[Jay]

The 42-year-old, who will be assisted by Tim Flowers, has been out of work since leaving Charlton in November after just 12 league games in charge.

Adrian Heath had been in charge at the Ricoh Arena in a caretaker role since Micky Adams was sacked on 17 January but he left the club on Sunday.

Dowie's first game at the helm is Tuesday's home encounter with Southampton, one of his former clubs.

The former Oldham and Crystal Palace boss admitted he had held talks with new Leicester owner Milan Mandaric about joining the Foxes but was impressed by Coventry's enthusiasm.

"Milan is leading a very exciting time at Leicester and I'm delighted that a club like that was interested," he told a news conference.

"Leicester are a club on the up but so are Coventry. I was very impressed with the ambition of the club.

"For me, it was about the fact that Coventry showed great desire to get me here."

Coventry managing director Paul Fletcher said: "When we decided to appoint a new manager, we set a number of criteria.

"Iain was incredibly impressive on the occasions we met and there is no doubt that he was by far the strongest candidate in all the criteria we set.

"This is undoubtedly an exciting time for everyone involved with the Sky Blues and we feel we have the best available person to help take Coventry forward."

Dowie spent a short and controversial spell at Charlton.

He was in charge at The Valley for 12 Premiership games and the Addicks were bottom of the table when he parted company with the club.

He had already caused a storm by joining the club after telling Crystal Palace he was leaving to move back to the North-West with his family.

Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan served Dowie with a writ for fraudulent representation.

After a short spell in caretaker charge at QPR in 1998, Dowie's managerial career began in earnest at Oldham in 2002.

During his 18 months in charge at Boundary Park he established enough of a reputation for Palace to come calling.

Dowie further enhanced his reputation as an innovative young coach by getting Palace promoted to the Premiership through the play-offs but he was unable to keep the Eagles in the top flight.

I'm the sixth manager in six years here so there's probably a message there for everybody upstairs

Former Coventry caretaker boss Adrian Heath

Coventry parted company with caretaker boss Heath on Sunday, along with backroom staff Darren Robinson, Andy Dibble and George Foster.

A club statement read: "The club would like to extend its sincere thanks to Adrian for his three years with the Sky Blues, which has included two spells as caretaker."

Following Coventry's 3-0 defeat to Leicester on Saturday, Heath said he was disappointed to learn of Dowie's imminent appointment in the media.

"It wasn't pleasant last night getting phone calls from people who knew what was going on," he said.

"If they've got the man they want, I understand that. It doesn't make it any easier to accept but that's the way the game is.

"I'm the sixth manager in six years here so there's probably a message there for everybody upstairs.

"If they give the right man the right amount of time I'm sure they'll get where they want to be."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ty/6371083.stm