Man For All Seasons

Brian Owen

Description

In these days of highly-paid football celebrities, Brian Owen isn't a household name, yet over the course of the last six decades he has become the only man to have held four different positions; player, coach, scout and physiotherapist in all four divisions of the English Football League. This fascinating autobiography documents the fifty-five year career of a man whose face is well known at several professional clubs, and details Owen's journey from promising young player to backroom legend. Owen's infectious wit and wisdom means he has an unmatched store of anecdotes. He has seen it all, from the gritty surroundings of the lower divisions to the glamour of travelling with the senior England squad. After recording a lifetime of memories, Owen teams up with sportswriter Rob Hadgraft to tell his story in A Man for All Seasons. Containing fitting forewords by David Pleat and Phil Parkinson, this book pays tribute to one of the most popular, funniest and down-to-earth professionals ever to be involved with the beautiful game and is a must-read for football fans everywhere.

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 14 juillet 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781911476023
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
A Man For All Seasons
Brian Owen’s Six-Decade Football Odyssey
by
Brian Owen
and
Rob Hadgraft
Forewords by
David Pleat and Phil Parkinson



Publisher Information
Published as an eBook in 2016 by
Apex Publishing Ltd
12A St. John’s Road, Clacton on Sea
Essex, CO15 4BP, United Kingdom
www.apexpublishing.co.uk
Please email any queries to Chris Cowlin
mail@apexpublishing .co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2015-2016 Brian Owen and Rob Hadgraft
The authors have asserted their moral rights
Production manager: Chris Cowlin
Cover design: Hannah Blamires
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that no part of this book is to be reproduced, in any shape or form. Or by way of trade, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser, without prior permission of the copyright holder.
The opinions expressed herein belong to the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Apex Publishing or Andrews UK Limited.



About The Authors
Brian Owen:
Brian was born in Harefield, Middlesex, in 1944, towards the end of WW2. He was a football-mad child who showed an early aptitude for the game. He started his long career in football as a player, notching up some 300 first-team games at Watford, Colchester and Wolves, until he was forced to retire due to injury. He subsequently gained qualifications in coaching and physiotherapy and went on to become one of the best known ‘backroom boys’ in the English game.
Over the course of six decades, Owen has been on the payroll of more than a dozen professional clubs, and enjoyed long periods working for the FA from youth up to senior England level. He is unique in having worked in all four divisions of the English League in four different roles; player, coach, physiotherapist and scout.
Brian has been married to his wife, Carol, for over fifty years and has four children and fourteen grandchildren.
Rob Hadgraft:
Rob was born in Luton in 1955. He spent twenty-six years working as a news and sports reporter in regional newspapers and corporate publishing, before becoming a freelance writer in 2000.
Hadgraft has subsequently written eighteen books on sporting history, thirteen of them on football, plus an acclaimed series of five biographies of champion runners of yesteryear.



Foreword by David Pleat
Sir Bobby Robson, who employed Brian Owen at Ipswich Town as a youth coach, once remarked: ‘It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.’ Never could that adage be more appropriate than about Brian Owen, a true footballing man. Player, coach, physio, scout and a loyal gentleman who, for all his adult life, has enjoyed working in the great theatre of professional football.
His career has been a kaleidoscope of training, playing, treating, working and meeting with a cross-section of footballing characters. Through football he has fulfilled many kids’ dreams. His stories and experiences would fill, and deserve, volumes.
As a playing adversary of mine in the 1960s when he was with Watford under the guidance of Ken Furphy, and I was just up the M1 with Luton Town, I came up against a bright intelligent footballer whose progress – similar to mine - was thwarted by injury. Thoughtful and enthusiastic, he gained his coaching certificates while continuing to play. Performing under the guidance of such as Bill McGarry, Sammy Chung, John Barnwell, Dick Graham and Jock Wallace, he listened and learned while preparing for a future in coaching and physiotherapy.
Respected throughout football, Brian worked diligently as his reputation grew and the FA came calling. Treating injuries at various England squads, he worked with the very top physios and managers in the country. In 1991 I employed Brian at Luton Town. He proved popular, bright and breezy, and was highly respected by the players for his knowledge.
Latterly, he has spent countless hours on the road scouring the country in a scouting capacity for several clubs, never ever losing his enthusiasm for the game. Never motivated by fame, money or a thirst for glory, Brian is a true football man. His football life has given him countless friends and rich memories and there is no substitute for that.
David Pleat
Manager at Luton Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday



