Philip Owers (born 28 April 1955) is an English former

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 made 118 appearances in the Football League playing as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Darlington (in two spells), Gillingham and

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in the 1970s and 1980s. He also played non-league football for clubs including

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on the Stockton and Darli ...

, Crook Town, Bishop Auckland, Brandon United, Spennymoor United and West Auckland Town.

Life and career

Owers was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. He began his football career with

, making his senior debut as a 15-year-old, before signing for Fourth Division club Darlington. While still an A-level student, Owers made his first appearance in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

, on 6 January 1973; Darlington conceded seven goals to

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, though no more than one was attributable to the goalkeeper. The '' Northern Echo'' reported that "he was in no way to blame for the disgraceful shambles, but looked close to tears as he was applauded down the tunnel". A few weeks later, Owers was interviewed by David Frost for an edition of '' The Frost Programme'' focussing on Darlington F.C. as an illustration of the unglamorous side of football, described 40 years later by the ''Echo'' as "an insight into a town's heart-aching relationship with its football club, and a reminder of the ridiculous resilience of optimism". Described by Frost as "17 and nursing a dream", Owers said he "want dto get Darlington out of trouble and ... would like to play at Wembley for a big club." Over the next two-and-a-half seasons, he made 45 League appearances before signing for Third Division club Gillingham on a free transfer; he played only twice before returning to Darlington. After 69 more matches in Division Four over a four-year period, Owers moved back into non-league football with Crook Town and then with Bishop Auckland. The Northern League was equally unglamorous – charges were brought against two men for attacking Owers during a match in 1982 – though he was a member of Bishop's league-winning team in 1984–85. After a spell with Brandon United, he played four matches on a non-contract basis for Fourth Division

in August 1987, before a further spell with Bishop Auckland and a stint with Spennymoor United. By 1993 he was back at Shildon as a player, and left it as assistant manager in 1999. Back again by April 2003, he was reported to have played for the club in four different decades. Later that year, he was on the bench as Shildon reached the first round proper of the

2003–04 FA Cup The 2003–04 FA Cup was the 123rd staging of England and the world's oldest football competition, the FA Cup. The competition began on 23 August 2003, with the lowest-ranked of the entrants competing in the Extra Preliminary round. In the Third Ro ...

, in which they lost 7–2 to Division Two club

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

. Owers continued to play into his fifties. He won the Durham Alliance League title with Shildon Railway in 2004–05, and appeared in the Northern League while manager of West Auckland Town in April 2008 at the age of 52.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owers, Phil 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Bishop Auckland Footballers from County Durham English footballers Association football goalkeepers Shildon A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Crook Town A.F.C. players Bishop Auckland F.C. players Brandon United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Spennymoor United F.C. players West Auckland Town F.C. players English Football League players Northern Football League players English football managers