Robbie Fowler

Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English footballer who currently plays as a striker for Liverpool F.C.

Fowler's career began with Liverpool, with whom he made his debut in 1993. Fowler scored 120 goals for Liverpool in an eight year period. He subsequently played for Leeds United and Manchester City F.C., before returning to Liverpool in January 2006. As of May 2006, Fowler is the fourth highest goalscorer in Premier League history, behind Thierry Henry, Andy Cole and Alan Shearer.

He has been capped for England twenty-six times, scoring seven goals. The most recent of these appearances came in the 2002 World Cup.

Early life

Fowler was born in Liverpool and brought up in the Toxteth area. As a youngster he was an ardent Everton supporter, regularly travelling to Goodison Park. He was selected for Liverpool Schoolboys from the age of 11 and was spotted by Liverpool scout Jim Aspinall. He began training with Liverpool once a week and signed schoolboy forms with the club. Two years later he signed on as a YTS trainee and he turned professional in April 1992 on his seventeenth birthday.

Liverpool

Fowler's first involvement with the Liverpool first team came on 13 January 1993, when he was an unused substitute in an FA Cup tie against Bolton. In the following close season, Fowler helped the England Under-18 team to win the 1993 European Championship, before making a scoring first-team debut in Liverpool's 3–1 win in a first round Coca Cola Cup tie at Fulham on 22 September 1993. Fowler scored all five goals in the second leg at Anfield two weeks later, making him the fourth player in Liverpool's history to score five in a senior fixture. He scored his first league hat-trick against Southampton in only his fifth league game. His first thirteen games for the club yielded twelve goals., He was rewarded with an England Under-21 debut against San Marino in November 1993, in which he scored England's opening goal in the third minute. Fowler was unable to sustain his goal-a-game ratio throughout the season, but finished his first season as the club's leading scorer with eighteen goals in all competitions.

In the 1994-95 season, Fowler was an ever-present for Liverpool, playing in all of their 57 matches, including the victory in the 1995 League Cup final, and a match against Arsenal in which he scored a hat-trick in four minutes and thirty-three seconds*, a Premiership record. Fowler was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year in two consecutive years (in 1995 and 1996), a feat equalled only by Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney. In 1996, he scored four against Middlesbrough F.C., reaching a century of goals one game quicker than his mentor, Ian Rush. Fowler received a call-up to the full England squad for the first time in 1996, winning his first cap on 27 March against Bulgaria as a substitute, and making his first start at international level in England's next match, against Croatia. Fowler was part of the England squad for Euro 96, making two appearances in the tournament.

Throughout the mid and late 1990s, Fowler was widely considered to be the most natural finisher playing in England . Fowler sealed this reputation as he scored more than thirty goals for three consecutive seasons, up to 1997. Stan Collymore, Fowler's old strike partner, said in his autobiography that Fowler was the "best player he has ever played with".

In 1997, after scoring a goal in a Cup Winners' Cup game, he lifted his Liverpool shirt to reveal a T-shirt supporting sacked Liverpool dockers for which he picked up a fine, but greatly increased his popularity on Merseyside. That year, he also won a UEFA Fair Play award for admitting that he had not been fouled by David Seaman at Highbury after a penalty had been given. After unsuccessfully trying to convince the referee to change his decision about the penalty Fowler took it tamely and Seaman saved, the ball rebounded however and Jason McAteer tucked it home.

Fowler was part of a group of Liverpool players from the mid-1990s who were nicknamed "The Spice Boys" by the press following a series of off-field controversies. The term was coined by the Daily Mail, and arose due to rumours that Fowler was dating Spice Girl Emma BuntonFowler: My Autobiography, p171-173. The term was subsequently used in a derogatory manner, implying Fowler and colleagues such as Jamie Redknapp, Stan Collymore, David James and Steve McManaman were underachieving playboys. Fowler was cast with a scally reputation, linked to nightclub brawls (where he suffered several nasal fractures), sexual liaisons with soap stars (and even a politician's wife), lad culture behaviour, and, most damaging of all, unsubstantiated claims of drug abuse.

Fowler's downturn in fortunes began in 1998, after a knee ligament injury kept him out of action for half the season and caused him to miss a chance to go to the 1998 World Cup. This also coincided with the rise of Michael Owen whose debut came in 1997, Owen firmly established himself in Fowler's abscence.

