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RIP - Stan Bowles

Redemption

Redemption

Agenda Benda
Otis Redding said:
Yet he flew to Barcelena with the team for the European Super Cup Final 2nd-leg where, along with Charlie George, he played a key role in helping us lift the trophy. I'm not sure if his fear of flying was the primary reason for him not catching the plane to Madrid; his relationship with Cloughie and PT had clearly begun to deteriate by then, as demonstrated by increasingly less gametime. He possibly judged that his time was over and decided not to trigger his fear to, at best, sit on the bench or, more likely, in the stand.
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I read a long interview with him about 15 years ago. In it, he suggested that he didn't travel because he was upset with Clough.

Clough had left him out of Robbo's testimonial game. Bowles got mad has Robbo had been his mentor/mate while at the club. He felt he should have played as a tribute.

Basically, downed tools from therein.
 
Redemption

Redemption

Agenda Benda
Eddie Yates said:
I read his his autobiog years ago, he once had a massive bet that it would snow on Xmas day, poor owd Stan spent all day looking out of his window at a sky full of snow but not a single flake fell
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He only became a footballer as some one offered him a little bit more pay than he was on a bookies runner.

He liked to do his own thing, on and off the pitch.
 
GOBIAS

GOBIAS

Ian Bowyer
Colin Addison said:
Yeah absolutely magic left foot but he seemed to be on the way down in footballing terms by the time he arrived at NG2. I worked in Manchester early 70's and got to know his dad who was a window cleaner by trade. We used to go in the Hare and Hounds on Shudhill, Stan senior would often be in there really nice bloke he was disappointed Stan never played for the Mancs. Stan senior was a booze fags and bookies man I think Stan had similar interests after he finished playing. RIP Stan
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He was from collyhurst so it sound right 🤣
 
Bryn Gunn

Bryn Gunn

Cash is King!
Stan and George Best were the players my uncle never stopped talking about in the mid 70’s and after watching endless footage over the years I can see why.
A genuine natural talent and colourful character.
RIP Stan.
 
FLC

FLC

First Team Squad
From the Guardian:

A veteran Fleet Street football writer once shared a story about running into Stan Bowles in a Nottingham betting shop shortly after his move in 1979 to Forest. Bowles was disconsolate, but not because he had backed another loser.

“What’s up, Stan?” the reporter asked.

“This manager,” Bowles replied, and proceeded to tell a story about Brian Clough.

The first time Bowles had sat down in the Forest dressing room, Clough had fixed him with a stare and said: “You. What’s your name?”

“What do you mean, what’s my name?” Bowles replied.

“What’s your f***ing name,” Clough persisted.

“I’m Stan Bowles. You’ve just signed me from QPR.”

Clough considered the response and said: “I want you to get the ball and give it to that fat fellah over there [pointing to the great John Robertson].” According to the old reporter, Bowles, who has died aged 75, was in the bookies nursing a suspicion that he had joined the wrong club. If Clough was trying to knock the ego out of him, conformity was always an unlikely outcome.
 
C

Cloughie1975

John Robertson
Otis Redding said:
Yet he flew to Barcelena with the team for the European Super Cup Final 2nd-leg where, along with Charlie George, he played a key role in helping us lift the trophy. I'm not sure if his fear of flying was the primary reason for him not catching the plane to Madrid; his relationship with Cloughie and PT had clearly begun to deteriate by then, as demonstrated by increasingly less gametime. He possibly judged that his time was over and decided not to trigger his fear to, at best, sit on the bench or, more likely, in the stand.
Click to expand...
Are you 100% sure Stan flew to Barcelona,Otis?-I’ve got a recollection at the back of my mind
that he travelled overland (and sea) to avoid flying (although I can’t imagine Clough allowing that).
Anyway,whether he missed the Madrid trip due to his fear of flying or because his relationship
with Clough had deteriorated (or both) he would have played in the final had he set foot
in the Spanish capital (I think Clough and/or Taylor confirmed this later).
 
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Strummer

Strummer

Socialismo O Muerte!
LTLF Minion
FLC said:
From the Guardian:

A veteran Fleet Street football writer once shared a story about running into Stan Bowles in a Nottingham betting shop shortly after his move in 1979 to Forest. Bowles was disconsolate, but not because he had backed another loser.

“What’s up, Stan?” the reporter asked.

“This manager,” Bowles replied, and proceeded to tell a story about Brian Clough.

The first time Bowles had sat down in the Forest dressing room, Clough had fixed him with a stare and said: “You. What’s your name?”

“What do you mean, what’s my name?” Bowles replied.

“What’s your f***ing name,” Clough persisted.

“I’m Stan Bowles. You’ve just signed me from QPR.”

Clough considered the response and said: “I want you to get the ball and give it to that fat fellah over there [pointing to the great John Robertson].” According to the old reporter, Bowles, who has died aged 75, was in the bookies nursing a suspicion that he had joined the wrong club. If Clough was trying to knock the ego out of him, conformity was always an unlikely outcome.
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The full piece is here:

www.theguardian.com

Stan Bowles’ chaotic lifestyle could not disguise his brilliance on the pitch | Paul Hayward

The playmaker, compared to Kenny Dalglish by Terry Venables, made his name at QPR in the mid-1970s but earned only a handful of caps for England
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

And well worth a read.

They certainly don’t make players like him any more.
 
