Iain Dowie

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Iain Dowie, (born January 9 1965 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England), is a former professional football player who is currently manager of Crystal Palace F.C. He was also a Northern Ireland international, winning 59 caps.

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. Other clubs include Fulham(a brief loan spell), West Ham Utd, Southampton, Crystal Palace, 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.

He then became assistant manager of financially troubled Oldham. However, following the dismissal of manager Mick Wadsworth, Dowie became manager, and defied all odds by leading the club a club into the Second Division play offs, at the end of the 2002-03.

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.

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