Steven Cowan (born 17 February 1963) is a Scottish former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

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 le ...

Career

Born in Paisley and raised in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

,"Si Ferry Meets... Ally McCoist"
– Open Goal, YouTube, published on 16 April 2018 Cowan began his career with St Mirren, but followed

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in 1979. Cowan was with Aberdeen for six seasons but was never a regular in what was a very strong team.Steve Cowan
AFC Heritage Trust He then moved to Hibernian, scoring three

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s and 19 league goals in all during the 1985–86 season. He was the top goalscorer in Scotland during that season, with 28 goals in total. Cowan only scored four league goals in 1986–87, however, and transferred to

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 ...

. He then had a loan spell at

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

before moving to Irish football with

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

. Cowan was very productive at Portadown, scoring 66 league goals in 87 games, and winning three major honours including the Irish League in 1990 and 1991 as well as the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

in 1991 where he scored his famous goal as Portadown completed a domestic double. He left Portadown in 1993, and had short stints with

Linlithgow Rose Linlithgow Rose Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The team plays in the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division, the sixth tier of Scottish football, having moved from the junior leagues i ...

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

and

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

before ending his playing career after the 1994–95 season. Cowan now works in financial services and also as a match analyst for

Radio Forth Radio Forth is a group of two Independent Local Radio stations serving Edinburgh, Lothians and Fife. Radio Forth is owned and operated by Bauer, based at studios in Edinburgh and forms part of Bauer's Hits Radio network and Greatest Hits Radio n ...

Honours

;Aberdeen *

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

: 1984–85 *

Drybrough Cup The Drybrough Cup was a Scottish annual football tournament. It was held from 1971 until 1974, and was revived from 1979 to 1980. It was open to the four highest-scoring teams from Division 1, and the four highest-scoring teams from Division 2. Th ...

: 1980 ;Hibernian *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: Runner-Up 1985–86 ;Portadown * Irish League Champion: 1989–90; 1990–91 *

Winner: 1990–91 **Runner-Up: 1989–90 ;Individual *

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

: 1992–93M. Brodie (ed.), ''Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 2009-2010'', p. 102. Belfast:Ulster Tatler Publications

References

; Sources *

External links

*
Irish League Footballing Greats profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Steve 1963 births Aberdeen F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Scottish Junior Football Association players Living people Motherwell F.C. players Footballers from Paisley, Renfrewshire Portadown F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish footballers St Mirren F.C. players Ulster Footballers of the Year Linlithgow Rose F.C. players Association football forwards