Mark Bowen (footballer)
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| Mark Bowen | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mark Rosslyn Bowen | |
| Date of birth | 7 December 1963 | |
| Place of birth | Neath, Wales | |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in | |
| Playing position | Left back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Manchester City | |
| Number | Assistant manager | |
| Youth career | ||
| 1980–1981 | Tottenham Hotspur | |
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1981–1987 1987–1996 1996–1997 1997 1997–1999 1999 1999 |
Tottenham Hotspur Norwich City West Ham United Shimizu S-Pulse Charlton Athletic Wigan Athletic Reading |
17 (2) 321 (24) 17 (1) 7 (3) 42 (0) 7 (0) 0 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1986–1997 | Wales | 41 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Mark Rosslyn Bowen (born 7 December 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player.
He was a left-back who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, West Ham United, Shimizu S-Pulse, Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic and Reading. He also played international football for Wales. Since retiring in 1999, he has worked as assistant to former international team-mate Mark Hughes with Wales, Blackburn Rovers and, currently, Manchester City.
Contents |
[edit] Playing career
[edit] Early career and Norwich City
Bowen joined Tottenham Hotspur as an apprentice in 1980, signing his first professional contract in December 1981. First-team opportunities were limited for him at White Hart Lane and he made only a handful of appearances for the club. In the summer of 1987, Norwich City manager Ken Brown paid Spurs £90,000 for Bowen, who was one of a number of players that Norwich signed from Tottenham during that period. He made his debut for the Canaries on 19 August 1987 in a league match against Southampton at Carrow Road.
Bowen spent much of his first season at Norwich playing on the left of midfield, but when Tony Spearing left the club to join Leicester City in July 1988, Bowen made the left-back spot his own for the next eight years. As well as carrying out his defensive duties in a consistent and dependable manner, Bowen was a threat going forward and in the 1989–90 season he finished as the team's joint-top league goalscorer. That season, he also collected the Barry Butler memorial trophy when the supporters voted him Norwich City player of the year.
On 9 April 1989, Bowen was involved in a highly unusual incident in a match against Coventry City at Highfield Road. Goalkeeper Bryan Gunn was sent off for arguing incessantly with the referee after he had awarded Coventry a penalty kick. Bowen went in goal to replace him, only for Coventry's specialist penalty taker Brian Kilcline to miss the spot-kick by putting it wide. Bowen was beaten late in the match, however, and Coventry won 2–1.
Bowen was a key member of the Norwich team that finished third in the inaugural season of the FA Premier League (1992–93) and qualified for the UEFA Cup as a result. In the second round of the UEFA Cup run, Bowen scored one of the most famous goals in Norwich City's history when his header put Norwich 2–0 up in the away leg against FC Bayern Munich. Norwich won the match 2–1 and remain to this day the only British club to beat FC Bayern at their own stadium.
At the end of the 1994–95 season, Norwich were relegated from the Premiership. The season that followed was one of the worst in the club's history and it was Bowen's last at Carrow Road. The club was in a desperate financial position and came within a whisker of going out of business. Gary Megson replaced Martin O'Neill as manager halfway through the season and he and Bowen did not enjoy a good relationship. Bowen criticised Megson's tactics in the local newspaper and was dropped from the team by Megson when he had played 399 matches for the club. He was not given the opportunity for a 400th. At the end of the season, as the club began trying to pick up the pieces after chairman Robert Chase had left the club close to bankruptcy, Bowen was one of the players released in order to reduce the club's outgoings.
Bowen was highly regarded by the Canaries' fans. For example, in 2002, in a survey to mark the club's centenary, Norwich fans voted Bowen the club's best ever left-back and put him in the club's 'all-time XI'. He is also a member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame. He won 35 Welsh caps while at Norwich, meaning that he holds the record for being the club's most capped player. He was nicknamed 'Taff' because of his Welsh connections and also 'Albert Tatlock' because of his frequent complaining.
[edit] Late career
After leaving Carrow Road, Bowen had short spells with West Ham United and Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan before signing for Charlton Athletic shortly after the start of the 1997–98 season. He was a member of the Addicks side that won promotion to the Premiership at the end of that season. A memorable play-off final against Sunderland at Wembley ended 4–4. Charlton won the penalty shoot-out, with Bowen scoring one of the spot-kicks. For a while during his time at Norwich Bowen had been the team's penalty taker but had enjoyed little success. He scored just twice from the spot for Norwich, against Notts County and Queens Park Rangers respectively.
That 1998 play-off final proved to be the last high-point of Bowen's playing career. He left Charlton a year later having suffered a serious injury and after trials with Bristol City and Oxford United he played briefly for Wigan Athletic and Reading.
[edit] Coaching and management
Bowen began his coaching career while at Reading as Mark Hughes made him a member of his coaching staff for the Welsh national side. He then linked up with former Norwich team-mate Steve Bruce when he was manager first at Crystal Palace, then at Birmingham City. In 2002, under Bruce and Bowen's stewardship, Birmingham won promotion to the Premiership via the play-offs. Ironically, they won the final against Norwich City in a penalty shoot-out after the match had ended 1–1. Bowen remained at Birmingham for two more years before leaving in the summer of 2004.
Shortly afterwards in the autumn of 2004, Hughes made Bowen his assistant manager at Blackburn Rovers. After Nigel Worthington's sacking from Norwich City in October 2006, Bowen was the early favourite for the job, though Peter Grant was eventually appointed to the position. In June 2008 Bowen followed Hughes to Manchester City as assistant manager.
[edit] Honours
[edit] As a player
- UEFA Cup winner 1984
- Norwich City player of the year 1990
- Division One play-off final winner 1998
[edit] External links
- Mark Bowen (footballer) career stats at Soccerbase
- Career info at ex-canaries.co.uk
- Move To Man City
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mike Phelan |
Norwich City Captain 1990-1992 |
Succeeded by Jon Newsome |
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dale Gordon |
Norwich City Player of the Season 1989/90 |
Succeeded by Ian Culverhouse |
