Iain Dowie Speaks About His Time at QPR

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Sky - No power Ranger
Iain Dowie has no regrets about leaving QPR, because he was not in complete control of the club.
- The former Northern Ireland international left the Championship club in October with just 12 games gone and Rangers sat in eighth place in the table.
- He has been replaced by Paulo Sousa and the club are now one place worse off, despite the wealth of owners Gianni Paladini and Flavio Briatore.
- But despite feeling he was not given enough time, Dowie looked back on his reign with fondness - and admitted his departure was inevitable.
- "I have to say, from minute one on the training ground, I couldn't have enjoyed it more
- "The lads were ultra-responsive, me and Tim sat down in the summer, felt they probably needed a little bit of tightening at the back. WE ended up with the third best defensive record in the league when we left.
- "It's not too often you get removed with a 53 per cent win percentage, so we can't have been that bad - and we were in the last 16 of the cup.
- "But I'm not a bitter person, I don't have time for that. You've got to move on and wish them all the best. There's still some great lads at the club and I wish them all the success but he's entitled to run it absolutely how it wants it.
-Decisions
- "Flavio was fine with me for lots of the time and then it just became a situation where I felt I had to be very much in control of my own destiny.
- "I had to look the players in the eye and know that the decisions that were being made, were being made by me."
- Rumours of Briatore picking the team himself seem to be exaggerated, but Dowie did reveal more and more of his work was taken out of his hands.
- He and fellow Goals on Sunday guest and coaching colleague Tim Flowers both lamented the way modern management is going, insisting that the foreign set-up of a directors of football and the like does not necessarily work in this country.
- And Dowie believes that he should have been left to do things his way, with the high-profile QPR board remaining in the background.
- "You don't have to do it all by yourself," he said.
- "You have a scouting network in place and a database you work from, and if a player is tagged up three times the manager goes to see him himself.
- "But the board always have the final say and that's got to be the way for me. That was very much the case and I have no problem with that being taken away, as long as you have the final say.
- Compartmentalising
- "Coaching is a big part of what I do. I've not got a problem with compartmentalising each part of the job but I just felt certainly at Championship level, you can do that."
- Dowie's reign at Loftus Road lasted just five months.
- And although he refuses to be bitter, he did point to the example of Mick McCarthy at Championship leaders Wolves, as to what can be achieved if a manager is given time and backing by his board.
- McCarthy is approaching three-and-a-half years in the Molineux hotseat and is sitting pretty at the top of the table seven points clear - proof says Dowie, that patience is needed.
- "Mick has been under pressure, but he has always been a good manager," he said.
- "He's just had time to settle, he's got some good players in there and all of a sudden he's getting it right.
- "Mick's slowly but surely getting Wolves where they should be. But it just shows there's no quick fix.
- "I had a text over Christmas from a player at one of my old clubs and another player I'd worked with, saying I believe in you, we believed in you.
- "I think that always give you faith and I think my record stands up to scrutiny." Sky