After a little over five months of being in charge of Queens Park Rangers, Iain Dowie has been shown the door by the London club. Dowie, who replaced Italian Luigi De Canio in May, leaves Loftus Road with a record of eight wins, three draws and four losses in his fifteen games. He had signed a two year contract, and was also a former QPR player.
The Hoops are currently ninth in the table, with eighteen points. Veteran midfielder Gareth Ainsworth has been appointed as caretaker manager for the time being.
So, where did it go wrong for Dowie ? Dowie replaced De Canio, who had taken over from John Gregory, and did well with the club. De Canio’s record ( 12W, 12D, 11 Lost) was certainly not bad considering the circumstances in which he had inherited the team. French playmaker Zinedine Zidane was being touted as a possible successor to De Canio when the announcement of Dowie being appointed came.
Dowie started well, winning six of his first eight games in charge. Then the Hoops went several games without a win, which slowly started to add pressure on him. Although they did beat manage to beat Forest, the draw against Swansea was to prove his last match in charge of the club. Other reasons could be the non appearance of Daniel Parejo and Emmanuel Ledesma in QPR’s first team lineup.
Terry Venables, Alan Curbishley, Roberto Mancini and Steve Cotterill have been earmarked as likely successors. QPR’s next game is against Reading.