Gerry Francis: Dowie Needs Instant Promotion and Other Media Dowie Responses

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Mirror/Neil McLeman - 'DOWIE WILL NEED QUICK FIX'
Gerry Francis has warned Iain Dowie he must get QPR promoted to the Premier League in his first season at Loftus Road.
Former QPR player and caretaker manager Dowie yesterday signed a two-year contract to become the new manager at the richest club in Britain.
Wealthy owners Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Britain's richest man Lakshmi Mittal have made clear their desire to see the Championship club quickly climb into the top flight.
And Francis, who had Dowie as his assistant manager at the club, said the 43-year-old would be under pressure to produce immediate results.
"He will be expected to be up there challenging for promotion with the backing he has got so it will be a big year for him, but he has the experience and the backing behind him to put his plans in place," said Francis.
Dowie, who replaces Italian Luigi De Canio, gained promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs with Crystal Palace in 2004. But he was sacked from his last two jobs at Charlton and Coventry.
He said: "This is a very exciting long-term project. I'm very privileged to have been given the opportunity under the new ownership to return to the club where I served my managerial apprenticeship.
"I've been thoroughly impressed by the new investors and their fresh, aggressive and innovative approach. Mirror


The Times/Kaveh Solhekol -
QPR choose Iain Dowie, not Zinedine Zidane
They wanted Zinédine Zidane, they got Iain Dowie. Queens Park Rangers fans were scratching their heads last night after Dowie, the former QPR forward, was chosen to replace Luigi De Canio as the first-team coach of one of the richest clubs in England.
The sky has been the limit since Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore bought the Coca-Cola Championship club last year, but the millionaire owners have chosen a manager who has been sacked by Coventry City and Charlton Athletic since he left Crystal Palace under a cloud two years ago. “This is a very exciting long-term project,” Dowie said. “I'm relishing the challenge that lies ahead.”
Dowie was sacked by Ray Ranson, the Coventry City chairman, in February because of “his old-fashioned methods” and he was sued by Simon Jordan, the Palace chairman, after he left Selhurst Park in May 2006.
Palace were promoted to the top flight via the play-offs under Dowie four years ago, but they were relegated after one season. The 43-year-old has signed a two-year contract at Loftus Road. “Iain Dowie has a proven track record in the Championship and we are delighted to have him on board,” Gianni Paladini, the QPR sporting director, said. The Times

The Telegraph/Jasper Gerard Sir Alex Ferguson beats the odds
They should be known as the killing fields: football pitches where one shot determines which manager survives - and which endures the slow death of punditry on Abu Dhabi TV. Since the birth of the Premier League in 1992, 789 managers in the top four divisions have been sacked, 33 of them this season.
There were seven Premier League sackings, up from five last year: so top managers now have a one-in-three chance of getting the bullet. You had better odds surviving Vietnam, or marriage to Ulrika Jonsson.
And the one man to live through this carnage? Sir Alex Ferguson. He has presided over Old Trafford since 1986. Meanwhile, 146 top-flight managers have lost their jobs. The predictable conclusion, advanced by the League Managers Association: loyalty pays.
But it's not so simple, or gracing the Champions League for the last decade would have been Dario Gradi's Crewe. It is a conundrum that hits chairmen six games in: will sacking the manager help?
Sue Bridgewater of Warwick Business School, who slipped me the figures she prepared for the LMA, says the most stable teams win 41 per cent of games, the least stable 33 per cent. But does stability bring success, or are already successful clubs under less pressure?
Bridgewater is investigating, but has an idea: "My advice? Keep your manager. Ferguson was saved early on by a goal from Mark Robbins. Imagine if he had been sacked." Ah, but Premier League strugglers who changed managers this season improved slightly. "There is a blip, but results tend to bottom out. The underlying problems hit the next guy."
Is there a more sulphurous job than football management? "Being a head teacher: they, too, are now judged on league tables." No one should object to being judged on their success; the problem is Man U and Eton have more resources than Scunthorpe or Comprehensive schools, so it's hard to make true comparisons.
Still, Crystal Palace (15 managers since '92) are hardly adverts for perpetual revolution. My club, QPR, are trigger-happy when it comes to managers and were even dragged into a messy court trial over alleged gun threats in the boardroom.
After speculation we would hire Zinedine Zidane, Iain Dowie has trundled in as our latest manager. The most enthusiastic online response? "Oh well, never mind..." Dowie, who has failed just about everywhere said he was excited by his two-year contract; I give him two months.
Sir Alex? Long after his death I suspect they will, as with Jeremy Bentham, wheel out his skeleton for big occasions. The rest? In football there is always life after death. Until last week Dowie was a pundit in Abu Dhabi.Telegraph