In 1999, Fowler was fined £60,000 by Liverpool and the FA Premier League for bringing the game into disrepute after he had mimed snorting cocaine off the white line of the penalty area while celebrating his goal against Everton F.C.. Defending himself, he said that he was getting back at Everton fans who had insulted him with false accussations of drug abuse. Fowler also received a four match suspension from the the FA for this incident. At the same FA disciplinary hearing, Fowler received a further two match suspension due to a separate incident in which he had taunted Chelsea defender Graeme Le Saux over rumours of the other player's sexuality, by waving his backside at him. The FA imposed a £32,000 fine for the two incidents.

When the team came under review by new coach Gerard Houllier, Fowler refocussed himself and won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup with the Reds in 2001, he captained the side in the league cup final scoring the first goal and a penalty in the shootout; he scored Liverpool's fourth in the 5–4 UEFA Cup win.

In October 2001, he scored his first league hat-trick for three years, helping Liverpool beat Leicester City 4–1. His last appearance in his first period at Liverpool was against Sunderland when he was substituted at half-time.

Despite his popularity with Liverpool fans, a combination of off-field controversy and training ground arguments with then Assistant Manager Phil Thompson, led to his departure to Leeds United F.C. There is some speculation that Houllier had privately wanted to dispense with Fowler, whilst publicly maintaining a pretence of wishing to retain the striker's services.

This may have been in an effort to maintain his boardroom support. Fowler's appearances for Liverpool had been limited by the presence of England's first choice strikers of the time, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen.

Leeds United

Lack of first team opportunities in the run in to the 2002 World Cup was a contributing factor in Fowler's transfer to Leeds United. The transfer went ahead just one month after his hat-trick at Leicester with a fee of £11 million. The transfer did not turn out to be the fillip to his international career that Fowler had hoped for, although he did nothing to sully his 'most natural goal-scorer' reputation up till then, scoring 15 goals in 31 appearances for Leeds in his time there; a goal every two games.

It was his final months at Leeds that began a long fall in Fowler's goal returns. Fowler spent only half a season at the club, scoring three goals in eight appearances as the club faced a looming financial crisis, but suffered a huge confidence blow when his market value diminished greatly.

Manchester City

In the 2002-03 season, Fowler was transferred to Manchester City following a protracted transfer saga. Fowler initially turned down the move, and dispute between Manchester City mananger Kevin Keegan and chairman David Bernstein over whether the transfer should take place due to medical concerns resulted in Bernstein leaving the club. Following encouragement from Keegan, Fowler finally signed for Manchester City on 16 January 2003 for an initial fee of £3 million and a further £3 million dependent upon appearances. Bizarre transfer conditions meant Leeds United still paid a significant proportion of Fowler's wages. Fowler made his Manchester City debut against West Bromwich Albion on 1 February 2003, but made a poor start to his Manchester City career, scoring just two goals in the remainder of the season.

Fowler continued to struggle with fitness problems in the 2003-04 season, completing the full 90 minutes only nine times. The arrival of close friend Steve McManaman from Real Madrid gave hope, but the pair failed to rekindle their prolific partnership of yesteryear, and received much criticism from the fans and tabloids for their salaries and alleged excesses. In 2004 Fowler, depressed by his lack of form and fitness, considered retiring, but was persuaded to carry on by Kevin Keegan and Stuart Pearce.Fowler: My Autobiography, p354-355 He then showed a marked improvement in the second half of the 2004–2005 season, scoring his 150th Premiership goal in the 3–2 win over Norwich on 28 February 2005. However, his failure to convert a 90th minute penalty kick against Middlesbrough in the final game of the season prevented Manchester City from entrance into the UEFA Cup. Fowler ended the season as the club's joint top goal scorer, and gained the approval of the fans, finishing in the top three in the fans' Player of the Year poll, described by Fowler as "one of the proudest achievements of my career".Fowler: My Autobiography, p347

Fowler had injury problems at the start of the 2005-06 season, and rarely featured when fit, making just two substitute appearances in the first four months of the season. His first start of the season came against Scunthorpe in the FA Cup on 7 January 2006, in which he scored a hat-trick. The following week he scored Manchester City's third goal in their 3–1 win against local rivals Manchester United F.C. after coming on as substitute. His goal celebration against United would prove to have added significance in the following weeks. After scoring, he ran to the United supporters, holding up five fingers in reference to Liverpool's five European Cup wins, in comparison to United's two. However, Fowler made only one more appearance for Manchester City before returning to Liverpool on a free transfer.

