Mark Gower (born 5 October 1978) is a former English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who played for several clubs including

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and Swansea City.

Career

Born in

Edmonton, London Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmonto ...

and moving to

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

, Gower began his career at Gidea Park Rangers, alongside

Danny Cowley Danny Cowley (born 22 October 1978) is an English professional football coach who was most recently manager of EFL League One side Portsmouth. He has previously managed Concord Rangers, Braintree Town, Lincoln City, Huddersfield Town and P ...

, before joining

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, where he was a member of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

winning squad in the 1998–99 season. He had a spell on loan at

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

before joining

in January 2001 for £32,500. At Motherwell he scored his first career goal in a 2–1 loss at Rangers. He joined Swansea City after declining a new contract at Southend United. He has the ability to play across the midfield, and he signed for Swansea City on a free transfer. A midfielder, he is predominantly right-footed but can play on either flank or in the middle. Gower played for England schoolboys through to the under 18 team from the age of 14. Gower played for Southend for five seasons, scoring 39 goals in the process. He moved to Swansea City when his contract at Southend expired. Gower failed to score in his first season with Swansea. Before the start of the 2009–10 season, Gower revealed he would be ditching his number 11 shirt, when he chose that number all the squad told him it was 'cursed' and fail to find good form. Gower from then on wore the number 27 shirt. Shortly after changing shirt numbers he scored four goals in two pre-season friendlies. He finally scored his first league goal for Swansea in the 2–0 win over

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. Since the start of the 2010–11 season under new manager Brendan Rodgers, Gower has adapted a new role in the centre of midfield and had played with eight different players this season in that very same position: Jordi López,

Andrea Orlandi Andrea Orlandi Stabilin (born 3 August 1984) is a Spanish former footballer and who played as a winger or an attacking midfielder. He currently works as a scout as well as a pundit for LaLiga+ and Spanish outlet La Media Inglesa, specialize ...

Kemy Agustien Germaine Hesus "Kemy" Agustien (born 20 August 1986) is a Curaçaoan professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Matlock Town. He previously played for Willem II, AZ Alkmaar, Roda JC and RKC Waalwijk, for Birmingham City, Crys ...

Darren Pratley Darren Antony Pratley (born 22 April 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for League Two club Leyton Orient as club captain. Club career Fulham Starting his career at Fulham after signing from local rivals A ...

Joe Allen Joseph Michael Allen (born 14 March 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL Championship club Swansea City. Allen began his career at Swansea City, making his first-team debut in January 2007 at age 16. He ...

David Cotterill David Rhys George Best Cotterill (born 4 December 1987) is a Welsh former footballer who played as a winger. Born in Cardiff, Cotterill began his career at Bristol City before signing for Premier League Wigan Athletic where he spent two season ...

Scott Donnelly Scott Paul Donnelly (born 25 December 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hayes & Yeading United. Career Born in Hammersmith, Greater London, Donnelly had a promising start to his career, making his first league appea ...

and the returning

Leon Britton Leon James Britton (born 16 September 1982) is an English footballer and coach who plays for Ammanford in the Cymru South. A midfielder, he spent most of his career with Swansea City, having joined Swansea on a permanent transfer in 2003. Brit ...

. Gower signed a one-year extension to his contract in November 2010, the extension proved Gower was viewed as integral to

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Leicester City. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed ...

plans. Gower scored two 25-yard goals in consecutive games against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

respectively. Gower signed for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on a free from Swansea City on 3 June 2013, after a successful loan spell towards the end of the 2012–13 Football League season. On 22 May 2014, he was released from

Career statistics

Honours

;Southend United *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

Play-off Champions: 2004–05 *

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

Champions: 2005–06 *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

Runners Up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

;Swansea City *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

Play-off Champions: 2010–11

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gower, Mark 1978 births Living people Footballers from Edmonton, London English footballers Association football midfielders Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Premier League players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players