Mike Stowell hunts next role after Leicester exit
Wolves legend Mike Stowell is on the hunt for his next job after insisting he is not ready to retire.
The former goalkeeper, inducted into Wolves’ hall of fame in April having made 448 appearances in 11 years at the club, left Leicester City after the appointment of Enzo Maresca as head coach.
Stowell, 58, spent an astonishing 18 years on the backroom staff at the King Power Stadium, chiefly as goalkeeper coach, as well as first-team coach and even caretaker boss.
Newly-appointed Foxes boss Maresca, the former Albion midfielder, brought his own staff to Leicester following their relegation from the Premier League, leaving Stowell in an unfamiliar out-of-work position, one he has seldom experienced in a career of almost four decades.
“I have never been one to network, so this is all new territory for me,” Stowell told the Wolves Heroes blog.
“I have always just got my head down and worked. In fact I have had 38 years of virtually unbroken employment in professional football.
“But I’ve just had a close-season break, caught up on the decorating and gardening and think I would get in the way at home if I spend too much time there now.”
Stowell was keen to ensure his ‘under the radar’ exit did not leave possible future employers thinking he had hung up his goalkeeper gloves.
The Preston-born coach admitted he would happily look overseas when it comes to his next job.
“With clubs starting pre-season training and with some high-profile transfers in the news, my own situation has probably gone under the radar and I would just like people to know I have definitely not retired,” Stowell continued.
“I am not ready to step away, nor am I able to, and am looking to crack on in football quickly. I’m still hungry, looking for the next challenge, and have an open mind as to where it might be. Apart from filling in for a few days with the Denmark national team through Kasper Schmeichel, I have always worked in England but wouldn’t mind going abroad for a couple of years if the chance came up in somewhere like America or Saudi Arabia.”
Appointed by Craig Levein in 2005, Stowell worked under ex-Wolves man Rob Kelly, a couple of lengthy stints under Nigel Pearson and was an ever-present in the club’s glorious era, including Premier League success under Claudio Ranieri and an FA Cup win under Brendan Rodgers, as well as Champions League knockout football.
