Danny Cowley

Danny Cowley (born 22 October 1978) is an English former footballer who is the manager of National League club Lincoln City.

Cowley was born in Havering, London. He started his playing career with Wimbledon. Playing as a midfielder he also spent time with non-league clubs, including Romford, AFC Hornchurch and Brentwood Town, before his career was ended by injury in 2007. Shortly after that, he was offered the manager's job at Concord Rangers.

When he took over at Concord the club was playing in the Essex Senior Football League, in front of crowds of generally not more than 50 people per match. In his first season in charge the club were promoted to the Isthmian League Division One North, and narrowly missed out on a second successive promotion the following year, before being promoted a year later. After two seasons of consolidation, Cowley won his third promotion with the club, this time to the National League South. In his last season in charge, Concord reached the first round proper of the FA Cup, while narrowly missing out on a play-off spot.

On 30 April 2015, Cowley became manager of Braintree Town. That season Braintree secured their highest-ever finish of third place in the National League, and qualified for the play-offs. After one season in charge of the club, Cowley moved on again, this time to Lincoln City on 13 May 2016.

During Cowley's first season in charge of Lincoln, he oversaw the club's promotion back to the Football League - doing so iby winning the National League title with two games to spare. This, after a six year absence since relegation in 2011, they became the first non-league club to reach the quarter-final of the FA Cup in over a century, knocking out Championship sides Ipswich Town and Brighton & Hove Albion, followed by Premier League side Burnley, in the process. Lincoln eventually lost 5–0 to Arsenal in the quarter-finals.

Growing up, Cowley was a West Ham United supporter. During his spells as manager of Concord Rangers and Braintree Town, Cowley combined his management role with teaching Physical Education at FitzWimarc School in Rayleigh, Essex. Cowley has a brother, Nicky who played alongside him at Romford, has been his assistant manager at Concord Rangers, Braintree Town and Lincoln City.

Cowley graduated from the University of Greenwich in 2002, obtaining a bachelor's degree in Physical Education.