IN OPPOSITION:
PORTSMOUTH MEET THE BOSS:
DANNY COWLEY
A man who seems to have been around for years, however at the age of 43 Danny Cowley is one of the EFL’s youngest managers. Cowley started as a player in non-league circles representing Barking, Romford, AFC Hornchurch and Brentwood to name but a few, however injury cut his playing career short. An assistant manager role at Concord Rangers followed, who at the time were playing in the Essex Senior Football League, and it wasn’t long before Cowley took on the role of first-team manager. Three promotions during his tenure took Concord to the National League South, before Cowley moved on to manage Braintree Town in 2015/16 where, in his first season at the club, they achieved their highest-ever finish of 3rd place in the National League. His success at Braintree didn’t go unnoticed as Lincoln City came calling in the summer of 2016, and he was to have similar success at the Imps. In his first season, Cowley
guided Lincoln back to the EFL as National League champions, as well as achieving great success in the FA Cup, where the Imps reached the Quarter-Finals, eventually losing out to Arsenal. Upon their return to the EFL, Lincoln were victorious in the EFL Trophy in 2018 in what was their first-ever Wembley Stadium appearance, and the 2018/19 campaign saw them promoted to League One. Huddersfield Town came calling for Cowley and he joined the Championship side in September 2019 however, despite a promising things didn’t quite progress as planned and although the Terriers remained in the Championship, they parted company in July 2020. In March 2021, Cowley was appointed manager at Pompey where he will be hoping to guide them back to the Championship. With 12 games under his belt last season and a win percentage of 50%, Cowley has had some time to identify the challenges that lie ahead coming into this season.
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