Annesleyred

Annesleyred

Youth Team
RIP Stan. I think the only medal he won was with the Reds in the Super Cup. I wonder why he didn't go to the 1980 European Cup Final he would have scared Hamburg to death and given Birtles a breather now and again. Missing that historic game is a mystery.
 
Otis Redding

Otis Redding

Try A Little Tenderness
Cloughie1975 said:
Are you 100% sure Stan flew to Barcelona,Otis?-I’ve got a recollection at the back of my mind
that he travelled overland (and sea) to avoid flying (although I can’t imagine Clough allowing that).
Anyway,whether he missed the Madrid trip due to his fear of flying or because his relationship
with Clough had deteriorated (or both) he would have played in the final had he set foot
in the Spanish capital (I think Clough and/or Taylor confirmed this later).
Click to expand...
Although I'm pretty certain I'm right Cloughie, I can't hand-on-heart claim to be absolutely 100% that Bowles flew to Barcelona, I can however quite easily confirm it by asking someone who we all know would have been on that plane. Leave that with me.
 
C

Cloughie1975

John Robertson
Otis Redding said:
Although I'm pretty certain I'm right Cloughie, I can't hand-on-heart claim to be absolutely 100% that Bowles flew to Barcelona, I can however quite easily confirm it by asking someone who we all know would have been on that plane. Leave that with me.
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Thanks,Otis-I believe Stan missed the quarter-final trip to Berlin citing a fear of flying (Forest
had got wind of his drinking and gambling habits by then also!).I can’t imagine that episode
went down well with Clough and he probably decided to move him on as soon as possible.
Bowles and Clough obviously had a poor relationship but Clough did mention in his autobiography that Bowles had a bigger fear of flying than he did (apparently Clough refused
to board a plane before having several drinks!!)
Bowles also failed to show for the trip to Majorca for relaxation (!) prior to the Madrid final,again,
I guess because of his fear of taking to the air and the fact the he and Clough didn’t get on.
I always got the impression that Bowles didn’t really want to be in Nottingham anyway.
 
Otis Redding

Otis Redding

Try A Little Tenderness
Cloughie1975 said:
Thanks,Otis-I believe Stan missed the quarter-final trip to Berlin citing a fear of flying (Forest
had got wind of his drinking and gambling habits by then also!).I can’t imagine that episode
went down well with Clough and he probably decided to move him on as soon as possible.
Bowles and Clough obviously had a poor relationship but Clough did mention in his autobiography that Bowles had a bigger fear of flying than he did (apparently Clough refused
to board a plane before having several drinks!!)
Bowles also failed to show for the trip to Majorca for relaxation (!) prior to the Madrid final,again,
I guess because of his fear of taking to the air and the fact the he and Clough didn’t get on.
I always got the impression that Bowles didn’t really want to be in Nottingham anyway.
Click to expand...
I don't think it was any secret Cloughie that Stan agreed to the move as much for the signing-on fee and increase in wages as he did for playing reasons. Also choosing to rent a much-cheaper terraced house in Bulwell rather than in West Bridgford or elsewhere south of the river strongly indicates that his gambling was a not-insignificant issue for him, or to be more precise, his debts.

Further to our earlier exchange, Martin O'Neill was as adamant as he could be when asked by Jim White on TS an hour-or-so ago about his personal memories of being a teammate of Bowles, that it wasn't his fear of flying that stopped him catching the flight to Madrid, but that Stan was convinced he wouldn't get a game, adding that he had more than once flown with the team previously. He also paid him a tribute by saying that as well as being a great footballer, what a top bloke he was, and how, despite "not being very good at gambling", he was nonetheless "generous to a fault" with even the last of his money.
 
C

Cloughie1975

John Robertson
Otis Redding said:
I don't think it was any secret Cloughie that Stan agreed to the move as much for the signing-on fee and increase in wages as he did for playing reasons. Also choosing to rent a much-cheaper terraced house in Bulwell rather than in West Bridgford or elsewhere south of the river strongly indicates that his gambling was a not-insignificant issue for him, or to be more precise, his debts.

Further to our earlier exchange, Martin O'Neill was as adamant as he could be when asked by Jim White on TS an hour-or-so ago about his personal memories of being a teammate of Bowles, that it wasn't his fear of flying that stopped him catching the flight to Madrid, but that Stan was convinced he wouldn't get a game, adding that he had more than once flown with the team previously. He also paid him a tribute by saying that as well as being a great footballer, what a top bloke he was, and how, despite "not being very good at gambling", he was nonetheless "generous to a fault" with even the last of his money.
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Thanks,Otis-Stan possibly regretted not going as I think he would have played (as I said,I’m
sure Clough and/or Taylor said they had originally planned to play a 4-4-2 including Bowles
rather than the eventual 4-5-1 with Garry Birtles ploughing a loan furrow up front-he was
knackered at the end!).
 
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Otis Redding

Otis Redding

Try A Little Tenderness
Cloughie1975 said:
Thanks,Otis-Stan possibly regretted not going as I think he would have played (as I said,I’m
sure Clough and/or Taylor said they had originally planned to play a 4-4-2 including Bowles
rather than the eventual 4-5-1 with Garry Birtles ploughing a loan furrow up front-he was
knackered at the end!).
Click to expand...
We'll never really know Cloughie, but I have firm doubts that Stan would have got the nod over Mills that night, someone who Cloughie had more faith in, given how much he'd publicly praised him.
 
alabamared

alabamared

Stuart Pearce
I have an abiding memory of him scoring a cracking goal for Forest at Coventry.
RIP Stan
 
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