Why can't Iain Dowie keep a job?

The news has filtered out today that Iain Dowie has been sacked as boss of Queen's Park Rangers after barely five months on the job. It's the third job Dowie has lost since lying his way out of a successful stint at Crystal Palace. Why is Dowie having such a hard time keeping a job lately?


Interestingly, his stint in charge of QPR lasted just as long as his time in charge of Charlton in 2006--15 games. However, where Dowie was pretty bad at Charlton--17 points in those 15 games--at QPR he totaled 28 points in his tenure. In between, Dowie toiled at Coventry City for just under a year. There he earned 68 points in 49 games. (All totals include cup ties which have been given the standard three points for a win and 1 point for a draw)

So, is he a toxic personality? His sacking at Charlton was pretty much a given. The team was struggling early to stay up in the Prem, a goal it eventually failed to reach. At Coventry City, he was able to light an early fire under a poorly-positioned squad, but was eventually released due to differences of opinion between the board and Dowie. Which, if I remember my Queen's to American English translation correctly, means that he's a dick.

As for the QPR job, well, Dowie did not have a playoff place (at the very least) standing. As Bigus pointed out in his season preview, this was a team that was looking to buy its way back into the Premiership. Being in ninth place at the quarter-season pole did not make the bosses happy. Bigus should also be congratulated for stating the obvious--that Dowie is overrated as a manager and has done nothing to keep getting hired.

So, to summarize for the tl;dr crowd: Dowie is shit as a manger, and possibly an ass to boot. Also, he will have a new job by Christmas. The man must give a great interview to overcome that CV.

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1 Addict, 1 Cup

No, this post isn't about former premiership squad Charlton FC and its quest for silverware. Not is it a coprophilic story. Rather, it's about the continuing drug addled saga of Pete Doherty's and a cup. Doherty's a QPR devotee and this past weekend participated in a celebrity soccer match at Millwall. Doherty's squad lost the match, which might explain his behavior.

Babyshambles were given access to the chairman’s office so the attention surrounding Pete wouldn’t get in the way of all the other guests.

“He decided to play a prank but overstepped the mark.

“One of the security guards was tipped off that Pete was trying to take a trophy. When he checked it out he found that Pete wasn’t nicking it, he was filling it up.

It's tough to blame Doherty. He's been in and out of rehab and jail and always has to pee in a cup. It was just instinct.

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Queen's Park Chubby Chasers

Queen's Park Rangers co-owner Flavio Briatore prefers English football over Calcio of his native Italy. Why? English football is more open and less corrupt (except for that whole bung business, of course).

He also talks about how you don't see English players "asking an opponent to be given a yellow card" (instead, players will try to snatch red cards out of referees' hands). "The referees are never in question," continued Briatore, "Because they don't feel protagonists."

So how are English and Italian referees different, Flavio? Says Briatore, "In Italy they are all handsome, athletic, telegenic. Here they have tubby bellies and they blow up very little because they are not mad about getting noticed."

There you go folks - overweight, out-of-shape referees make English football the best in the world. Sexy beasts like this guy need not apply:

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