Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football coach and former professional player. He most recently managed Saudi First Division League side Al-Qadsiah. He is best known for his time playing for Liverpool, initially from 1993 to 2001.
As a player, Fowler was a striker, and is the ninth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League. Renowned as a natural finisher who was predominantly left-footed, he scored 183 goals in total for Liverpool, and was especially prolific in his first three full seasons when he scored over 30 goals in each of them, earning the nickname "God" from the Kop at Anfield and twice being named PFA Young Player of the Year (1995 and 1996). He is Liverpool's second-top scorer in the Premier League."Making a comeback: Is returning to one's old stomping ground a good idea?". Robbie Fowler", The Independent; retrieved 23 April 2014. In 2026 Fowler was listed at number 12 in an official club poll of Liverpool's greatest players.
He subsequently played for Leeds United and Manchester City, before returning to Liverpool in January 2006. He moved to Cardiff City eighteen months later. He played there for a year before transferring to Blackburn Rovers on a short-term deal. In December 2008, he departed Blackburn and played in Australia with North Queensland Fury and Perth Glory. In 2011, he joined Thai side Muangthong United as a player, but later was appointed player-manager, which he remained until his retirement in 2012.
Fowler was capped for England 26 times, scoring 7 goals. He was included in England's squads for Euro 1996, Euro 2000 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Early life Fowler was born in Toxteth, Liverpool, and brought up in the inner city area of Liverpool. At this time he was known as Robert Ryder, his mother's surname.Fowler, p. 22 He lived in Toxteth at the time of the 1981 Toxteth riots, when he was six years old. As a youngster he supported Everton and regularly attended home and away games. He played regularly for schoolboy team Thorvald, and once scored 16 times in a 26–0 rout.
Club career Liverpool Despite growing up as an Everton fan, Fowler's career began with Liverpool. He signed as a youth team player on leaving school in the summer of 1991, signing professional terms on his 17th birthday, 9 April 1992.
Fowler's first involvement with the Liverpool first team came on 13 January 1993, when he was an unused substitute in an FA Cup third round tie against Bolton Wanderers. In the following close season, Fowler helped the England under-18 team win the 1993 European Championship, before making a scoring first-team debut in Liverpool's 3–1 win in a second round League Cup tie at Fulham on 22 September 1993. Fowler scored all five goals in the second leg at Anfield two weeks later, making him the fourth player in Liverpool's history to score five in a senior fixture. He scored his first league hat-trick against Southampton on 30 October 1993 in only his fifth league game. His very first league goal for the Reds came on 16 October 1993, when an 87th-minute equaliser at home to Oldham Athletic saved the Reds from what could have been one of the biggest Premier League shocks of the season, with Liverpool finally winning 2–1. He scored twice in a 3–3 draw at Tottenham Hotspur on 18 December 1993.
His first 13 games for the club yielded 12 goals, and he was rewarded with an England Under-21 debut against San Marino in November 1993, in which he scored England's opening goal in the third minute. Fowler was unable to sustain his goal-a-game ratio throughout the season, but finished his first season as the club's second top scorer with 18 goals in all competitions, Ian Rush had scored 19. It was, however, considered by many a disappointing season for Liverpool, as they finished eighth in the Premier League without making an impact in any of the major competitions, though the departure of Graeme Souness as manager and the appointment of Roy Evans as successor built hope for a brighter future at Anfield after the disappointment of the first two FA Premier League seasons.
Success and fame During the 1994–95 season Fowler was a constant member of the Liverpool side, playing in all of their 57 competitive matches, including the victory in the 1995 League Cup final, and a match against Arsenal on 28 August 1994 in which he scored what was then the Premier League's fastest hat-trick ever, in four minutes and 33 seconds.Fowler, p. 128. His record stood for 20 years until broken by Sadio Mané on 16 May 2015 for Southampton against Aston Villa, who scored three goals in two minutes and 56 seconds. He scored braces against Aston Villa, Ipswich Town, Chelsea and Norwich City in the league that season. For his goalscoring exploits, Fowler was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year in two consecutive years in 1995 and 1996.
Throughout the mid and late 1990s, Fowler was widely considered to be the most natural finisher playing in England. He scored more than 30 goals for three consecutive seasons, up to 1997. He remains the only player to have scored 30 plus goals in his first three full seasons in England, scoring 98 goals with a total of 116 in just over three years. Fowler's combination with the talisman of the team Steve McManaman was largely described as the reason why Liverpool had become the club known for being the most potent attacking force in England at the time, and Fowler was renowned for scoring goals of all varieties, from every angle and distance, with McManaman describing him as the "greatest goalscorer of all time".
