Mike Stowell

Having played junior football for Kirkham Juniors, as a centre half, Stowell gained his first experience of professional football with a trial for Preston North End, where he played in their reserves and was offered a one-year contract. He turned this down though as the club were then sat bottom of the Third Division and he was entering his final year's apprenticeship with BT in Preston, the town in which he was raised.

While playing for North West Counties League side Leyland Motors, he was offered a trial at First Division side Everton and subsequently offered a two and a half-year contract by manager Howard Kendall. He signed in December 1985 for what turned out to be a five-year stay at Goodison Park. However, he was unable to force his way past Neville Southall into the first team and never made a league appearance, instead playing in the Central Reserve league. His sole outing for the "Toffees" came under the stewardship of Colin Harvey in a Full Members Cup tie against Millwall on 20 December 1988, in which he kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory.

The lack of first-team opportunities at Everton saw Stowell experiencing a string of loan moves to lower league sides. In September 1987 he was loaned to Third Division Chester City, making his league debut in a 4–1 win over Aldershot on 5 September 1987. He made 15 further appearances for Harry McNally's "Seals", before joining Third Division rivals York City for a brief loan spell in December 1987. He played six league games under manager Bobby Saxton at Bootham Crescent. In February 1988, he joined Second Division club Manchester City on loan, playing 14 league and one FA Cup game for the club during the latter half of the 1988–89 season. "Citizens" manager Mel Machin allowed goalkeeper Eric Nixon to leave Maine Road on loan after securing Stowell's services for the rest of the campaign.[3]

He joined Port Vale in a two-month loan deal in October 1988 as John Rudge needed cover for the injured Mark Grew. The "Valiants" struggled without their regular custodian, conceding eight goals in Stowell's first three appearances, before he settled into his time at Vale Park and went unbeaten in the remainder of his league appearances.[4] Wolverhampton Wanderers required his services from March 1989 to the end of the 1988–89 season. He kept goal in seven league games as Wolves ended up as Third Division champions. His final loan spell was with Preston North End in February 1990, and he played just the two Third Division games at Deepdale.

Stowell's two-month loan spell at Wolverhampton in the spring 1989 made a good impression on manager Graham Turner, who took him to Molineux on a permanent basis in July 1990 for a fee of £275,000. He was named as Player of the Year for the 1990–91 season, ahead of fan favourite Steve Bull, after making a total of 44 appearances in his debut season.[5] He featured 51 times in the 1991–92 campaign, though was limited to 29 appearances in the 1992–93 season, with back-up goalkeeper Paul Jones and loanee Dave Beasant filling in for the remainder. He managed to become an ever=present throughout 1993–94 however, playing 55 matches as Wolves posted a fifth successive mid-table finish in the Second Division. They improved to a fourth-place finish under new manager Graham Taylor in 1994–95, Stowell featuring 45 times, before being eliminated from the play-offs after losing the semi-finals 3–2 on aggregate to Bolton Wanderers. He played 46 games as Wolves declined in the 1995–96 season, causing Taylor to leave the club and be replaced by Mark McGhee. Stowell then featured 51 times in the 1996–97 campaign, with Wolves reaching third but again failing at the play-off semi-finals with a 4–3 aggregate defeat to Crystal Palace.

Though they only finished ninth in 1997–98, they did reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup; Stowell was on the bench in the semi-final, Dutchman Hans Segers was between the posts as Wolves lost 1–0 to Arsenal at Villa Park.[6] Stowell made 52 appearances in the 1998–99 campaign as Wolves posted a seventh-place finish under new boss Colin Lee. However he eventually lost his first team place to Michael Oakes, who joined the club in October 1999, limiting Stowell to 20 appearances in the 1999–2000 season. He was given a testimonial match against Aston Villa in July 2000,[7] and the following summer was released by the Midlanders.[8] He was given a farewell appearance by Dave Jones as a substitute on the last day of the 2000–01 season, against Queens Park Rangers.[9] He made a total of 441 league and cup appearances in his 11 year stay at Wolves and for the final three years he also worked as a goalkeeping coach at the club's youth academy.[10]

Stowell joined Second Division side Bristol City on a free transfer in July 2001, having chosen them over Wrexham.[11][12] He made 28 appearances for Danny Wilson's "Robins" throughout the 2001–02 campaign. Thereafter he was a reserve and part-time goalkeeping coach at Ashton Gate, and was an unused substitute at the Millennium Stadium in both the 2003 Football League Trophy final victory over Carlisle United and the 2004 play-off final defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.[10][13][14] He retired in May 2005, and turned down the offer of becoming an official goalkeeping coach at the club,[15] having already found employment at Leicester City.

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