Robbie Fowler – The Lost Talent

Prior to his substitute (and goal scoring) appearance against Man Utd, Robbie had only played 27 minutes in the Premiership this season. True, he has been injured for much of the time, however when he has been fit, he has found himself behind the duo of Andrew Cole and Darius Vassell, in Stuart Pearce’s thoughts. The recent Tottenham game highlighted just how much our former hero’s status has fallen. With Manchester City trailing1-0, and twenty minutes left, Pearce brought on the raw 19 year old Bradley Wright-Phillips instead of Robbie.

It is difficult to believe how dramatic the decline of Robbie Fowler has been. Since he made his (scoring) debut against Fulham at the age of 17 in 1993, Robbie has captured the hearts of the Anfield faithful. The fans could see he wore the Red’s shirt with heart-bursting pride, and it is doubtful if any other player in the history of the club was ever quite held in the same affection by the Kop. A Toxteth lad made good, the fans felt that Robbie was one of them. Of-course, it didn’t harm this love affair that he could also lay claim to be the most promising young English player in the mid-1990’s.

His goal scoring achievements have gone down in Anfield folklore. In only his second game for the club, Robbie bagged five goals in a League Cup game. In his fifth game for the club, he scored a hatrick against Southampton and by the end of the season he was the Reds leading goal scorer with 18 goals. The next season (1994-95) he would score the fastest hatrick in Premiership history (4 minutes 32 seconds) against Arsenal and was named the PFA Young Player of the Season. In the next three seasons, he would go on to pass the 30 goals mark. In 331 games for the Reds, Robbie scored an astonishing 171 goals.

Robbie has however, always courted controversy. As part of the hugely promising, but ultimately unfulfilled, Reds team of the mid-1990’s, Robbie was labeled as one of the ‘Spice Boys’. The same quality (playing with passion) that endeared him to the Kop, also led to Robbie making the headlines. He once took exception to Graeme Le Saux’s behaviour in a match at Chelsea, and responded with a dubious gesture that was captured by Sky cameras and incurred the wrath of the Premiership authorities.

However, the real watershed in Robbie’s career was his infamous line ‘sniffing’ against Everton in the 1998-99 season. The media slaughtered him. From that point on, Gerard Houllier preferred to select Owen and Heskey ahead of the darling of the Kop.

Robbie was reduced to cameo appearances from the subs bench. He grew increasingly frustrated, and it must have been particularly galling for him in the treble season of 2000-01. Even so, Robbie’s contribution was still significant, scoring a screamer in the League Cup final; finding the net in the unforgettable UEFA Cup final against Alves, and ending the season with a glorious overhead kick against Charlton that secured second place in the League.

However, these glimpses of Robbie’s talent could not disguise the fact that his career with Liverpool was coming to an end. He was eventually sold to Leeds for 11 million in 2003. Some Reds fans still argue that this was good business for a player who was clearly past his prime, citing as evidence his subsequent performances for Leeds and more recently Manchester City. Critics also claim that Robbie has lost his ‘passion’ for the game, having become a millionaire through his property dealings.

I don’t agree. Robbie was not past his peak when he was sold by Houllier. Physiologically, he was reaching his prime (even now, he is still only thirty). However, Houllier was trying to break free from the ‘Spice Boys’ legacy he had inherited, and Robbie was an obvious victim. Can any Reds fans honestly claim that Emile Heskey (an industrious worker) had the raw quality to start ahead of Robbie in those final two years?

I can forgive Houllier for many things - for buying Cheyrou and telling

us he was the new Zidane (because he looked like him!); for wasting a golden opportunity to make the step up in 2001; for buying and then hardly playing the silky skills of Litmanen; even for making us watch, in his final year in charge, a team who played one dimensional football total devoid of any attacking intent.

What I can't forgive is his treatment of Fowler. When he left Anfield, Robbie was a broken man. He has admitted this in his autobiography, and it was also obvious to observers when he joined Leeds. His career has been on a downward spiral ever since, save the odd moment such as his recent goal against Man Utd which reminds us of his rare skill.

Robbie is truly the ‘lost talent’ in Liverpool’s recent footballing history. He should have gone on to surpass many of the goalscoring feats created by legends such as Ian Rush and Roger Hunt. He should have been a fixture in the England team for the past ten years. Instead he now warms the bench of a hard working, but limited, Manchester City team, and watches while an unproven 19 year old is chosen ahead of him.

As supporters we now live in an age where pragmatism rules and business controls football. Now I know this cannot happen, but wouldn’t it be a heart-warming moment for all those Reds fans who remember him in his pomp, if Rafa were to put in a cheeky bid for Robbie and bring him back to his spiritual home? We currently need a clinical finisher and he needs us. I just have this funny feeling that if Robbie donned that Red shirt once again and ran out in front of his Kop…