Source: Daily_Mail
Heat on Dowie: Devil is in the detail as Hull's new leader plots escape route
Iain Dowie sits tapping at the computer in the manager's office at Hull City's training ground.[LNB] Aside from the large tactics board beside his head, still showing set pieces from last week's defeat at Stoke, the walls are now bare.[LNB] Upbeat: Hull City's caretaker coach Iain Dowie[LNB] Gone are the triumphant pictures of his predecessor Phil Brown celebrating Hull's playoff victory at Wembley. Gone is the framed, signed Diego Maradona shirt.[LNB] Dowie has had no time for such decorations. He has done his work on the walls next door in the players' canteen where, beneath the large plasma TV, he has pinned up the players' stats from the Stoke game.[LNB] In red are the winners of each category - Distance covered (Craig Fagan), high intensity distance covered (Jimmy Bullard), number of sprints (Fagan) , tackles (Paul McShane), headers (Steven Mouyokolo), successful passes (Bullard), crosses (George Boateng), attempts on goal (Bullard). The message is clear: he wants improvement in every department. It is a competition.[LNB] This is typical of the meticulous preparation Dowie has put into the nine games he was given to save Hull City, just as he has made his mark in other ways in the dining room.[LNB] Players must clear their own plates. 'And they always say please and thank you to Paula and Brian, who do a magnificent job in the kitchen everyday,' says Dowie. 'Nothing you wouldn't say to your own mum and dad is the way I look at it.'[LNB] Since relegation with Newcastle a year ago as Alan Shearer's deputy, Dowie kept his hand in as a reporter on Sky Sports' Saturday afternoon programme. Every match meant the same intense preparation.[LNB]Dowie said: 'My belief is, if I was going to do that job, I would do it properly. I'd stay up on a Friday night, do research myself, look at the stats on the internet, read the local papers online, Sky would supply some stats and I would just make sure I was fully prepared.[LNB] 'On camera, I had to think not to sensationalise games. If it is a good save, it is a good save, it's not a magnificent save. If there is nothing to report in a poor game, you can't make things up. [LNB]'I called it as I saw it and hopefully put in a little bit of tactical know-how.'[LNB] And if any player caught his eye, Dowie stuck the name in his small notebook. It is now bulging but he had advice from son William, too, when he took the Hull job. [LNB]'He had a list of players but they were all worth £20 million,' laughs Dowie. 'He plays Championship Manager so he know more about the players than me!'[LNB] When Hull chairman Adam Pearson came calling with the job of football management consultant, which gets around Brown's continuing gardening leave, Dowie was more than ready. Others preferred to stay in the TV studios. Dowie believes he is born to be a manager and coach.[LNB] He said: 'You cannot replicate the buzz of a win or the heartache of a loss. I love football. I feel alive when I am coaching.'[LNB] But there is more to Premier League management in 2010 than putting on sessions and picking a team. Every detail has been put into tomorrow's immense showdown with Burnley since the players returned from the Potteries.[LNB] Dowie immerses himself in stats and technology, but he never lets them cloud his instinct. 'Stats can mislead you. I remember looking at Thierry Henry's after a game. He did nothing on high intensity running and scored four goals! Your eyes are your best judge as a coach.'[LNB] So far, the Hull players have bought into Dowie's methods. He says it is too early to say whether he will have the chance to replace Brown permanently and enhance the reputation he built at Crystal Palace and damaged at Charlton.[LNB] Dowie said: 'I have the utmost respect for what Phil did and it was an immense achievement to get into the Premier League. I have been given the task of preserving that and will do everything to achieve it. I had to come in with a clean slate.'[LNB] Dowie needs to keep his side motivated. He said: 'There are a lot more distractions for the modern players now. They don't think so much about the game because they have busy lives.[LNB] 'My job is to make sure, when they are here, they're 100 per cent focused on football.[LNB] 'These are very wealthy young men. The extrinsic motivation has been taken away in the modern game so man management is about getting the intrinsic motivation right.[LNB] 'If you try to improve someone and it works, you have done your job. If it doesn't, you have still done the right thing by trying. I would rather be damned for doing than damned for not.' [LNB] [LNB]
