Mark Bowen

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Mark Bowen
Personal information
Full name Mark Rosslyn Bowen
Date of birth December 7, 1963 (age 43)
Place of birth    Neath, Wales
Height 5 ft 8 in
Playing position Left back
Club information
Current club Retired
Senior clubs1
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		 017 0(2)
321 (24)
017 0(1)
007 0(3)
042 0(0)
007 0(0)
000 0(0)   
National team2
1986-1997 Wales 041 0(0)
Teams managed
1999-2004
2004-		 Wales (assistant manager)
Blackburn Rovers (assistant manager)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 3 October 2006.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 3 October 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Mark Rosslyn Bowen (born 7 December 1963) is a former professional footballer and current football coach. He was a left-back who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, West Ham United, Shimuzu S Pulse, Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic and Reading. He also played international football for Wales and is currently assistant manager at Blackburn Rovers.

Contents

[edit] Early career and Norwich City

Bowen joined Tottenham 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 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.

[edit] Late career

After leaving Carrow Road, Bowen had short spells with West Ham and Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan before signing for Charlton 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 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, Mark Hughes made Bowen his assistant manager at Blackburn. After Nigel Worthington's sacking from Norwich City on October 1, 2006, Bowen was the early favourite for the job, though Peter Grant was eventually appointed to the position.

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • 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 was nicknamed 'Taff' because of his Welsh connections and also 'Albert Tatlock' because of his frequent complaining.
  • In an away match at Notts County on 21 September 1991, Bowen scored for both sides. His own goal gave County a 2-1 lead before he equalised in injury time from the penalty spot.
  • Bowen won 35 Welsh caps while at Norwich, meaning that he holds the record for being the club's most capped player.

[edit] External links

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