Paul Cowie can recount the sliding doors moment on his circuitous journey to Dundee United.
While he is relishing the challenge of succeeding Andy Goldie as Tannadice academy director, his career could have taken a very different path.
A precocious talent in the Ross County youth ranks, Paul was on the cusp of a first-team breakthrough in Dingwall.
Considered every bit as promising as his younger brother Don — also emerging in the Highlands — the elder Cowie was already attracting interest from a couple of big guns south of the border.
“I was on a good journey,” recalled Cowie. “I was captain of the under-18s and around the first-team. I had done a senior pre-season and featured in the friendlies. Neale Cooper was my manager and there were a few teams looking at me from down south.”
Then everything changed when he crumpled to the turf in a heap; no other player near him.
Innocuous yet calamitous.
“It was a knee injury,” said Cowie. “It was a bad one. It was an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). There was medial damage; there was ligament damage — it was very serious.
“It was such an innocuous thing. There was no contact whatsoever, would you believe? I cut inside and, as I took on a player, I slipped. At first, I didn’t know what had happened. Then I went to stand up and collapsed.
“Some wear and tear showed up in the medical results; some previous issues. I was maybe playing through things that I didn’t even realise I had.”
Empathy
Although unaware at the time, that seemingly unexceptional loss of footing would mark the end of his hopes of starring for club and country — Liverpool and, of course, Scotland being his dream career path.
Quickly zipping back to the present day, it is an experience he takes into his work coaching young players, many of whom will endure devastating set-backs.
“The challenge for a lot of young players is that their sole goal is to be a full-time footballer,” adds Cowie. “But there are other things you can do; other things you can go on to achieve, whether that’s educational, vocational, or the coaching side of things.
“Having experienced that injury, it does help me understand a little more about empathy and the knocks that players might endure in football. We want to ensure they get support.”
Singapore stint
Cowie then gained a degree in physical education at Edinburgh University before pursuing that as a career.
All the while, he continued to play at a part-time level for the likes of Spartans and Preston Athletic.
Cowie even rippled the net when Preston stunned Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Cup, claiming a 2-0 victory at the Pennypit in 2006.
“I’ve no regrets,” said a circumspect Cowie. “I still enjoyed playing my football at a reasonable, semi-professional level. But I have always known that I still had something to give to football.”
A period of travelling the world culminated in Cowie alighting in Singapore, where he landed a job as head of sport at an international school.
He would remain there for 11 YEARS.
The Dingwall lad even picked up passable Mandarin while in Asia, albeit — as his own fluency fades — he reckons his kids have retained more of the language, having been schooled in it.
Cowie was also working with Coerver Coaching, honing the skills that would later impress bosses at the Scottish FA and Dundee United.
Homeward bound
He moved back to Dundee in 2018.
“I got a job lecturing at the University of Dundee,” he continued. “Doing my Uefa badges at that time, I got an opportunity to come and coach with Dundee United’s academy.
“Looking back, that was a big turning point. That’s why I kept my coaching going alongside my educational career for all those years. I knew, one day, I might come back into the game at a professional level.”
We are delighted to confirm Paul Cowie as our new Academy Director
Paul has been an integral part of @DUFCAcademy since 2019, working closely with both players & staff
🗞 | #UnitedInPursuit | #OurAcademy
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) October 6, 2022
Initially working on a part-time basis as the Tangerines rebuilt and evolved their academy, Cowie emerged as an increasingly important member of staff under previous youth chief Goldie.
As such, he was deemed the right man to succeed Goldie — now at Swansea City — following an interview process earlier this year.
Brotherly advice
Don Cowie, meanwhile, was unencumbered by injury issues as a teenager and able to realise his potential, turning out for clubs such as Watford and Cardiff, and representing Scotland 10 times.
He will always be a phone-call away and, with Cowie Jr now assistant manager of Ross County, those discussions are fertile grounds for inspiration.
“We bounce ideas off each other all the time and share thoughts,” added Paul. “I probably encouraged Don to get into coaching quite early.
“That was something he maybe wasn’t thinking about at that stage, as he was playing in the English Premier League. He was thriving and things were going very well.
“However, Don knew what he wanted to do. He has his career mapped out well.”
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