FROM BIRMINGHAM TO BARI AND BACK by Chris Nee

id. A single syllable that evokes in With ability like that it’s not surprising that After missing out on the FIFA World Cup supporters memories of a player Cowans was in demand after recovering from 1986 squad Cowans was part of a Bari side who has a convincing claim to be the the broken leg that ruled him out of the entire that finished ninth in the second tier, ensuring S very best to ever play for Aston Villa. 1983/84 season. another year in the relative wilderness.

That Villa was his first club at 15 years of Villa were starting to wane, drifting to tenth in In 1987/88, Cowans’ last season, Bari rose to age, and one where he had three spells as a the First Division after finishing sixth the sixth and finished ten points behind Serie B player and later spent many years in various season before, and the club, under the winners Bologna. They were promoted the coaching roles, only enhances his legend. chairmanship of Doug Ellis once more, was following year. beginning a period of turbulence. Villa won the European Cup in 1982 and 23- It’s easy to understand why Cowans has year-old Gordon Cowans, like the rest of Cowans later told Adam Bate of Sky Sports mixed feelings about his time in Puglia. In his Tony Barton’s outfield ten, played 90 minutes that this was the origin of a possible move to interview with Bate he recalled witnessing a as the team overcame the early loss of Napoli in 1983. That transfer fell through but shooting, a tangible experience of what goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer to beat Bayern Gianni Paladini — then a rookie agent — was Cowans referred to as “an unsavoury side to Munich in the final in Rotterdam. able to reconnect the dots two years later to life in the south of Italy.” But he also reports take Cowans to freshly promoted Serie A the positives. Rimmer’s rookie replacement, Nigel Spink, side Bari, where his chief admirer in Naples put in the performance of a lifetime. Peter now worked. Despite Bari’s fortunes during their three-year Withe’s shin nudged the only goal of the spell, and against a backdrop of their own game in off the post. But the team built by McNaught, Bremner, Mortimer, Withe and various frustrations, Rideout and Cowans , Barton’s predecessor who left had already left the club. The performed well in Italy. Cowans in particular Villa before the quarter-final, was — contrary break-up of Villa’s European Cup-winning is held in appropriately high regard. to popular press box lore — full of remarkable side was, according to Cowans and practical- individual players. ly everybody else who cared to have an Villa, meanwhile, had been relegated in 1987 opinion, premature. and bounced back immediately. By the time Allan Evans and Ken McNaught at the back. exercised Villa’s option to re- Tony Morley. Des Bremner. Gary Shaw, Villa secured first refusal rights should Bari sign Cowans they were back in the First younger even than Cowans and tragically decide to sell their new midfielder in the Division. restricted by injury with years left to give. future, paving the way for a Villa career that These are legends at . Cowans and would eventually number three spells. Cowans played an important part in Villa’s his captain on that night, Dennis Mortimer, second-placed finish in 1990. Taylor took are something more even than that. Bari also signed striker from over from Bobby Robson as the manager of Villa and the pair arrived in Southern Italy in England, Dr Jozef Venglos came and went at Cowans, known as Sid, was a beautiful time for the 1985/86 season, each signing on Villa Park, and let Cowans drop footballer, one of those players whose vision for three seasons. Bari reportedly paid into the Second Division just a few months was more sixth sense than learned skill. He around £850,000 for them. into the job. was gifted, blessed with the ability to execute the passes he saw. Villa finished 16th in England that year. Bari After signing for Blackburn Rovers in 1991, were relegated back to Serie B and Cowans’ Cowans quickly returned to the top flight by He knew where the goal was, too, and could misfortune continued. Another leg break — way of the play-offs. In the summer of 1993 often be seen bursting into the penalty area again before the start of the season proper — he signed for Villa for the third and final time, at the moment of maximum danger, shimmy- delayed his introduction to league football in contributing to their brief dalliance with ing his way to a chance. Italy. European football before switching to Derby County in February 1994. He scored nearly 50 league goals for Villa In his conversation with Bate he suggested and managed to notch a couple for England that Bari’s inability to strengthen the squad Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sheffield United, despite a shocking paucity of caps. after being promoted contributed to their Bradford City, Stockport County and Burnley relegation at the first time of asking. followed in short order, and it was at Turf But Sid was a passer, a creatively-minded Moor that Cowans began his second legend- midfield string-puller who prided himself on Cowans acknowledges that he spent a chunk ary career as a coach. setting the heartbeat of the game. His deft- of his prime in the Italian Second Division and ness of touch and cultured range made him might have been better elsewhere; he cer- He made his name again at Villa. Where stand out as a player for the aesthetes. tainly didn’t get anything like the England else? recognition his quality deserved.