Sports Poets Society

25 Feb 2024 - Manchester Evening News By ANDY SIMS STANLEY Bowles raised his arms into the air and took the acclaim of the Loftus Road crowd.Stan Bowles waves to the fans on the pitch at QPR It was a familiar sight throughout the 1970s, but this was August 2015 and was to be the last time Bowles graced the pitch he once ruled. He looked in good physical shape as he was presented to the crowd on ‘Stan Bowles Day,’ QPR’s home fixture against Rotherham, but his condition had already taken its toll. Nevertheless Don Shanks, Bowles’ best friend and former Rangers team-mate who accompanied him out on to the pitch, said: “When Stan walked out at Loftus Road he knew exactly where he was, for some reason. A moment of knowing who he was.” The epitome of the 1970s football maverick, there was a time when pretty much everyone knew who Bowles was. Born in Collyhurst on Christmas Eve 1948, Bowles began his career as an apprentice at Manchester City. A brief stint at Bury followed before Bowles joine

25 Feb 2024 - The Mail on Sunday By Jeff Powell MBE THERE was something of a tradition in days of yore for young football reporters to gather for a beer before Saturday matches at QPR’s Loftus Road ground. Stan The Man would breeze into the Queen’s Tavern in South Africa Road about half an hour before the 3pm kick-off, after popping into the corner shop to buy a packet of fags. He would smoke the first of those cigarettes for luck, down his pint, then stop at the adjacent betting shop to place his bets for the day’s races. He would make it to the home dressing room too late for the manager’s team talk but just in time to pull on his kit and boots and run last out of the tunnel. To roars of acclamation from the crowd. Whether or not there was a break in play he would drift towards the touchline shortly before half time and call out to a couple of regular fans close to the home dug-out, who would tell him which nag had won the 3.30 at somewhere like Haydock Park. That would be repeated

https://www.amazon.it/Football-Portraits-Ritratti-calcio-Agbonlahor-ebook/dp/B01KI1XRO6 SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/episode/09gSrvEahgJjYMQzjYzkdq di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO ©, Guerin Sportivo © © Rainbow Sports Books Un aneddoto e una "sentenza". Per descriverlo, specie a chi mai l'ha visto giocare, non serve altro. L'aneddoto. Sunderland-QPR, ultima di Second Division 1972/73. Stanley Bowles è la talentuosa mezzala sinistra dei biancoblù londinesi, da un mese già promossi in First (arriveranno un punto dietro il Burnley, primo a 62). I Black Cats, a sorpresa, hanno appena vinto la FA Cup battendo 1-0 il Leeds United. Al vecchio Roker Park si radunano in 43.265 per ammirare in casa il trofeo, lasciato in bella mostra su un tavolinetto oltre la linea laterale. Bowles & C., però, hanno altri progetti. O perlomeno così narra la leggenda, spesso riportata – con dovizia di particolari, ma sempre diversi – dal diretto protagonista: «Un paio di noi avevano