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Fullname: John Dowie
Born: 12 December 1955
Died: 22 January 2016
Birthplace: Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Signed: 6 September 1977
Left: 30 Apr 1979 (free); July 1979 (Doncaster Rovers)
Position: Midfield
First game: Rangers 2-3 away 10 September 1977 league
Last game: Hibernian 1-4 away 15 April 1978 league
Internationals: Scotland youth
Biog![[Untitled]](https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/54f7dd051828c7cfb25fff83be92d281 "[Untitled]")
Hamilton-born John Dowie was a former Rangers ‘S’ form signing and Rangers supporter who joined the Bhoys in September 1977 from Fulham.
Released by his beloved Rangers in 1972 without making the grade at senior level, John Dowie moved to Craven Cottage where he was mostly a bit part player. In 1975 he was part of the Fulham squad which lost 2-0 to West Ham in the FA Cup final but did not make the 12 man team who stripped for the occasion.
Jock Stein’s move to sign Dowie for £25,000 raised a few eyebrows and ironically John Dowie made his Celtic debut at Ibrox in a league clash on September 10th which the home side won 3-2 after Celtic had blown a 2-0 half time lead.
The 1977/78 season was a horrendous one for Celtic and John Dowie was played in every midfield role and also as an emergency left back on occasions. He played in the 1978 League cup final defeat to Rangers and one week later he excelled at Celtic Park as Celtic gained revenge by beating Rangers 2-0 in what was probably his best performance in the hoops.
John Dowie was a hard working, versatile and industrious midfielder and whilst he was brought in to strengthen a squad light on both numbers and quality he may have helped address the former he did little to improve the latter. Many supporters weren’t really convinced by him, and his paucity of appearances shows that the coaching staff tended to agree. However, it was a tumultuous time with the side collapsing after mostly a decade of dominance and European success. So relative to the recent greats, it was too much to live up to.
He fell from favour in April 1978 and even when Billy McNeill took over from Jock Stein that summer he was unable to win his place back as McNeill put his faith in younger players such as Aitken, Conroy and Burns.
After failing to make a first team appearance in the title winning season of 1978/79 at Parkhead, John Dowie was freed in April 1979 after 18 appearances in total for the Celts.
He went on to play for Doncaster Rovers and Clyde before eventually plying his trade in Australia.
He passed away in January 2016.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1977-79 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 18 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
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Obituaries
John Dowie: 1955-2016
http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2016/january/22/john-dowie-1955-2016
Friday 22 January 2016 17:00
Fulham Football Club was saddened to hear of the passing of former Whites player John Dowie at the age of 60.
Born in Scotland, Dowie was on the books of Rangers as a youngster, before heading south of the border to join Fulham as an apprentice at the age of 17 in May 1973. After turning professional, he made his Whites debut in January 1974 in a 1-0 home win over Preston North End in the FA Cup.
The following season, Dowie played 23 times in total. That tally included eight games and one goal in Fulham’s run to the 1975 FA Cup Final. He started the Semi-Final Replay win over Birmingham City but wasn’t in the squad as Fulham lost to West Ham United at Wembley.
A hard-working and industrious midfielder, Dowie made 20 appearances the following season and three in 1976/77 before heading back to Scotland to join Celtic in November 1977. He played in the 1978 Scottish League Cup Final against Rangers.
He left Celtic in April 1979, later playing for Doncaster Rovers, Clyde, and in Australia.
The thoughts of all at Fulham are with John’s family and friends.
JOHN DOWIE, RIP
By CQN Magazine on 25th January 2016 Latest News
FORMER Celtic midfielder John Dowie has passed away at the age of 60.
Jock Stein signed John for Celtic from Fulham in September 1977 for a fee of £25,000. He made his debut at Ibrox against his boyhood heroes on September 10th. Celtic threw away a 2-0 half-time lead that day to lose by 3-2. GW439H789
Celtic had sold Kenny Dalglish to Liverpool a month earlier and the void on the team was very evident. The season turned into a nightmare for the club as Rangers went on to win a treble. John Dowie played in every midfield role and also as an emergency left back as the team struggled with injuries and poor form. Dowie played in the 1978 League Cup Final defeat to Rangers and one week later he excelled at Celtic Park as Celtic gained revenge by beating Rangers 2-0 in what was probably his best performance in the hoops.
The Celtic Wiki has this to say about the player:
“Dowie was a hard working, versatile and industrious midfielder and whilst he was brought in to strengthen a squad light on both numbers and quality he may have helped address the former he did little to improve the latter. Many supporters weren’t really convinced by him, and his paucity of appearances shows that the coaching staff tended to agree. However, it was a tumultuous time with the side collapsing after mostly a decade of dominance and European success. So relative to the recent greats, it was too much to live up to.”
When Billy McNeill took over as Celtic manager, John fell out of Caesar’s first team plans and after failing to make a first team appearance in Celtic dramatic league winning season (1978/79) he was freed in April 1979. He went on to play for Doncaster Rovers and Clyde before eventually plying his trade in Australia.
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of John, who died on Friday January 22nd