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Dowie failed at Newcastle with Alan Shearer © Getty Images

Hull City fans have endured the most bizarre 48 hours of their brief tenure in the Premier League. No doubt about it, this is now a crisis.

• Dowie handed Hull role
• Iain Dowie manager profile

Phil Brown's sacking on Monday could have had at least a shred of sense about it, but only with a big appointment. The press linked Mark Hughes, the fans wanted Kevin Keegan. They got Ian Dowie as their ephemera.

No amount of on-pitch lambasting or fisticuffs in front of members of the Women's Institute can compare to appointing Dowie as your saviour. It's hardly a clarion call of the club's action plan, and the halcyon days of wins at Arsenal and Tottenham are now a distant memory.

There is no mistake: chairman Adam Pearson believes Dowie is the inspirational figure who can lift the Tigers from 19th place and to safety when the season comes to a close on May 9.

This momentary appointment has the fans up in arms, in despair at the direction their club is taking. It's difficult to see how he is better than Brown, who made the KC into something of a fortress of late despite Saturday's late loss to Arsenal.

This is the very same Dowie who emerged as Alan Shearer's acolyte, just under a year to the day, to perform a very similar job. Newcastle won one of their eight games, losing five, and were relegated - which coincidentally resulted in Hull escaping the drop. A similar record at the KC Stadium would leave the Tigers will no hope of booking a third season among the elite.

The counterpoint is that Dowie was once seen as one of the game's most promising managers. Dowie led Crystal Palace into the Premier League, but his career has never recovered from a defection to Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2006 that resulted in a High Court ruling that he had lied when negotiating his way out of his contract.

It's 18 months since Dowie last took charge of a team, one of the many to go through the revolving door at Queen Park Rangers. He lasted 15 matches but had an excellent win ratio of 53% before boardroom matters beat him into submission.

He would surely have jumped red lights to get to Hull and prove that he is not a spent force in the managerial game.

Pearson, who tried to appoint Dowie in December 2006 when Brown was merely Hull's caretaker, clearly hopes that his new man can do the same at Hull, as that would likely keep them up. He also had an instant impact when taking over at Palace, which led to their promotion.

And although the former Northern Ireland international may only be at the KC until the end of the season, he will surely remain if successful in his task.

The fixtures seem to give Dowie every chance. Portsmouth come first followed by Fulham, Stoke City, Burnley, Birmingham, Sunderland and Wigan Athletic before they end the season at home to Liverpool. Their home game with Aston Villa has yet to be rearranged.

At least Dowie will have with him Tim Flowers - last seen as part-time goalkeeping coach at Northampton Town - and Steve Wigley, part of the Gary Megson's backroom staff at Bolton but best known for a short and horrendous stint at the helm of Southampton.

That said, Wigley is the Football Association's National Coach, assuming responsibility for the 17-21 age groups.

You can't help but think this will end in tears, on the terraces, when the season is over.