reason.

[edit] Crystal Palace

On 21 December 2003, Dowie was appointed manager of Crystal Palace, inheriting a squad with low morale and occupying 19th place in Division One. However, under his leadership, the club went on an impressive run that included 17 wins from 23 games after he took over, until the end of the season, enabling the club to finish in sixth place in Division One, just scraping into the Division One play-off places. This feat was attributed to complete change in the atmosphere and training regime at the club, including a tougher disciplinary regime, introduced by Dowie. After beating Sunderland in the semi-final, on penalties, the club beat Dowie's former club West Ham by a single goal in the final for a place in the Premiership. Unfortunately, the club lasted only one season there, being relegated on the final day of the season when Charlton scored a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw.

Dowie, however, impressed as a manager. He remained at Palace when the club was relegated to the Championship despite rumours that he was approached by other Premiership clubs to take over. The only actual report of a club approaching Palace to speak to Dowie was when Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric approached Palace Chairman Simon Jordan to speak to Dowie, in November 2005. Jordan refused this approach, and for the meantime Dowie remained at Selhurst Park.

In 2004, when discussing Crystal Palace's start to the Premiership season, he coined the word "bouncebackability" in discussing their ability to bounce back from the adversity during their Division One season and their habit of conceding early goals. This word gained cult popularity within the footballing world and particularly with the Sky Sports TV program Soccer AM. In 2005 it was included in the Collins Dictionary and has subsequently been used in a promotional campaign for UK Fostering.^[2]

After badly losing the play-off semi final to eventual winners Watford, Dowie left Crystal Palace by 'mutual consent' on 22 May 2006 following discussions with Chairman Simon Jordan.^[3] Jordan was however infuriated when just eight days later, on 30 May 2006, Premiership club Charlton Athletic unveiled Dowie as their new manager.

Jordan then issued Dowie with a writ, claiming that he had misled him about his reasons for leaving Crystal Palace.^[4] Dowie, however, insisted this was not the case, and was publicly backed by both Charlton Athletic Chief Executive Peter Varney, who branded the writ a sad and pathetic publicity stunt, and Chairman Richard Murray, who was adamant that his legal team could find no grounds for the writ to be upheld, and suggested that there may be more personal reasons behind the writ being issued.^[5] The case was heard in the London High Court in the summer of 2007, and on 14 June The Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled that Dowie had lied when negotiating his way out of his contract. Dowie has since won the right to appeal that decision and the case will be heard in the New Year at some point

[edit] Charlton Athletic

When Iain Dowie took over at the Valley, he was given more money than any previous manager to spend on players, but was unable to prevent the team suffering a disastrous start to the Premiership campaign. Despite this, the team reached the quarter final of the Football League Cup for the first time in their history. Unfortunately, Dowie was unable to lift the team away from the relegation zone of the Premiership and build on the success of former manager Alan Curbishley, resulting in him and the club parting company on the evening of 13 November 2006, after just 15 games in charge - 12 in the Premiership.^[6]

Soon after his departure from Charlton, in December 2006, he was linked with the vacant managers job at Hull City, but reportedly turned down the position, because managing Hull City would be a "slap in the face to his family".^[7]

[edit] Coventry City

Dowie was unveiled as Coventry manager on 19 February 2007. He found immediate success at the club with a number of wins but towards the end of the season their form dropped off and the Sky Blues finished 17th in the Championship table.^{[8] [9]}

On 29 August, Dowie was linked with the vacant manager's position at Leicester City following the dismissal of Martin Allen. Coventry City dismissed claims that an approach was even made and that any approach would be 'firmly rebuffed'.^[10] These rumours renewed again on 24 October when Gary Megson left Leicester to manage Bolton. Dowie refused to comment on the speculation.^[11] On 11 February 2008 Coventry City announced that Iain Dowie had been released from his contract as manager ^[12], which was officially cited as being due to significant differences of opinion between the management team and the Board as to how the club should be going forward.

[edit] Queens Park Rangers

On 14 May 2008, Queens Park Rangers appointed Iain Dowie as their new first team coach following the previous week's departure of Luigi de Canio.^[13]

On 24 October 2008, Iain Dowie was sacked as manager of QPR after just fifteen games in charge, with the team in 9th position in the league.^[14]

[edit] Newcastle United

On 1 April 2009, Newcastle United appointed Alan Shearer as manager to the end of the season, with Dowie being appointed to his coaching staff.^[15]

[edit] Personal life

Dowie is married and has two sons, Olli and Will. They both attend independent school Bolton School. Both sons are currently involved in football at a youth level. Dowie worked with Sky Sports News doing interviews and commentary up until his appointment as Assistant Manager at Newcastle United.^{[citation needed]} He currently resides in Heaton, Bolton.

[edit] Managerial statistics

As at 18:35, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Queens Park Rangers		28 September 1998	16 October 1998	2	1	1	0	50.00
Oldham Athletic		31 May 2002	19 December 2003	82	31	23	28	37.80
Crystal Palace		22 December 2003	22 May 2006	123	50	44	29	40.65
Charlton Athletic		30 May 2006	13 November 2006	15	4	8	3	26.66
Coventry City		19 February 2007	11 February 2008	49	20	21	8	40.81
Queens Park Rangers		14 May 2008	24 October 2008	15	8	3	4	53.33

[edit] Honours

[edit] As a Manager

[edit] Promotions

• 2003–04: Division 1 Playoff Winner (promotion to The Premiership) - Crystal Palace

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Iain Dowie career stats at Soccerbase
• Iain Dowie management career stats at Soccerbase
• Northern Ireland profile