David Lloyd Bowen (7 June 1928 – 25 September 1995) was a Welsh

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager, who captained his country to their first ever

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

finals, in 1958.

Playing career

Born in Maesteg, Bowen first played for Northampton Town. He had only played 12 times for Northampton before catching the eye of Pat Whittaker, son of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

manager Tom Whittaker. He was duly signed by Arsenal in the summer of 1950 as an understudy to

Joe Mercer Joseph Mercer (9 August 1914 – 9 August 1990) was an English footballer and manager. Mercer, who played as a defender for Everton and Arsenal in his footballing career, also went on to manage Aston Villa and Manchester City, and was the ...

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He made his debut against

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

on 24 March 1951, but only made a handful of appearances between 1951 and 1954, when Mercer finally retired due to injury. Arsenal won the old First Division in 1952–53 but he only made two league appearances all season. In 1954–55 Bowen became a regular in the Arsenal side, and would continue to be for the rest of the decade. In the meantime, Bowen had also made his debut for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, in a friendly against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in September 1954. Bowen went on to win 19 caps for Wales, and was the team's captain for their

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

campaign; Wales drew all three of their group matches and qualified for the quarter-finals, where they were beaten 1–0 by

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, the goalscorer being a 17-year-old

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

. Along with goalkeeper Jack Kelsey, Bowen was the first Arsenal player to play in a World Cup. Bowen's spell at Arsenal coincided with a lack of success at the club, so he did not win any major domestic honours. However, he did play for a

London XI The London XI was a Association football, football team that represented the city of London in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The competition began in 1955, and the first tournament took three years to complete. The entrants were the ma ...

in the 1955–58 final of the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

(forerunner of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

), losing 8–2 on aggregate to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, and was Arsenal captain in his final two seasons. In all he played 162 matches for the club, scoring twice.

Managerial career

In 1959, Bowen returned to Northampton Town as player-manager. Bowen would manage the Cobblers for eight years, and became known as a canny manager who signed quality players despite a tight budget. He steered Northampton from the Fourth Division to the First in just five seasons. However, the club spent only one season ( 1965–66) at the top, before being relegated. Bowen left Northampton in 1967, after a second successive relegation, though he rejoined the club for a second stint as manager between 1969 and 1972, by which time they had returned to the Fourth Division. He was in charge during the club's famous 8–2

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

defeat at the hands of

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in 1970, in which

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

scored six times. In the meantime, he had also been manager of

between 1964 and 1974, although the side never did reach the heights it had when he was a player. Wales however did gain a 1–1 draw away to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

qualifiers. Bowen continued to stay with Northampton, serving as general manager, secretary and finally as a club director before retiring. He also had a sideline in journalism and bookmaking during his managerial career and was a summariser for ITV alongside commentator Hugh Johns for their coverage of the 1966 World Cup final.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

He died in Northampton in 1995, at the age of 67. The North Stand of Northampton's Sixfields Stadium is named in his honour, as is a residential street in Duston. His son Keith also became a footballer.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Dave Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Sportspeople from Maesteg Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Wales national football team managers Northampton Town F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Welsh football managers Northampton Town F.C. managers 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1928 births 1995 deaths London XI players English Football League managers