Wolves legend Stowell not planning to take up DIY anytime soon after Leicester departure
“I quite like DIY, but I’m not ready to do too much of it just yet and its’ definitely not a full-time job.”
Mike Stowell is reflecting on his next move after an unbroken 18 years coaching with one club. Since 2005 he has held the roles of goalkeeper coach and then first team coach at Leicester City, and it has been some journey.
Aged 40 and recently retired after four years with Bristol City, Stowell was invited for an interview by then Foxes manager Craig Levein.
It sparked the start of a long career that saw Stowell work for 13 different managers as well as taking on the role of interim manager on no less than six occasions. His first big test came during Martin Allen’s brief stay at the club. During half time in a Championship match at Nottingham Forest in August 2007, on-loan defender Clive Clarke collapsed in the dressing room with a cardiac arrest.
“He looked terrible and all I remember was him falling down head first,” Stowell recalls. “We just cleared the area and the medics came in and saved his life.” Clarke recovered but the incident had a profound effect on the players and management.
When Leicester were relegated to League One at the end of that season, following spells in charge from Gary Megson and Ian Holloway, Stowell thought his time would be up but Nigel Pearson’s arrival sparked a revival.
“Nige, Shakey [Craig Shakespeare] and Steve Walsh came in and kept me on,” Stowell continues. “Walshie was great at bringing loans in and we started afresh. We went through six goalkeepers that season. We had an injury to Dave Martin in one game and Carl Pentney, one of our academy lads, was so nervous when I told him he had to go on at half-time that I had to warm him up in the dressing room as he didn’t want the crowd to see he was going on. It was the strangest warm-up in the world!” Leicester romped the league and reached the Championship play-offs the following season.
