Lee Bowyer

Where is Lee Bowyer now?

A no-nonsense battling midfielder who was never far away from controversy, Lee Bowyer retired from playing in 2012 after a season playing in the Championship with Ipswich Town.

Having signed for Leeds United in 1996 for £2.8 million (at the time a record for a British teenager), Bowyer was an important part of David O’Leary’s side which reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2000 and the UEFA Champions League in 2001. During his time at Elland Road he won the club’s Player of the Year in 1999 and 2001.

Although he was unlucky to lose out in these two games he did win promotion to the Premier League with Birmingham City in 2009 as well as the League Cup with them in 2011.

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During his playing career Bowyer, a keen fisherman, spent every summer fishing at a lake in France with his friends so upon retiring he called the owner of the lake and subsequently bought it calling it Etang de Bows which translates as ‘Bows’ Lake’.

Bowyer admitted that he only actually liked the football playing part of his career rather than the peripheral parts that come with the profession. He said it would be criminal not to pass on the knowledge he had acquired from working under some top managers at the highest level in the game so took the decision to make a move into coaching.

In October 2015, he was invited by Watford under-21’s manager and former Leeds United team-mate Harry Kewell to assist with the coaching of their team for a month. The trial was an opportunity for Bowyer and the academy to have a look at each other to see if they could possibly work together in the future but unfortunately things didn’t work out for various reasons and he left after a couple of months.

Having completed his coaching badges in 2016 and keen to return to the game, Bowyer targeted the vacant Charlton Athletic manager’s job before it was taken by Karl Robinson. However, he joined the club anyway on an informal basis with a remit to get the midfielders scoring more goals and was eventually appointed as their assistant first-team coach in February 2017.

A few months later Bowyer was promoted to assistant manager and stepped in as caretaker manager alongside Johnnie Jackson in March 2018 when Karl Robinson left the club. He did very well in his temporary role and led Charlton to the play-off semi-finals but unfortunately lost to Shrewsbury Town.

After a decent start to the 2018/19 campaign, Bowyer was appointed manager on a permanent basis in September 2018 and led his team to promotion to the Championship via the play-off finals in May 2019.

Bowyer resigned from his post in March 2021 after three years in charge at The Valley to take over former side Birmingham City as head coach but after a disappointing 2021-22 campaign finishing 20th in the Championship he was sacked after just 16 months.

In a move that surprised many Bowyer made a return to football coaching in September 2023 when he was appointed in his current role as head coach of the Montserrat international side.

Back to Birmingham City / Leeds United / Newcastle United



Lee Bowyer: Premier League Statistics

NationalityEnglish
PositionMidfielder
Appearances397
Goals57
Yellow Cards99
Red Cards5
Premier League Teams Played forLeeds United, Birmingham City, West Ham United, Newcastle United

Statistics courtesy of www.premierleague.com

Last Updated on 18 September 2023 by Admin