Iain Dowie leading the race to take charge at Hull following the sacking of Phil Brown

By Colin Young Updated:

iain dowie

Out of the game: Dowie's last job was as assistant to Alan Shearer (right) at Newcastle

Iain Dowie is in talks with Hull City and looks certain to take over as Phil Brown's successor in the next 48 hours.

Mark Hughes has turned down the chance to lead the Tigers away from relegation after meeting Hull chairman Adam Pearson on Monday night.

Paul Jewell and Alan Curbishley also snubbed the chance to return to top flight management with Hull, who are currently second bottom of the Barclays Premier League and three points from safety, with one of the worst goal differences among the relegation strugglers.

Pearson, who sacked Brown on Monday morning following Hull's weekend home defeat to Arsenal, has turned to Dowie after rejecting advances from the likes of Terry Venables, Gareth Southgate and Peter Reid who were all among the leading candidates.

The former Northern Ireland international's last job was as Alan Shearer's assistant at Newcastle, but the pair were unable to guide the troubled North East club away from the drop.

Dowie, who has been working for Sky Sports this season, has also managed Oldham, Crystal Palace, Coventry, QPR and Charlton with varied success.

'Things are moving forward,' Pearson told the Tigers' official website.

'What happens when a manager leaves is that, suddenly, you get some interesting enquiries from left-field and they have to be considered.

'We've got a pretty tight list and we're working through it. Our intention is to have somebody in place for the weekend game at Portsmouth.

'We're working through this exercise as quickly as we can, but obviously we want to explore every possibility.

'I think all the names mentioned (in the media) are pretty reasonable. There are a few who the press haven't picked up on yet that we're talking to and it's always nice to have a couple of secret ones tucked away.

'I think we'll be able to bring that to the fore over the next couple of days.'



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