Iain Dowie

Iain Dowie, (born January 9 1965 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England), is a football manager and coach, and former professional football player and Northern Ireland international. He is currently manager of English Premiership club Charlton Athletic.

Playing

At 16, Dowie was rejected by Southampton, who decided that he was not good enough, and went to the University of Hertfordshire and got a Master's Degree, in engineering. He then became an employee of British Aerospace, whilst keeping up football at non-league level.

While playing for Hendon, Dowie was spotted by Luton Town who snapped him up. An old-fashioned centre-forward, he then moved in quick succesion to Fulham (a brief loan spell), and West Ham Utd

He then moved to Southampton, where he had over 100 appearances. He then moved back to London with Crystal Palace, which after they were relegated meant another spell at West Ham, and finally Queens Park Rangers, where he ended his days playing in defence, and being player-manager of QPR's reserve side.

International

Although Dowie was born in England, his father was born in Belfast and Dowie scored 11 goals and gained 59 caps for Northern Ireland.

Management

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 Second Division play offs, at the end of the 2002-03. Unfortunately financial trouble hit Oldham and Dowie lost much of his first team squad, after battling along for a few months with a severely depleted squad he then moved onto Crystal Palace.

At Christmas 2003, Dowie was appointed manager of Crystal Palace, inheriting a squad with low morale and in nineteenth place in the First Division. However, under his leadership, the club went on an impressive run that included 17 wins from when he took over, until the of the season, enabling the club to finish in sixth place in the Nationwide First Division, 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.

Dowie, however, impressed as a manager. But 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 Simon Jordan (chairman of Palace) to speak to Dowie, in November 2005. Jordan refused.

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.

On 22 May 2006 it was announced that he had left Crystal Palace by mutal consent. On 30 May 2006, Charlton Athletic unveiled Dowie as their new manager. However, this angered former boss Simon Jordan, who has issued a £1million writ against Dowie. The source of Jordan's anger being that Dowie had requested to be released from his contract with Crystal Palace, which included a £1million compensation clause, on the basis that his family wished to return to the North of England. By subsequently joining a fellow London club, Jordan felt Dowie had made "fraudulent statements about his reasons for leaving the club". Dowie, however, insisted he had done nothing wrong and has the staunch backing of Charlton Athletic chairman Richard Murray. They've vowed to legally fight Jordan's claims.

Trivia

• Height: 6' 1".
• Dowie has a Masters degree in mechanical engineering, which he believes helps him to be logical and analytical in his approach to football management.
• Dowie gives credit for his success at Crystal Palace to his brother Bob, and chief scout and John Harbin, the Australian fitness coach Dowie met while manager of Oldham.
• For motivating his players, Dowie read, more than once, inspirational books like Beyond Winning and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Pinned around the walls of Palace's training ground in big letters is: "How much do I want it?".
• While manager at Crystal Palace, Dowie acknowleges that he did have differences with chairman, Simon Jordan, but they shared the same vision to establish Crystal Palace as a Premiership team with Premiership standards.