Iain Dowie has exchanged the controlled thrills of an indoor ski slope for English football's equivalent of a black run. Hull City's newly appointed manager today mothballed his new hobby to expose himself to the adrenaline highs of a relegation struggle deemed unacceptably risky by some of his peers.
"I've had three lessons at the ski slope and it's the most exciting pastime I've ever tried, but this job is better," said Dowie, who has been appointed for nine games with a review in the summer, as he stood on the KC Stadium's pitch. "Mind you, I set speed records for going down backwards on my backside."
Now many Hull fans fear a man who has been out of football since his dismissal as Alan Shearer's assistant at newly relegated Newcastle United last summer, will similarly accelerate Hull's descent towards the Championship.
Adam Pearson, the club's chairman, believes such doom-mongers are mistaking lack of glamour for shortage of ability. "We're not really looking for a manager with a wow factor or an ego or with a reputation to look after," he said, perhaps rather pointedly. "We want someone with a point to prove and who is desperate to be the manager of this club, which Iain is. I understand fans want big names and we'd all like to see José Mourinho here. But José probably doesn't want to walk out of that tunnel."
Neither did a handful of others approached by Pearson, but he denied Mark Hughes and company were deterred by warnings from Hull's auditors indicating the club could be on the brink of financial meltdown.
"We've got the lowest debt in the Premier League, it's down to £4.5m, we've got a £2.5m operating profit and a £52m turnover," he said. "That doesn't sound catastrophic to me. If this club gets relegated, we'll cope."
Dowie's priority is to avoid such a fate and the former Oldham, Crystal Palace, Charlton, Coventry and Queens Park Rangers manager's modus operandi will be very different from Phil Brown's. The days when Hull's manager made boasts about talking a suicidal woman down from the Humber Bridge, lectured his players on the pitch at half‑time and snatched a microphone before entertaining fans to a Beach Boys number are over. "You would not want to hear my voice," said Dowie. "I can dance but I can't sing. I won't be involved in things like that, I'm not like that."
Coincidentally, the 45-year-old was at a charity lunch with Brown yesterdaywhen he received a call inviting him to meet Pearson for talks after Sheffield Wednesday's game at Preston, which Dowie covered for Sky that evening. "We had a good chat," he said. "Phil was very positive, you won't hear me saying anything bad about him."
Dowie's sentences are peppered with "positives" but his critics on Tyneside claim he was over-controlling as Shearer's assistant, upsetting players by making ice baths compulsory and fretting over their lunchtime fat intake.
A big believer in sports science and psychology, he will be assisted by Steve Wigley and Tim Flowers and makes no apologies for his part in Newcastle's run of one win in eight. "We didn't do a great deal wrong," Dowie said. "There's not a lot I'd do differently, we were unlucky. It's a shame things worked out that way but Alan will be a top manager one day. And every experience makes you stronger; Newcastle steeled me for this."
A man famed for subjecting Oldham's players to dawn swims may have some comparable surprises in store for his new squad. "I don't know if I'll take them to the North Sea and tell them to jump in, but there can be gimmicks," said Dowie. "I'm not ruling anything out. I believe in intense training."
Hull certainly require something dramatic to arrest a decline which has seen them win only six of their last 51 league games. Dowie trusts a remedy to long‑standing problems away from home – the last victory on the road came more than a year ago – will arrive at Portsmouth on Saturday. Indeed this holder of a masters degree in aeronautical engineering remains confident his Hull tenure will enjoy a successful take‑off and that six of the remaining nine fixtures are "winnable".
Although Hull are second bottom of the Premier League, three points adrift of safety, they face more less-than-daunting home matches than many of their rivals – Fulham, Burnley and Sunderland – although their last is against Liverpool.
Moreover Brown's successor aims to survive in style. "I believe I can get sides playing open, enjoyable, attractive football. I want to give the people of Hull smiley Saturday afternoons. I look forward to keeping the team up and then establishing them as a Premier League force. I'd love to stay long term. This club and this area suit my personality."