HULL CITY EXCLUSIVE: Dowie to be unveiled as manager today
The 45-year-old agreed terms on a short-term contract last night and is due to be officially unveiled as Phil Brown's successor later this morning.
As revealed in yesterday's Mail, Dowie emerged as the clear front-runner for the job despite City holding tentative talks with a string of high-profile figures.
Mark Hughes, Alan Curbishley and Terry Venables all made contact with chairman Adam Pearson, but with none showing the same desire as Dowie, the former Crystal Palace and Charlton boss won the vote of City's hierarchy.
Pearson met with Dowie in the north-west yesterday to thrash out personal terms on a deal that will offer a lucrative bonus for steering the Tigers away from danger.
That task begins with Saturday's trip to rock-bottom Portsmouth and continues with an inviting run of fixtures against Fulham, Stoke and Burnley.
With three points and an inferior goal difference to make up on 17th-placed Wolves in the remaining nine games, the task facing Dowie remains difficult, but achievable.
A gloomy financial forecast at the KC Stadium makes the new manager's task all the more important, but desperate to return to management 18 months after leaving QPR, Dowie is known to be hungry for the challenge.
Dowie's arrival this morning comes just over three years since he toyed with the chance to take over the Tigers when Phil Parkinson was axed in December 2006.
Once he became manager of Coventry soon after, he admitted holding talks with Pearson but would not discuss if he was ever offered the chance to manage City out of respect to Brown, a close-friend from his north-west family roots.
The chance to take over at the KC Stadium has come back around, though, and out of work since leaving a coaching role under Alan Shearer at Newcastle last summer, Dowie was desperate for another crack at management.
He has spent much of this season working as pundit with Sky Sports – covering Preston's home game with Sheffield Wednesday last night – but has always maintained ambitions of a return to the game.
Dowie will have discussed the make-up of his backroom staff and at this stage it remains unclear if Brian Horton and Steve Parkin will keep their positions until the end of the season.
Spells in charge of Oldham, Crystal Palace, Charlton, Coventry and QPR saw him flanked by fitness coach and close ally John Harbin.
His last two posts have seen him aided by former England goalkeeper Tim Flowers while brother Bob Dowie has also played key roles in his managerial past.
A late twist in City's search for a new manager saw firm links emerge with Portsmouth manager Avram Grant.
But that appears to have been little more than a distraction ahead of the sides meeting at Fratton Park this weekend and Pompey were quick to describe the links as "nonsense."
Sporthull will be updating with news on Dowie's appointment throughout the day.
FOR a full profile of Iain Dowie and the qualities he will bring to Hull City in their fight for Premier League survival, see today's Mail.
Iain Dowie will be unveiled as Hull City's new manager today
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