Mark Rosslyn Bowen (born 7 December 1963) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. He is currently Head of Football Operations at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. A left-back who also played in midfield, Bowen notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for

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 ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and

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 ...

, having initially played in the top flight with

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

. He also played in the Football League with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

and

, as well as in Japan with Shimizu S-Pulse. He was capped 41 times by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, scoring 3 goals. Since retiring in 1999, he has worked as assistant and First team coach to former international teammate

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

with Wales,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, Manchester City, Fulham,

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 ...

, Stoke City and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. Bowen was Head Coach and Manager for Reading during the 2019–20 season.

Playing career

Bowen joined

as an apprentice in 1980, signing his first professional contract in December 1981. First-team opportunities were limited for him at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

and he made only 20 full appearances for the club though he was a member of the successful Tottenham Hotspur Squad of the 1984 UEFA Cup Final. In the summer of 1987,

manager Ken Brown paid Spurs £90,000 for Bowen, who was one of a number of players that Norwich signed from Tottenham during that period. He made his debut for the Canaries on 19 August 1987 in a league match against

at Carrow Road. Mark Bowen scored his first goal for

against

on New Year's Day 1988 in a 4–1 win at home in the first division. Bowen spent much of his first season at Norwich playing on the left of midfield, but soon, Bowen made the left-back spot his own for the next eight years. As well as carrying out his defensive duties in a consistent and dependable manner, Bowen was a threat going forward and in the 1989–90 season he finished as the team's joint top league goalscorer. That season, he also collected the Barry Butler memorial trophy when the supporters voted him

Norwich City player of the year The Norwich City Player of the Season award is voted for annually by Norwich City's supporters, in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football season. As a mark of respect, the trophy is named The ...

. On 8 April 1989, Bowen was involved in an unusual incident in a match against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game ...

. Goalkeeper

Bryan Gunn Bryan James Gunn (born 22 December 1963) is a Scottish former professional goalkeeper and football manager. After learning his trade with Aberdeen in the early 1980s, he spent most of his playing career at Norwich City, the club with which h ...

was sent off for arguing incessantly with the referee after he had awarded Coventry a penalty kick. Bowen went in goal to replace him, only for Coventry's specialist penalty taker

Brian Kilcline Brian Kilcline (born 7 May 1962) is an English former professional footballer. He played as a centre half for Notts County, Coventry City, Oldham Athletic, Newcastle United, Swindon Town, Mansfield Town and Halifax Town, and was famous for his ...

to miss the spot-kick by putting it wide. Coventry won 2–1. Bowen was a key member of the Norwich team that finished third in the inaugural season of the FA Premier League after topping the table for most of that season (

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

) and qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

as a result. In the second round of the UEFA Cup run, Bowen scored one of the most famous goals in Norwich City's history when his header put Norwich 2–0 up in the away leg against FC Bayern Munich. Norwich won the match 2–1 and remained as the only British club to beat FC Bayern at their own stadium until

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

defeated Bayern at the

Allianz Arena Allianz Arena (; known as Fußball Arena München for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely known for its exterio ...

in the

2012 UEFA Champions League Final The 2012 UEFA Champions League Final was an association football match which took place on Saturday, 19 May 2012 between Bayern Munich of Germany and Chelsea of England at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. The match was to decide the winne ...

. Arsenal later did the same, though they lost their tie on aggregate following defeat at home. At the end of the 1994–95 season, Norwich were relegated from the Premiership, many thought, due to the continually selling of key players. The season that followed was one of the worst in the club's history and it was Bowen's last at Carrow Road. The club was in a desperate financial position and came close to going out of business.

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers ...

replaced

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

as manager halfway through the season and although and ex team mate, he and Bowen did not enjoy a good relationship. Bowen was critical of what he saw of the club's situation and was dropped from the team by Megson when he had played 399 matches for the club. He was not given the opportunity for a 400th. At the end of the season, as the club began trying to pick up the pieces after chairman

Robert Chase Robert Chase, M.D. is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama ''House''. He is portrayed by Jesse Spencer. His character was a part of the team of diagnosticians who worked under Gregory House until the end of the third season when Ho ...

had left the club close to bankruptcy, Bowen was one of the players released in order to reduce the club's outgoings. Bowen was highly regarded by the Canaries' fans. For example, in 2002, in a survey to mark the club's centenary, Norwich fans voted Bowen the club's best ever left-back and put him in the club's 'all-time XI'. He is also a member of the

Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame The Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame honours Norwich City F.C. players, coaches, managers, directors and executives who have "made the greatest contribution to the club in its long history both on and off the pitch." During the club's centenary se ...

