| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lee Anthony Fowler | ||
| Date of birth | 10 June 1983 | ||
| Place of birth | Cardiff, Wales | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Wrexham | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1999–2003 | Coventry City | 14 | (0) |
| 2003 | → Huddersfield Town (loan) | 16 | (0) |
| 2003–2005 | Huddersfield Town | 33 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | Scarborough | 25 | (3) |
| 2006–2007 | Burton Albion | 22 | (2) |
| 2007 | → Newport County (loan) | ||
| 2007–2008 | Newport County | 34 | (4) |
| 2008–2009 | Forest Green Rovers | 40 | (1) |
| 2009 | Kettering Town | 17 | (1) |
| 2010 | Oxford United | 0 | (0) |
| 2010 | Cirencester Town | 1 | (0) |
| 2010 | Halesowen Town | 1 | (0) |
| 2010 | Forest Green Rovers | 9 | (0) |
| 2011– | Wrexham | 24 | (3) |
| National team | |||
| Wales U21 | 12 | (0) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:59, 28 September 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Lee Anthony Fowler (born 10 June 1983) is a Welsh footballer. He is a midfielder and has 12 Wales Under-21 caps. He is currently playing for Wrexham. He has played in the Football League for Coventry City and Huddersfield Town.
Contents |
Fowler joined the ranks at English Premier League side Coventry City in the 1999–2000 season. The club at the time were managed by Gordon Strachan, and Fowler was amongst the Sky Blues squad for the clubs final two appearances in the top flight of English football. At the end of the 2000–01 season, City were relegated along with Manchester City and Bradford City. However Fowler would not make a single appearance for the club in the top flight, and did not make his professional debut until the following season when Strachan's replacement as manager, Roland Nilsson gave him his first opportunity bringing him on as a substitute to replace Barry Quinn in the 68th minute of a league defeat at home to Burnley on 17 November 2001. Fowler would go on to make 13 appearances for Coventry during the 2001–02 season. During the 2002–03 season, City had replaced Nilsson with Gary McAllister and this saw Fowler only feature three times in the entire season. He went on to score his first senior goal in football, coming in an FA Cup tie with Cardiff City on 15 January 2003.[1]
During the summer of 2003, Fowler was placed on the loan list and joined Huddersfield Town for an initial three month period. He made his Town debut on the opening day of the 2003-04 League Two campaign against Cambridge United. Fowler went on to make 19 appearances in all competitions during his loan spell in West Yorkshire, and on 13 November 2003 he was released from his Coventry contract thus allowing him to join with Huddersfield on a permanent basis. Fowler would go on to make a further 19 appearances for Town following his switch, scoring no goals, but collecting a tally of 8 yellow cards, and 2 red cards during his season. Huddersfield qualified for the play-offs, but Fowler was uninvolved for the semi final legs over Lincoln City, however Town progressed and Fowler came on as an 85th minute substitute for Jonathan Worthington in the final at the Millennium Stadium against Mansfield Town. However the game has gone to extra time and then penalties meaning Fowler would have a full 35 minutes on the field, including scoring the winning penalty that earned his club promotion to League One.[2] The following season Fowler played a cameo role in the clubs 2004-05 season, and finished the campaign having featured 23 times in all competitions, scoring one with a further 4 yellow cards and 1 red card to add to his disciplinary tally. In May 2005, Fowler was released by Huddersfield.
In June 2005 he joined Grimsby Town on trial along with a handful of other players hoping to earn a contract at Blundell Park. However despite playing in 4 pre-season friendlies, as well as joining the Grimsby squad in a pre-season Army training camp, Fowler was snubbed a full time contract with boss Russell Slade signing Ciaran Toner, Paul Bolland and Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala to play in Fowler's central midfield role. After spending the summer with Grimsby, Fowler would spend several months out of the game and he started the 2005-06 season without a club. He eventually signed for debt riddled Conference National side Scarborough in November 2005, sealing Fowler's first taste of Non-League football. Fowler was brought to the club by Neil Redfearn, and would only play for The Seadogs for one season, making 25 appearances and scoring 3 goals. Following the crippling debt at the McCain Stadium, Scarborough found it near impossible to stay in the Conference and were relegated to the Conference North division. The money troubles and demotion meant that the club culled all but a few of its playing staff for the following season. Fowler was one of the players who left Scarborough at the end of their final season inside the top 5 leagues in English football. Under a year after Fowler left, the club eventually went bust and became defunct.
In the summer of 2006, Fowler was signed by Nigel Clough for Burton Albion. Fowler would go on to make 23 appearances for The Brewers, scoring once during the 2006-2007 season. In March 2007, Clough made Fowler available for transfer after the pair fell out and he subsequently signed with Welsh outfit Newport County on a loan deal until the end of the season. At the end of the campaign, Fowler was released.
Following a fruitful short loan spell in the previous season, Fowler signed a one year deal with Newport County playing in the Conference South division. Fowler made 34 appearances for County, scoring 4 goals. At the end of the 2007-2008 season, he left the club.
Fowler moved back up a league and returned to the Conference National to sign with Jim Harvey and his Forest Green Rovers side. Fowler played out the entire 2008-09 season with the club, making a total of 46 appearances in all competition, scoring a single goal, coming in a league encounter with Weymouth. On 2 June 2009, Fowler turned down the chance of renewing his contract with Forest Green and signed for Kettering Town on a two-year contract.[3]
Fowler signed for Kettering and made his debut for the play-off pushing side against his former club Forest Green on the opening day of the 2009-10 campaign. Following the departure of his manager Mark Cooper, who had moved to join Peterborough United, Fowler became increasingly unsettled at the club, and publicly expressed his desire to leave the club, commenting he did not want to play for the club. Fowler was criticized by Kettering's chairman, Imraan Ladak, for his bad attitude and alleged desire to leave the club.[4] However after featuring in his last game in the league on 24 November 2009, Fowler was brought on as a substitute in the clubs crucial FA Cup second round replay against Leeds United at Elland Road. With the game at 1-1, and player-manager Lee Harper in goal, assistant manager John Deehan brought on Fowler in extra time to replace Patrick Noubissie in the 106th minute of play. Kettering went on to concede 4 goals in the next 14 minutes to lose the game 5-1. Deehan was sacked after the match by Ladak for using Fowler, claiming that he did not think his side would have conceded had Fowler not been in the team, and also that he was only on the bench to make up the numbers, and not to be brought on to the field. Fowler had his contract with Kettering terminated by mutual consent on 27 December 2009.
A few days later Fowler signed for fellow Conference side Oxford United, however in March 2010, after playing not one single minute of football for United, Fowler was released.
A few days later, he signed for Southern Football League side Cirencester Town. Fowler played only one game for Cirencester until moving on once more later that month.
Fowler signed up with Southern Premier League side Halesowen Town a few days after leaving Cirencester. Fowler left Halesowen at the end of the 2009-10 season.
In June 2010 Fowler re-joined Forest Green alongisde his brother, Mike. He made just nine league appearances before picking up a knee injury. He was then released on 16 December 2010 when he was not offered a contract by the club.[5][6]
He then began training with Wrexham and played for the Welsh club in a reserve game against Burnley.[7] On 14 January 2011 Fowler signed a short term contract at Wrexham.[8]
Despite agreeing a longer contract in the summer and playing in the majority of the team's games, he handed in a transfer request in December saying he was 'not happy' at the club. [9]
In October 2010, Fowler revealed he was suffering from alcoholism and was receiving treatment along with support from his employers, Forest Green.[10][11]
|
|||||