David Bowman (footballer born 1964)

David Bowman

Personal information
Full name	David Bowman
Date of birth	10 March 1964 (1964-03-10) (age 47)
Place of birth	Tunbridge Wells, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Midfielder, Right back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1984	Hearts	116	(8)
1984–1986	Coventry City	40	(2)
1986–1998	Dundee United	336	(9)
1998–1999	Raith Rovers	23	(0)
1999–2000	Orient and Yee Hope Union	?	(1)
2000–2002	Forfar Athletic	36	(2)
Total		551	(21)
National team
1992–1993	Scotland	6	(0)
Teams managed
2007	Livingston (caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

David Bowman (born 10 March 1964 in Tunbridge Wells, England) is a former Scottish professional footballer who played for clubs including Heart of Midlothian and Dundee United, and represented Scotland at the 1992 European Championships. He is currently working as a community coach at Dundee United.

Early life and Hearts career

Dave Bowman's father, Andy Bowman, was also a professional footballer, and had also played for Hearts. In 1964 he was playing for Tonbridge, hence Dave being born in Kent. Most sources gives his birthplace as being nearby Tunbridge Wells, although some also state Tonbridge. The family moved back to Scotland while Dave was a child, settling in Edinburgh, where he grew up supporting Hearts. During the 1970s, Bowman and future Hearts and Scotland team-mate John Robertson were ball boys together at Meadowbank Thistle's matches. In 1980 the two school-friends both signed for Hearts and were quickly thrust into first team duty at a time when the club were in a dire financial state and forced to rely on youth. Bowman made his Hearts debut aged only 16 and had captained the side by the time he was 18.

In 1982 he was also part of the Scotland under-19 side that became European champions, and then competed in the following year's World Youth Cup in Mexico.

Coventry and Dundee United

Bowman moved to Coventry City in 1984, where he first played alongside Jim McInally and with whom he transferred to Dundee United in the summer of 1986.

It was at United that Bowman had the longest, best-remembered and most successful spell of his playing career. He was part of the squad that played in the 1987 UEFA Cup Final, losing to IFK Göteborg. Dave was also part of the squad that played in four Scottish Cup finals in 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1994, the latter being when United recorded their first Scottish Cup victory, defeating Rangers 1–0.

During season 1995–96, Dave was awarded a testimonial and became captain of United, taking over following Christian Dailly's brief spell as captain.

Playing style and international recognition

A defensive midfielder, right full-back or right wing-back, Dave was a player who was underrated by many, but not by Dundee United supporters, who will always hold him in high esteem. Dave was renowned for the toughness of his tackling (he was nicknamed Psycho at United), but this was not his only footballing attribute and his skills saw him play for Scotland, who selected him for their squad that played in the 1992 European Championships, the first occasion that Scotland had qualified for the finals of this championship.

Later career and retirement

Dave spent the latter part of his playing career at Raith Rovers, Hong Kong club Yee Hope and finally Forfar Athletic, where he achieved the dubious honour of a Scottish record seven game suspension, imposed for swearing at the match officials.^[1]

As Forfar were a part-time club, Dave was able to join the coaching staff at Dundee United, where he continued to serve the club until he left following Craig Brewster's appointment as manager in 2006. After a brief spell as a radio pundit for the BBC's Sportsound programme, he returned to coaching when old friend Robertson invited him to be his assistant at Livingston. Following his spell in Livingston, Bowman moved to Dens Park to work alongside Gordon Wallace as youth coach. In October 2007, Bowman returned to Tannadice for a third time, accepting an invitation as community coach.^[2]

Career statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1980–81	Heart of Midlothian	Scottish Premier Division	17	1	-		4	1	-		21	2
1981–82			16	1	2	0	5	0	-		23	1
1982–83			39	5	4	0	9	2	-		52	7
1983–84			33	0	1	0	7	0	-		41	0
1984–85			11	1	-		4	0	2	0	17	1
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1984–85	Coventry City	First Division	40	2	N/A		N/A		-		40	2
1985–86
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1986–87	Dundee United	Scottish Premier Division	28	0	2	0	1	0	6	0	37	0
1987–88			39	1	8	0	2	0	3	0	52	1
1988–89			28	1	3	1	4	0	4	0	39	2
1989–90			24	1	5	0	1	0	4	1	34	1
1990–91			20	1	4	1	1	0	2	0	27	2
1991–92			40	3	2	0	3	0	-		45	3
1992–93			24	0	1	0	-		-		25	0
1993–94			35	2	6	0	4	0	2	0	47	2
1994–95			31	0	4	1	2	0	1	0	38	1
1995–96		Scottish First Division	17	0	1	0	1	0	-		19	0
1996–97		Scottish Premier Division	28	0	1	0	2	0	-		31	0
1997–98			19	0	1	0	4	0	4	0	28	0
1998–99	Raith Rovers	Scottish First Division	23	0	1	0	2	0	-		26	0
Hong Kong			League		FA Cup & Shield		League Cup		Asia		Total
1999-00	Orient and Yee Hope Union	Hong Kong First Division League	-		-		-		-		-
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
2000–01	Forfar Athletic	Scottish Second Division	23	2	1	0	1	0	-		25	2
2001–02			12	0	-		1	0	-		13	0
Total	Scotland		511	19	47	3	58	3	28	1	644	26
Total	England		40	2	N/A		N/A		0	0	40	2
Total	Hong Kong		N/A		N/A		N/A		N/A		N/A
Career total			551	21	47	3	29	3	58	1	685	28

Honours

Dundee United

• Scottish Cup: 1

1993–94

References

1. ^ "Bowman banned until December". BBC. 11 October 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_2/967727.stm. 
2. ^ "Return to United delights Bowman". The Courier. 16 October 2007. http://www.imsglobal.org/digitalrepositories/index.html. 

External links

• Dave Bowman career stats at Soccerbase
• Hearts career stats from London Hearts website

Persondata
Name	Bowman, Dave
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1964-03-10
Place of birth	Tunbridge Wells, England
Date of death
Place of death