He also played in the Football League for Luton Town, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, and in Non-league for Cheshunt, St Albans City and Hendon.
On completion he became an employee of British Aerospace, whilst keeping up football at non-League level playing for Cheshunt alongside his brother Bob.
An old-fashioned centre-forward, he then moved in quick succession to Fulham (a brief loan spell), before establishing himself as a first team player in the 1989–90 season when his eight goals in 29 league games helped Luton finish seventeenth.
He proved himself to be a competent deputy for the injured Trevor Morley as his four goals in the final 12 league games of the season secured the team's promotion as Second Division runners-up.
But when the 1991–92 season began, Morley had returned to fitness and Dowie found himself on the sidelines until his £500,000 move to Southampton on 3 September 1991 after less than six months at Upton Park.
His tally dropped to five goals in 39 games during the 1993–94 season, though the club avoided relegation again, and he managed another five goals from 17 league games in the 1994–95 season before manager Alan Ball decided that he wanted younger partners for Le Tissier in attack, signing Gordon Watson and Neil Shipperley while dropping Craig Maskell and selling Dowie to Crystal Palace for £400,000 on 13 January 1995.
In fact, Dowie is probably best remembered by West Ham fans for scoring a bizarre headed own goal in an infamous defeat to Stockport County in the League Cup in front of the live Sky cameras at Edgeley Park.
[citation needed] On 21 December 2003, Dowie was appointed manager of Crystal Palace, inheriting a squad with low morale and occupying 19th place in Division One.
[citation needed] After losing the play-off semi final to eventual winners Watford, Dowie left Crystal Palace by "mutual consent" on 22 May 2006 following discussions with chairman Jordan.
Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled that Dowie had "deceived" Jordan and made "false representations" in conversations with Crystal Palace on 20 and 22 May, stating he had had no contact with Charlton when he had in fact spoken to them on 17 and 22 May.
He signed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and Scott Carson on loan, but was unable to prevent the team suffering a disastrous start to the Premier League season.
However, Dowie was unable to lift the team away from the relegation zone of the Premier League and build on the success of former manager Alan Curbishley, resulting in him and the club parting company on 13 November 2006, after just 15 games in charge.
[17] He found immediate success at the club with a number of wins but towards the end of the season their form dropped off and the Sky Blues finished 17th in the Championship table.
[21] On 14 May 2008, Queens Park Rangers appointed Dowie as their new first team coach following the previous week's departure of Luigi de Canio.
[26] He was faced with the challenge of guiding the Yorkshire club to Premier League safety in order to secure them a third season in the top flight; however, the challenge was effectively ended on 24 April 2010 when Hull were beaten 1–0 at home by Sunderland[27] and fellow relegation battlers West Ham United (a club that Dowie served twice as a player) won their game 3–2 against a Wigan Athletic side still faced with an outside chance of relegation.