Thomas Cowan (born 21 April 1969) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

who was previously also a

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

Early life

He was educated at

Braidhurst High School Braidhurst High School is a non-denominational secondary school in the suburb of Motherwell known as Forgewood, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. History Braidhurst High School was established in 1962, making it one of the more modern secondary scho ...

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 ...

where he was one of the school captains.

Career

Cowan presented Scottish football comedy TV show '' Offside''. He has also taken to live stand-up comedy by taking "Offside" to the stage in 2002. The show was recorded live at the King's Theatre in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

for DVD. In February 2010, Cowan presented '' It's Never Too Late'', a six-part documentary series for STV on literacy and numeracy difficulties among adults. Cowan was also a guest presenter for STV's overnight interactive strand '' The Nightshift'' and rejoined the station on 20 September 2011 as a main co-presenter for the lifestyle magazine show '' The Hour'', alongside

Michelle McManus Michelle McManus (born 8 May 1980) is a Scottish singer, columnist, and television presenter who won the second and final series of the UK talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2003. McManus's debut single, " All This Time", entered the UK Singles Cha ...

. The programme was axed four weeks after a move to a weekly prime time slot and a revamp of the programme led to low ratings. For 16 years, Cowan was a restaurant critic and reviewer, and additional columnist, with the '' Daily Record'' newspaper. He moved to their rival newspaper, ''

The Scottish Sun ''The Sun'' is a British Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, published by the News UK#News Group Newspapers Ltd, News Group Newspapers division of News UK, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. It was found ...

'', in March 2014. Cowan presents the comedy football radio show ''

Off the Ball Off the ball (or OTB) is a term used in football (soccer), football in the United Kingdom, usually associated with a player's action when not in possession of the ball, such as a fight or a late challenge. If a referee does not see an OTB incide ...

'' on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...

, along with ''Daily Record'' and ''Sunday National'' journalist and good friend

Stuart Cosgrove Stuart John Francis Cosgrove (born 12 November 1952) is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and television executive. As a journalist Cosgrove served on the ''NME'' (Media Editor) and '' The Face'' during the 1980s, before joining Channel 4 in 19 ...

. Cowan was temporarily dropped from ''Off the Ball'' in 2013 for

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

remarks made about women's football in his ''Daily Record'' column.

Personal life

Cowan is a well known fan of

Motherwell F.C. Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Motherwell have not dropped out of the top-flight of Scottish football since 1985, and have l ...

He and his wife, Liz, have a daughter.

Filmography

;Television ;Radio

References

External links

Tam Cowan
at The Daily Record * 1969 births Living people People from Motherwell People educated at Braidhurst High School Scottish radio personalities Scottish television presenters Scottish sportswriters Scottish columnists Scottish women columnists British women television presenters Scottish women writers British restaurant critics {{Scotland-bio-stub