Foreword by Phil Parkinson
I first met Brian Owen when I became manager of Colchester United back in 2003. Very quickly I became aware that Brian was a fantastic person for me to learn from as a young manager in his first job. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to work with.
When we won, he was as happy as I was. When we lost, he took defeat as badly as I did. We spent many hours together on the road travelling miles and miles up and down the country watching games. During those trips with Brian in the car, I learned so much from his stories and his years of experience in the game. Brian is someone who many people outside of football probably wouldn’t know about. He could walk down the street and wouldn’t often be recognised. But within the game itself, whichever match you go to, everybody knows Brian and has the utmost respect for him. He is a true football person.
If you look at Brian’s record down the years, the level he has played at, coached at and been a physio at, speaks volumes about him. Not only that, if you look at how long his career in football has spanned, he has hardly ever been out of work. That is very unusual in our game, but I feel it is a tribute to Brian’s qualities as a coach and a physio, and his integrity as a person.
Twelve years on after first meeting him, I still always pick up the phone to Brian to ask about players. His judgement of a player is very good. Having become a friend of his, I’m looking forward, like many other people will be, to reading this story of Brian’s interesting career path and how he became something of an unsung hero within the game. I personally would like to thank Brian for all the help he has given me during my managerial career.
Phil Parkinson
Manager at Colchester United, Hull City, Charlton Athletic and Bradford City



Introduction
Jairzinho, Jimmy Johnstone, Kevin Hector, Jimmy Robertson, Tommy Wright. These are just some of the celebrated international football names born in the autumn of 1944. It was a vintage year.
Another of the Boys of 1944 is Brian Owen, not a household name maybe, but someone whose six decades at the heart of the beautiful game goes far beyond the famous names in terms of variety, versatility and sheer man-hours.
Brian Owen is unique. He’s played in all four divisions of the Football League, worked as a physio in all four divisions, coached at clubs in all four divisions and scouted for clubs in all four divisions. As if that wasn’t enough to brighten up a CV, he also spent many years working behind the scenes and travelling with the England set-up. He was physio for the England’s Under-18s, Under-21s, ‘B’ team and, on two occasions, the senior team - and got to know every national manager from Sir Alf Ramsey to Fabio Capello.
Badly hampered by several serious ankle and knee injuries, Owen’s playing career looked dead and buried in 1971 at the age of just twenty-six after around 300 games on the books of Watford and Colchester United. But having wisely gained qualfications in physiotherapy and coaching, Owen secured himself a backroom job at top-flight club Wolves - and, remarkably, within months found himself playing for their first team, answering panic-stricken SOS calls when various Molineux stars succumbed to injury.
Says Brian: ‘I ended up playing First Division games for Wolves which completed my set. It meant I ended up playing in all four divisions of the League and went on to do the exactly the same thing as a coach, a scout and a physio - and this on top of being physio for all levels of England teams. I first kicked a ball competitively in the 1950s and was still racing up and down motorways on scouting assignments in 2015. That amounts to six different decades of a very varied soccer life. They tell me all this is quite unique, which is what made me think I should get some of my memories down in book form!’
Football has changed almost beyond recognition during Brian’s fifty-five years (and counting) in the game. He’s seen it all. This journeyman par excellence has been on the payroll of a dozen clubs, as well as the FA. He never achieved mega-celebrity status, but behind the scenes within English football he’s a legend! Being forced to quit playing when he should have been at his peak was a crushing blow, but his remarkable energy and work ethic saw him qualify to become one of the best-known ‘backroom boys’ around. His list of friends and contacts in the game reaches far and wide. Football people speak in glowing terms of one of the most down-to-earth, funniest and yet most professional people they’ve ever worked with. Owen’s infectious wit and wisdom means he has an unmatched store of anecdotes and hilarious tales about some of the biggest names to grace the world game.
A number of people were helpful in the preparation of this book, so I’d like to acknowledge with thanks the contributions of David Pleat, Phil Parkinson, David Instone, Russell Kempson, Jim French, Marie Partner and Malcolm Bailey, to name but