. He won 35 Welsh caps while at Norwich, meaning that he holds the record for being the club's most capped player. He was nicknamed 'Taff' because of his Welsh connections. After leaving Carrow Road, Bowen signed for

making his debut appearance on 21 August 1996 in a 1–1 home draw against

. He made 20 appearances for ''The Hammers'' in all competitions scoring one goal in a 2–0 away win against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 21 September 1996. In January 1997 he signed a lucrative contract for Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan, again on a free transfer, before signing for

shortly after the start of the 1997–98 season. He was a member of the Addicks side that won promotion to the Premiership at the end of that season after a memorable play-off final against Sunderland at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

ended 4–4. Charlton won the penalty shoot-out, with Bowen scoring one of the spot-kicks. For a while during his time at Norwich Bowen had been the team's penalty taker. He scored just twice from the spot for Norwich, against

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 ...

and

respectively. That 1998 play-off final proved to be the last high-point of Bowen's playing career. He left Charlton a year later having suffered a serious injury and he played briefly for

and

Coaching career

Bowen began his coaching career while at Reading as

made him Assistant Manager for the Welsh national side. He then linked up with former Norwich teammate Steve Bruce when he was manager first at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, then at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

. In 2002, under Bruce and Bowen's stewardship, Birmingham won promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs. They won the final against Norwich City in a penalty shoot-out after the match had ended 1–1. Bowen remained at Birmingham for two more years taking them to 10th position in the Premier League before leaving in the summer of 2004. Shortly afterwards in August 2004 Bowen returned to the Wales national team set-up. The move caused some controversy as Hughes appointed Bowen without the knowledge of the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Welsh national football team, its corresponding women's team, as well as the Welsh ...

. On 16 September 2004, Hughes was appointed manager at

and Bowen joined him as assistant manager. Whilst at Blackburn, Bowen was linked with the managerial vacancy at West Brom, Norwich City and Swansea City. In June 2008, Bowen followed Hughes to Manchester City as assistant manager, and left the club with him in December 2009 with club sitting 3rd in Premier League and in semi final of League Cup. Whilst at Manchester City the club was taken over by the wealthy

Abu Dhabi United Group The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG; ar, مجموعة أبوظبي الاتحاد للتنمية والاستثمار) is a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based private equity company. It is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Z ...

. In August 2010, Bowen again followed Hughes, to become his assistant at Fulham. An eighth place Premier League place was achieved. Hughes and Bowen turned down contract offers from Fulham due to uncertainties as to how the club was being run at that time. Following Hughes departure in June 2011, Bowen also left the club. Bowen worked with Hughes at

for a year, saving the club from relegation from the Premier League in 2011. Hughes was sacked in November 2012. Bowen took caretaker charge of QPR for one match against Manchester United in a 3–1 defeat. Bowen then joined Hughes at Stoke City in June 2013. Three top ten Premier League finishes followed - Which was Stoke City's highest ever position in Premier League. He remained at Stoke until January 2018. After Hughes was appointed

manager in March 2018, Bowen followed him to St. Mary's, initially on a contract for the remainder of the 2017–18 season. In May 2018, after successfully steering Southampton to Premier League safety, it was announced that Bowen had signed a new long-term contract. On 3 December 2018, he was dismissed following the sacking of Mark Hughes. His Premier league coaching career now spanning some 537 Premier League games. On 27 March 2019, Bowen was hired as a technical consultant for

. He was announced as the club's sporting director on 21 August, and succeeded José Gomes as manager on 14 October. Prior to being appointed manager he had been tasked with drawing up a shortlist of candidates for the job he eventually was offered. On 17 January 2020, Bowen extended his contract until the end of the 2020–2021 season. Bowen took Reading from 23rd in Championship table to a respectable 14th - a rise of nine places. On 29 August 2020, Bowen was replaced as manager by

Veljko Paunović Veljko Paunović ( sr-Cyrl, Вељко Пауновић, ; born 21 August 1977) is a Serbian football manager and former player who is the current manager of Liga MX club Guadalajara. A versatile attacking unit, he could operate as an attacking ...

, and despite being offered a new role by the club as Sport Director, his departure from Reading was confirmed on 31 August 2020. On 30 March 2022, Bowen was appointed manager of

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 ...

club AFC Wimbledon until the end of the season with the club sitting in 21st position, one point from safety with seven matches remaining. On 7 May 2022, it was announced that Bowen would be departing the club for a role elsewhere. In May 2022, following his departure from AFC Wimbledon, Bowen returned to Reading as Head of Football Operations.

Career statistics

*Sourced from

Club

:A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

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 Le ...

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leagu ...

and

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

, Screen Sport Super Cup and

International

Bowen made his senior debut for Wales on 10 May 1986, aged 22, in a 2–0 friendly defeat to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in North America. His final Wales appearance came 11 years later on 11 February 1997 in a goalless friendly draw with

the Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

. He was capped 41 times as a full international for Wales, scoring three goals.

Managerial

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

winner:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Norwich City *

: 1990 Charlton Athletic * Football League First Division play-off final winner:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

References

External links