We’ve got Bouncebackability

COLOURFUL Queens Park Rangers manager Iain Dowie has called on Bahraini football lovers to get behind the Super Hoops in the club’s quest for promotion to the    English Premiership.

The former Northern Ireland international is thrilled by the Championship side’s link up with the kingdom following Gulf Air’s three-year shirt sponsorship deal.

And Dowie, pictured left, can call on a touch of “bouncebackability” – the inspirational word he invented and brought into the English dictionary – to turn the dream into reality.

It conveys the sort of diehard spirit which helped ignite the special relationship between the club’s owners – Formula One’s Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecklestone and multi-millionaire Lakshmi Mittal – and the airline’s chief executive officer Björn Näf, who said: “Like QPR, Gulf Air is building a phenomenal success story and with it a powerful brand with a class-leading product.”

Both parties have a flight path to the same destination and aim to bounce back to the top after years in the doldrums.

And Dowie – the man who has to deliver on the footballing side – had this message to GulfWeekly readers: “Like all QPR fans, I am very excited about our new partnership with Gulf Air and especially our links with the Middle East, and Bahrain in particular.

“The Middle East is an area I know and love. I lived in Abu Dhabi for three years in the late 70s, and I’ve holidayed in the region for the past 16 years. I love the people.

“It’s an emerging area and they love their sport and football is very popular with the locals.”

“The airline industry itself is of great interest to me too. I trained as an aeronautical engineer and my father was an airline engineer. My brother actually worked for Gulf Air, so this new relationship is of particular interest to me, personally.

“We’d love the support of the Bahraini people and rest assured; we’re doing everything within our powers to achieve the goals of the club and our worldwide fan-base.

“These are very exciting times for QPR and the supporters in particular, and we want our fans all over the world to embrace the new era and be with us every step of the way.”

Dowie, 43, well known in the Gulf as a television football pundit, went to the University of Hertfordshire to study for a Master’s Degree in Engineering. On completion he became an employee of British Aerospace, playing football at non-league level for Cheshunt alongside his brother, Bob.

But it was whilst playing for non-league Hendon that he was spotted by Luton Town who snapped him up. An old-fashioned centre-forward, he then moved in quick succession to Fulham and West Ham United.

He then moved to Southampton, where he made more than 100 appearances. He then moved back to London with Crystal Palace in January 1995, which after they were relegated led to another spell at West Ham, and finally Queens Park Rangers, where he ended his days playing in defence, and being player-manager of QPR’s reserve side.

Dowie also had a brief spell as caretaker manager of QPR in the autumn of 1998.

After retirement from playing, Dowie became assistant manager of Oldham, then manager and led the club into the Division Two play-offs.

In 2003 he was appointed manager of Crystal Palace, inheriting a squad with low morale and occupying 19th place in Division One. However, under his leadership, the club went on an impressive run that included 17 wins from 23 games after he took over, until the end of the season, enabling the club to finish in sixth place in Division One, just scraping into the Division One play-off places.

This feat was attributed to a complete change in the atmosphere and training regime at the club, including a tougher disciplinary regime, introduced by Dowie. After beating Sunderland in the semi-final, on penalties, the club beat Dowie’s former club West Ham by a single goal in the final for a place in the Premiership.

In 2004, when discussing Crystal Palace’s start to the Premiership season, he coined the word “bouncebackability” in discussing their ability to bounce back from adversity during their Division One season and the side’s habit of conceding early goals.

This word gained cult popularity within the footballing world and particularly with the Sky Sports TV programme Soccer AM. In 2005, it was included in the Collins Dictionary and has subsequently been used in a promotional campaign for child fostering in the UK.

Dowie went on to manage Charlton Athletic, Coventry City and this May QPR appointed him as their new first team coach following the departure of Luigi de Canio.

The club’s partnership with Gulf Air will include a football community scouting programme based in the region and various community-based initiatives in Bahrain and London. The country’s flagship airline is also likely to extend its sponsorship of the Formula One Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit.