Richard David Bowman (born 25 September 1954) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Born in

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

, Bowman began his career with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, turning professional in March 1973. He made 96 appearances for the "Addicks" in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

before moving to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in 1976. He spent five years with the club, where he made nearly 200 League appearances and helped the "Royals" win the

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

championship in 1979. Two years later he moved to Gillingham, where his former Charlton teammate Keith Peacock was

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. In December 1981, however, he seriously injured his knee in an

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 ...

match. Although he attempted a comeback on several occasions, he was forced to admit defeat and retire in 1984.

References

1954 births Footballers from the London Borough of Lewisham People from Lewisham English men's footballers Living people Charlton Athletic F.C. players Reading F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Men's association football midfielders English Football League players {{england-footy-midfielder-1950s-stub