Danny Cowley (born 22 October 1978) is an English professional football coach who was most recently manager of EFL League One side

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He has previously managed Concord Rangers, Braintree Town, Lincoln City,

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

and

. He played at a semi-professional level as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Early life

Cowley was born in

Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The ...

, London. He was involved with the youth set-up with Wimbledon from the under-10s to under-16s but was not offered a scholarship having suffered from

Osgood–Schlatter disease Osgood–Schlatter disease (OSD) is inflammation of the patellar ligament at the tibial tuberosity (apophysitis). It is characterized by a painful bump just below the knee that is worse with activity and better with rest. Episodes of pain typica ...

Playing career

Playing as a

he also spent time with

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

clubs, including

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

, AFC Hornchurch and

Brentwood Town Brentwood Town Football Club is a football club based in Brentwood, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Brentwood Centre Arena. History A Brentwood Football Club was established in the 19th century, and played ...

, before his career was ended by injury in 2007. Shortly after that, he was offered the assistant manager's job at Concord Rangers.

Managerial career

Concord Rangers

When he took over at Concord Rangers (first as assistant and then as joint manager with Danny Scopes), the club was playing in the

Essex Senior Football League The Essex Senior Football League is an English men's football league. It contains clubs from the Essex FA, Hertfordshire FA, London FA, Middlesex FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. It is a feeder league to Division One North of the Isthm ...

, in front of crowds of around 50 people. In his first season the club was promoted to the Isthmian League Division One North, and narrowly missed out on a second successive promotion the following year, before being promoted a year later. After two seasons of consolidation, Cowley won his third promotion with the club, this time to the National League South. In his last season in charge, Concord reached the first round proper of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, while narrowly missing out on a play-off spot.

Braintree Town

On 30 April 2015, Cowley became manager of Braintree Town. That season Braintree secured their highest-ever finish of third place in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

, and qualified for the play-offs. In the play-off semi-finals, they won the first leg at

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

, defeating them 1–0, before losing the second leg 2–0 at home, failing to qualify for the final as his side lost 2–1 on aggregate.

Lincoln City

After just one season in charge of Braintree Town, Cowley moved on again, this time to Lincoln City on 13 May 2016. During Cowley's first season in charge of Lincoln, he oversaw the club's promotion back to the Football League – doing so by winning the National League title with two games to spare. In the same season Lincoln became the first non-league club to reach the quarter-final of the FA Cup in over a century, knocking out Championship sides

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, followed by Premier League side

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

, in the process. Lincoln eventually lost 5–0 to Arsenal in the quarter-finals. In April 2018, with their contracts due to end in 2021, Cowley and his brother signed contract extensions lasting until 2022. On 8 April 2018, he led his team to the EFL Trophy final against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

which they won 1–0 owing to a goal by

Elliott Whitehouse Elliott Mark Whitehouse (born 27 October 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for National League North side Spennymoor Town, on loan from Scunthorpe United. Whitehouse is a product of Sheffield United's acad ...

. It was Lincoln's first ever game at Wembley. In Lincoln's first season back in the league ( 2017–18) they finished the season seventh in League Two qualifying for the play-offs, where they were soundly beaten by

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in the semi-final. The following season, Cowley guided Lincoln to promotion to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, returning to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1999. On 22 April 2019, Cowley led Lincoln as champions to League One after a 0–0 draw at home to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

Huddersfield Town

On 9 September 2019, Cowley left Lincoln to become the new

manager. He and his assistant Nicky signed three-year contracts. After a successful run of six games unbeaten throughout the month, Cowley won the EFL Championship Manager of the Month award for October 2019. On 17 July 2020, Huddersfield defeated promotion-seeking West Bromwich Albion to all but ensure the club's Championship survival. Despite this, Cowley was sacked two days later, with chairman Phil Hodgkinson outlining the need for a "different vision" going forward as the reason for relieving Cowley of the role.

Portsmouth

On 19 March 2021, Danny Cowley was appointed as head coach of

on a contract until the end of the 2020–21 season, with his brother Nicky once again joining as his assistant. In his first game in charge at the club, Portsmouth would come from behind to beat

2–1. On 11 May 2021, after overseeing 6 wins in 12 matches in charge, Cowley signed a new "long term" deal with the club. Cowley won the

EFL League One Manager of the Month The Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the manager adjudged best for each month of the season in the Football League One, the third tier of English football. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the Lea ...

award for November 2021 after winning thirteen points from five matches. Cowley started the 2022–23 season in style, winning the League One Manager of the Month award for August 2022 after picking up thirteen points from a possible fifteen that saw Portsmouth in early contention for an automatic promotion spot. This strong start to the season fell away and following a run of over two months without a league victory, Cowley was sacked on 2 January 2023, with his side sitting in 12th position.

Personal life

Growing up, Cowley was a

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

supporter. During his spells as manager of Concord Rangers and Braintree Town, Cowley combined his management role with teaching Physical Education at FitzWimarc School in

Rayleigh, Essex Rayleigh is a market town and civil parish in Essex, England; it is located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, east of central London. It had a population of 32,150 at the census in 2011. Toponymy The name ''Rayleigh'' is Old English in ...

. Cowley has a brother, Nicky, who played alongside him at Romford and has been his assistant manager at Concord Rangers, Braintree Town, Lincoln City, Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth. Cowley graduated from the

University of Greenwich , mottoeng = "To learn, to do, to achieve" , former_name = Woolwich Polytechnic(1890–1970)Thames Polytechnic(1970–1992) , established = , type = Public university , budget = £214.9 million (2020) , administrative_staff = , chancel ...

in 2002, obtaining a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Physical Education.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a manager

Lincoln City *

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

: 2018–19 * EFL Trophy: 2017–18 *

: 2016–17 Individual * EFL Championship Manager of the Month: October 2019 *

: November 2021, August 2022 *

EFL League Two Manager of the Month The EFL League Two Manager of the Month is a monthly association football award to recognise the outstanding team manager in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the League's sponsor, ...

: December 2017, August 2018 * LMA League Two Manager of the Year: 2019 *National League Manager of the Month: October 2016 *National League Manager of the Season: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowley, Danny 1978 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Havering English footballers Association football midfielders Wimbledon F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Barking F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players Romford F.C. players Hornchurch F.C. players Brentwood Town F.C. players Concord Rangers F.C. players English football managers Concord Rangers F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. managers Braintree Town F.C. managers National League (English football) managers English Football League managers Schoolteachers from Essex Alumni of the University of Greenwich Huddersfield Town A.F.C. managers Portsmouth F.C. managers Essex Senior Football League players