I played over 600 games for Leeds United, Newcastle United & others before managing a Caribbean island - this is why I decided to do it
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Former Leeds United midfielder Lee Bowyer is desperate to pass his footballing knowledge onto a group of lower league and semi-professional footballers as head coach of Montserrat.
Bowyer was appointed head coach of the Caribbean island in September 2023, having been sacked by previous club Birmingham City 14 months beforehand. The former midfielder’s only other job had been with Charlton Athletic and so a 4,000-mile move across the Atlantic Ocean came as a major surprise.
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Hide AdMontserrat are ranked 180th in the FIFA world rankings, between Belize and Cambodia, and wins have been rare for Bowyer - they did beat the Dominican Republic, albeit before Junior Firpo’s decision to represent the Caribbean nation. But the 47-year-old is enjoying the challenge of working with a wide range of talent, as well as the expected benefits of coaching in one of the most beautiful regions in the world.
“It's very good. Something completely different, different to what I’ve done in the past obviously being in England, managing in the Championship and League One,” Bowyer told The Football News Show. “This is completely different, there’s a lot of travelling but you get to see different parts of the world and it's good.
“I just felt it was a difficult challenge. I spoke to the president of Montserrat and he told me about the journey they want to go on. We had World Cup qualifiers in the summer and were hoping to reach the knockout stages in the World Cup qualifiers. That was a big draw for me, that and working with different levels of players because our players, it's tough we have some who play league football back home in the EFL and some playing non league who have jobs as well as playing for their team.
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Hide Ad“I know back home in England it's day-in-day-out, and there are positives to that because you get to mould your team, but the most important thing is you pass on your knowledge, that's why I'm here. I was very fortunate as a player and a coach to work under good managers, and now I'm here to pass on my knowledge to a group of lads who want to learn and improve.”
Early management challenges
Bowyer was linked with a host of EFL jobs before making the move, having gained experience in difficult circumstances at Charlton and Birmingham. The latter job saw him sacked in 2022, with the club in crisis and boasting just 12 first-team squad members at the time.
The former Leeds, Newcastle United and West Ham midfielder did lead the Blues to 20th in the Championship during his sole campaign in charge, having spent three years in the dugout at Charlton. And it was his former club in West Yorkshire who consigned the Addicks to Championship relegation in 2020, Marcelo Bielsa’s side cruising to a 4-0 home win after already winning the second-tier title.
Bowyer played 265 times for Leeds across a seven-season spell between 1996 and 2003, playing a role in some of the club’s most exciting years in recent memory as David O’Leary’s squad went toe-to-toe with Europe’s best in the Champions League. The midfielder was sold to West Ham in January 2003 as Elland Road chiefs began to offload players.
Overall, Bowyer played 604 games in all competitions across six clubs, with spells at Charlton, Leeds, West Ham, Newcastle, Birmingham and Ipswich Town. He retired from playing in 2012.