It’s easy to forget ex-Liverpool FC, Leeds United star had three-match Blackburn Rovers stint
Robbie Fowler Blackburn Rovers Liverpool
Robbie Fowler was a force to be reckoned with around the turn of the Century, with the lethal frontman thriving for Liverpool and Leeds United, while also featuring for Manchester City.
Having come up through the ranks at Anfield, the man they named ‘God’ was otherworldly in his goalscoring exploits during his time in red, with 120 goals in 172 league games earning him that lofty reputation among regulars on the Kop.
But as his career dwindled into his 30s, Fowler’s prowess quickly dropped off, with a return to Liverpool preceding disappointing stints with both Cardiff City and Blackburn Rovers.
A three-game stint at Ewood Park would prove to be his final actions in English football in 2008, with a former great looking a shadow of the player that tore the top flight apart during his earlier years.
Robbie Fowler struggles for form and fitness after Liverpool departure
As injuries took hold of Fowler’s career, the explosivity in which he burst onto the scene during his early days on the red half of Merseyside became less and less prominent, even if his goalscoring touch never quite deserted him.
14 goals in 30 league games for Leeds United seems like a promising return on paper, but an ongoing hip issue hampered his time at Elland Road, before making the switch to City in January of 2003.
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The middling Manchester side weren’t the big-money ballers that they are today, and 20 goals in 80 Premier League matches helped the club push for Europe, although a penalty miss on the final day of the season against Middlesbrough saw them miss out on a UEFA Cup spot in 2005.
The forward was serenaded upon an emotional return to Anfield in January 2006, although the expectation and reality of a former great returning home weren’t to match up, with an obvious off-the-pace Fowler summing up a lacklustre Liverpool side at the time.
With his playing days seemingly numbered, a drop-down into the EFL saw him lead the line for Cardiff City whenever his body would allow him to do so, which turned out to be just 13 times in league football across the 07/08 season.
Nevertheless, the Bluebirds were keen to offer the injury-prone striker a deal that could see him remain at the club on a pay-as-you-play basis, having shown him loyalty during his rehab process across the season.
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You can only imagine the uproar when Fowler upped sticks for Blackburn Rovers after City had stuck by his side during his tough times on the sidelines, with an utterly forgettable time at Ewood Park ending with a whimper for all parties.
Robbie Fowler makes Blackburn Rovers switch after Cardiff City loyalty
The lure of linking up with former Liverpool teammate Paul Ince at Ewood Park proved to be too hard to turn down for Fowler at the time, with the former Premier League Champions snapping him up on a pay-as-you-play deal of their own in September 2008.
Those payments wouldn’t prove to be all that frequent in the end, with Rovers seeing him appear in the Premier League just three times during his three-month stint at the club, and only once from the first whistle.
Off the pace and evidently struggling with the demands of top flight football, the move to Lancashire is still one that Fowler regrets even after he hung up his boots, with the striker opening up about the situation once he retired.
Robbie Fowler Cardiff
“Looking back, that was without doubt the worst decision I made in my career,” Fowler told Wales Online in 2014.
“Paul Ince was the manager at Blackburn, and we are old friends from our playing days together at Liverpool.
“When I think about regrets, leaving Cardiff is right up there. In terms of football that is easily the worst I’ve made.
“I left because Paul was a friend and Blackburn was closer to home, but with hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have done it.
“It certainly wasn’t a football decision. I enjoyed my time with Cardiff even though I had injury problems. The hip surgery I had during my time with Cardiff didn’t help and maybe that was another reason why I moved on.
“There were hardly any playing opportunities for me at Blackburn and, looking back, it was the wrong decision to go. When I think of the friends I made in Cardiff and still speak to I’m sad that I left.”
After chasing shadows during his three domestic appearances, Fowler was soon reserved for cup outings, with his last appearance coming at Old Trafford in a 5-3 defeat to Manchester United, in which he came on for the final 14 minutes.
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The signs were there then that this was a man straining every fibre of his body just to get on the football pitch, and could scarcely believe his own decline. Actions that would have been second nature in his younger years were now laborious and weary, while even that natural finisher’s instinct had deserted him over time.
Just three months after he moved to the North West, Fowler had called it a day in the English game, before seeing out his playing days with a worldwide tour of Australia, Thailand and India.
Even the most dedicated of Rovers fans will have to wrack their brains to remember any influential moment from Fowler in blue and white, with his time at Ewood Park a dismal way to call a day on what was once a prolific, illustrious career.
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