Stan Collymore, Fowler's regular strike partner for two seasons from 1995, said in his autobiography that Fowler was the best player he has ever played alongside. Fowler and Collymore were among the most prolific goal-scoring strike partnerships in England during the 1995–96 season, with £8.4million signing Collymore replacing the veteran Ian Rush as Fowler's regular partner in attack after his arrival in June 1995. In the same season, he scored twice in a 4–3 victory over Newcastle United, a match voted the best of the decade in a Premier League poll. The match helped prevent Newcastle from winning the league, but it was not enough for Liverpool to clinch the title; they finished third while Manchester United were crowned champions. Fowler also played in his first FA Cup final that season, but was on the losing side as Manchester United won 1–0. He had scored four goals against United in the league that season, scoring twice in a 2–2 draw at Old Trafford on 1 October 1995, and twice in a 2–0 win at Anfield on 17 December.
On 14 December 1996, he scored four against Middlesbrough, including his hundredth for Liverpool. This meant he reached a century of goals one game quicker than his first strike partner, Ian Rush, in just 165 games. That year, he also won a UEFA Fair Play award for denying that he had been fouled by Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman at Highbury after a penalty had been given. After unsuccessfully trying to persuade the referee to change his decision about the penalty, Fowler took it tamely and Seaman saved. However, Seaman failed to hold on to the ball and Jason McAteer scored from the rebound. Although many people believe that he deliberately took the penalty kick poorly for reasons of fair play, Fowler said at the time: "As a goalscorer it's part of my job to take it and I wanted to score it. I tried to score. I never missed on purpose. It just happened, it was a bad penalty."
Spice Boys Fowler was part of a group of Liverpool players from the mid-1990s who were dubbed "The Spice Boys" by the press following a series of off-field controversies. The term was subsequently used in a derogatory manner, implying Fowler and colleagues such as Jamie Redknapp, Stan Collymore, David James and Steve McManaman were underachieving playboys. Rob Smyth in The Guardian recalls: "their young side, built around Redknapp, McManaman and Fowler, were perceived by most, including the England manager Terry Venables, to be more promising than [Manchester] United's youngsters", while on the day of their game at Old Trafford in October 1995 Paul Wilson in The Observer wrote: "Liverpool are looking ominously threatening again, with a young team which appears capable of greatness if Roy Evans can keep it together". The "Spice Boys" label had been coined due to rumours that Fowler was dating Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls. Fowler said that his successful career to that point had been "dismissed with contempt by those two tiny words".
Liverpool were top of the Premier League by Christmas 1996, with three defeats in the first half of the season. By the end of January, they had been leapfrogged by Manchester United, who remained top for the rest of the season, while Liverpool finished 4th.
Fowler showed support for the Liverpool dockers' strike during a goal celebration in a UEFA Cup games against SK Brann in March 1997 where he unveiled a t-shirt which incorporated the Calvin Klein "CK" into the word doCKer. He was fined £900 by UEFA and criticised by manager Roy Evans for the gesture.
Fowler's performance in the 1997–98 football season was marred by an anterior cruciate (knee) ligament injury that kept him out of action for half of the season and caused him to miss the 1998 World Cup. During this period of injury, fellow Liverpool striker, Michael Owen rose to prominence, making his debut in 1997. Owen established himself in the Liverpool team in Fowler's absence and played alongside him when Fowler regained his fitness.
In 1999, Fowler was fined £60,000 by his club for bringing the game into disrepute. While celebrating his goal against Liverpool's Merseyside rivals, Everton, Fowler used the white line of the penalty area to simulate cocaine use. Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier stated that this was a Cameroonian grass-eating celebration, learnt from teammate Rigobert Song. Defending himself, Fowler later said this was a response to Everton fans who had insulted him with false accusations of drug abuse. Fowler received a six-match ban from the FA in April 1999, with four matches for this celebration. Fowler also received a two-match suspension for making alleged homophobic gestures towards Chelsea's Graeme Le Saux.
Winning the cup treble The 2000–01 season was Fowler's most successful season. He scored 17 goals, appeared in three finals, and lifted three trophies in a unique cup treble. In the absence of Jamie Redknapp, who was sidelined by injury, Fowler was named as Liverpool captain when he started. However he found himself the third-choice Liverpool striker, with Houllier favouring a forward partnership of Michael Owen and Emile Heskey.
He took part in a fourth-round League Cup hammering of Stoke City, scoring a hat-trick in an 8–0 victory, which was second only to the club's biggest ever win in 1986 – a 10–0 defeat of Fulham. In the League Cup final against Birmingham City, the club's first cup final since 1996, he captained the side and scored with a 25-yard half volley in the 30th minute. Liverpool went on to win the trophy on penalties, with Fowler scoring Liverpool's fifth in the shootout. Fowler picked up the Alan Hardaker Man of the Match award and lifted the trophy.
Fowler's season picked up from there as he scored several important goals including the second in a 2–0 win at Anfield against runaway champions Manchester United and a free kick in the FA Cup semi-final against Wycombe Wanderers. Fowler featured as a substitute in the 2001 FA Cup final against Arsenal coming on as a 77th-minute replacement for Vladimír Šmicer. Liverpool, who were 1–0 down at that point, eventually won the game 2–1 with two late goals from Owen. Fowler raised the trophy along with Sami Hyypiä and Jamie Redknapp.