Friday, April 14, 2023

Gary Bowyer Managerial Geek

When you consider former Hereford and Hereford United players in management Colin Addison will always be the gold medalist, not just for his achievements at Edgar Street. He managed Derby County in Division One now the Premiership. He also managed Forest Green, Scarborough, Yeovil, Swansea and Newport to their highest position since the war. His international career is often overlooked managing in South Africa, Qatar and Kuwait where he won the championship. His greatest achievements were in Spain. He managed Celta Vigo into the top division where he also managed Cádiz and Atletico Madrid, leaving them in a position to qualify for Europe.

In silver medal position would probably be Dean Smith with success at Walsall, Brentford and Aston Villa. More recently he has been at Norwich and is now trying to keep Leicester in the Premiership. Scots would argue this diminishes the achievements of 1960s Bulls goalkeeper Jock Wallace at Leicester, Sevilla, Motherwell and Rangers where he won several trophies. Jock has the unique “triple crown” of being the only man to have played in the Scottish, Welsh and English cups in the same season 1966/67.

Seeking to move up the managerial leaderboard is Gary Bowyer. With Hereford likely to play Scunthorpe next season many will recall his appearance at Glanford Park where together with his father Ian they became the last dad and lad pairing to play in the Football League. A cracking 3-3 end of season game which you can watch below.

Gary has greater managerial achievements than his father at Blackburn, Blackpool, Bradford, Salford and now Dundee where he is on track to take them into the Premiership. The BBC have profiled him here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64656196