Former Lincoln City manager Danny Cowley has reportedly turned down the chance to become the new manager of Bradford City.
BBC reporter Ian Dennis suggests that Cowley – who had seen his odds tumble to take over at Valley Parade, has turned down the chance to replace Mark Hughes for ‘family reasons.’ It is believed that the 45-year-old, who won three trophies in as many seasons at the LNER Stadium, had agreed personal terms with the Bantams, only to perform a U-turn at the last minute.
Cowley began his management career with Concord Rangers and is always accompanied one his jobs by his brother Nicky. After several seasons of impressing in the National League South, they moved to Braintree, who they helped to the National League play-offs on a minimal budget. That caught the eye of Lincoln City, who appointed them as managers in 2016.
They took over an Imps side that had been out of the Football League for five years and enjoyed a significant amount of success. They won promotion in their first season, not only lifting the league title but also taking the Imps to the FA Cup quarter-final, the first non-league club to achieve such a feat in a century.
In their second season, the brothers took Lincoln to the League Two play-offs and snared the club’s first-ever trip to Wembley, defeating Shrewsbury in the Checkatrade Trophy final. Their third full season saw them win League Two, the club’s first EFL title since 1976.
In 2019/20, they claimed an early scalp in the League Cup, beating Huddersfield Town, before the Terriers splashed out a fee thought to be around £1m to take them to West Yorkshire. They kept their new club in the Championship but left the following summer ahead of the COVID crisis. The brother’s last role was at Portsmouth, where they could replicate the successes of their previous roles.
Bradford’s attention will now turn to another choice, with Dean Holden and Leam Richardson currently the bookies favourites.
Writer’s View
Well, well, well. Danny Cowley is on the verge of a football return, only for a last-gasp change of heart. Could it have anything to do with the vacant manager’s role at Lincoln City?
There have been plenty of rumours around them potentially returning to the club they helped back to the Football League, and as the Imps step up their recruitment drive, it does seem convenient that Cowley has turned down a job he previously agreed terms for.
However, those who don’t believe in conspiracies could point to the fact they are settled back in the south and perhaps not willing to do what they did at Lincoln, splitting their time between Essex and Lincolnshire.
We say ‘they’ because whenever people talk about Danny Cowley as a manager, what they really mean is the Cowley brothers, with Nicky just as vital in the process as his more vocal brother.
What is clear is that they are itching for a return to management. Where that is, nobody knows right now.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief at The Real EFL, Gary is a passionate Lincoln City fan with extensive content creation across the Championship and EFL. He also shares expert football betting tips.
