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Famous Like Me > Footballer > F > Robbie Fowler

Profile of Robbie Fowler on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Robbie Fowler  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 9th April 1975
   
Place of Birth: Toxteth
   
Profession: Footballer
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Robbie Fowler (born 9 April 1975 in Liverpool, U.K.) is an English football player. He is a striker. He has played for England internationally, making 26 appearances and scoring 7 goals, but his England career during Sven-Göran Eriksson's tenure as manager appears to have ended. Eriksson has tended to favour the combination of Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney as the first-choice pairing for England.

Fowler joined FA Premier League club Liverpool F.C. as a trainee in 1992 and made his Liverpool debut in 1993, scoring against Fulham in the League Cup. Selected for the starting line-up in the return leg at Anfield, Fowler scored five to endear himself to the Kop. A part of the League Cup-winning Liverpool side in 1995, Fowler won the PFA Young Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996. Throughout the mid- and late-1990's, Fowler was considered by many the most natural finisher playing in England. In one game in 1994, he scored a hat-trick (3 goals) in 4 minutes and 32 seconds against Arsenal, still a Premiership record to this day.

Unfortunately, Fowler's raw talent was fused with the rather "scally" reputation off the field and he was black listed together with several of his colleagues at the time, like Stan Collymore, Jamie Redknapp and best friend, Steve McManaman, for their collective culture of being "Spice Boys" - a derogatory term that signified the team of that time as underachieving playboys in the game.

When that team came under review and revamp by new coach Gerard Houllier, Fowler reinvented himself somewhat and won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup with the Reds in 2001. In October 2001, he scored his first league hat-trick for three years, helping Liverpool beat Leicester City 4-1. He was a hero to Liverpool fans, but a combination of off-field controversy and training ground arguments with then-Assistant Manager Phil Thompson, led to his departure to Leeds United F.C. There is some speculation that Houllier had privately wanted to dispense with Fowler whilst publicly maintaining a pretence of wishing to retain the striker's services. This may have been in an effort to maintain his boardroom support. Fowler's appearances for Liverpool had been limited by the presence of England's first choice strikers, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen.

Lack of first team opportunities in the run in to a World Cup was a contributing factor in Fowler's transfer to Leeds United. The transfer went ahead just one month after his hat-trick at Leicester with a fee of 11 million pounds. The transfer did not turn out to be the fillip to his international career that Fowler had hoped for. He was dogged by injury and weight problems and became a burden on Leeds' finances as the club underwent a financial collapse. He transferred to Manchester City F.C. on 16 January 2003.

Fowler experienced a relatively poor start to his Manchester City career, but played well in the second half of the 2004/05 season, scoring his 150th Premiership goal in the 3-2 win over Norwich City on 28 February 2005. However, his failure to convert a 90th minute penalty kick against Middlesborough in the final game of the season prevented Manchester City from entrance into the UEFA Cup.

Fowler missed the beginning of the 2005/06 season, scoring on his comeback in a reserve match at the beginning of September. In the summer of 2005 City signed England forwards, Andy Cole and Darius Vassell so Fowler will have competition to get back in the side. Although the last couple of years have suggested he is well past his best he is still only 30 and if the hard work on the training field can be accomplished he should still have plenty of goals to contribute.

Outside of football, The Official British Horseracing website lists Fowler as one of the big British Celebrity horse racing owners alongside fellow known acquaintances of his like Rod Stewart, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Eddie Jordan and Vinnie Jones, citing his and best friend Steve McManaman's company, 'The Macca and Growler Partnership' and its most prolific horse, "Seebald". The horse, bought by Fowler and McManaman from bloodstock agent Graham Bradley, finished second in the 2002 Arkle Trophy and was famously trained by Martin Pipe and raced by ace jockey Tony McCoy as it went on to become the winner of the 2003 Queen Elizabeth the "Queen Mother Celebration Chase" as well as taking part in several Grand National races over the years. Other business interests including a large property portfolio have resulted in Fowler becoming reputedly the wealthiest sportsman in Britain.

Fowler, as of March 2005, is the third highest scorer in Premiership history, which considering his low scoring form of the 2000s, really underscores what a mercurial and prodigious talent he was in the 1990s.

On 2 September 2005 Robbie released an autobiography called Fowler: My Autobiography about his time as a footballer and the issues surrounding him. Excerpts published in newspapers indicate damning criticism of the England management and also explanations of some of his behavior including the notorious "line-sniffing" incident which he insists was not a reference to a cocaine habit but merely a merry jest.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Robbie Fowler