Return to Liverpool

On 27 January 2006, Fowler rejoined Liverpool from Manchester City, signing a contract until the end of the season. His return was warmly welcomed amongst Liverpool fans, who still hold Fowler in high regard. Fowler remained a Liverpool fan after he initially left the club; he was in the Istanbul crowd when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005. Upon his return to the club, he was unable to take the shirt number 9 (with which he had become so firmly associated in his first spell at Liverpool after inheriting it from the legendary Ian Rush), as it was then registered to Djibril Cisse; instead, he was given the number 11 shirt.

Fowler's return against Birmingham City F.C. in February 2006 was labelled by the press as the stuff of fairytales, and he came on to a rapturous reception in his first appearance for Liverpool in four years. He almost claimed a shock goal to his name in that very match only for the referee to disallow the goal for offside. Since his return, he had three goals ruled out for offside, but finally scored on 15 March 2006 in a home game against Fulham, the same opponent club he scored his first ever goal against while on his Liverpool debut 13 years earlier. Fowler's next Liverpool goal, against West Bromwich Albion, meant he overtook Kenny Dalglish in the club's all time top scorers, while he marked his 31st birthday with a goal against Bolton Wanderers. He made it four goals in five games when he scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers on April 16 2006.

One concern has been the striker's fitness. In March 2006, Rafael Benitez commented on how pleased he was with Fowler's work and progress adding, "to buy a Robbie Fowler who is fit and scoring goals would cost a lot, maybe £10m or more". Despite these concerns about his fitness, Fowler has been scoring on a far more consistent basis than Liverpool's other strikers. In May 2006 he was offered a new one year contract with the club and celebrated by scoring the first goal in Liverpool's last league game of the season in a 3-1 away win at Portsmouth. It was his final game of the 2005-6 season, as he was unable to take part in the club's later FA Cup Final success due to being cup-tied.

Outside football

Outside football, the Official British Horseracing website lists Fowler as a major celebrity race horse owner, citing his and best friend Steve McManaman's company, The Macca and Fowler Partnership. In 2005, Fowler was listed as one of the 1,000 wealthiest Britons by the Sunday Times Rich List. Business interests including a large property portfolio have resulted in Fowler becoming one of the wealthiest sportsmen in Britain, and led to the affectionate Manchester City chant; 'We all live in a Robbie Fowler house'.

On 2 September 2005 he released an autobiography called Fowler: My Autobiography, about his time as a footballer and the issues surrounding him. Since his transfer to Liverpool he has updated it and included a section about his return to Anfield. Excerpts published in newspapers included criticism of the England management.

Robbie married on 9 June 2001. He and his wife Kerrie have four children: three daughters, Madison (born August 1999), Jaya (born October 2000) and Mackenzie (born September 2002) and a son, Jacob (born May 2006).

Statistics

**Club Performance**
Club	Season	Premiership		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Liverpool F.C.	2005-06	14	5					2				16	5
Manchester City F.C.	2005-06	4	1	1	3							5	4
	2004-05	32	10			1	1					33	11
	2003-04	31	7	4	1	2	1	4	1			41	10
	2002-03	13	2									13	2
Leeds United F.C.	2002-03	8	2	1				1				10	2
Leeds United F.C.	2001-02	22	12	1								23	12
Liverpool F.C.	2001-02	10	3					7	1			17	4
	2000-01	27	8	5	2	5	6	11	1			48	17
	1999-00	14	3									14	3
	1998-99	25	14	2	1	2	1	6	2			35	18
	1997-98	20	9	1		4	3	3	1			28	13
	1996-97	32	18	1	1	4	5	7	7			44	31
	1995-96	38	28	7	6	4	2	4				53	36
	1994-95	42	25	7	2	8	4					57	31
	1993-94	28	12	1		5	6					34	18
Total		355	156	31	16	35	29	45	13	0	0	466	215

Honours

Liverpool F.C.

England

1993 UEFA Under-18 Championship

References

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