Mark Bowen

He was not given the opportunity for a 400th.

At the end of the season, as the club began trying to pick up the pieces after chairman Robert Chase had left the club close to bankruptcy, Bowen was one of the players released in order to reduce the club's outgoings.

Bowen was highly regarded by the Canaries' fans.

Mark Rosslyn Bowen (born 7 December 1963) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer.

He is currently head of football operations at Reading.

A left-back who also played in midfield, Bowen played in the Premier League for Norwich City, West Ham United and Charlton Athletic, having initially played in the top flight with Tottenham Hotspur.

He also played in the Football League with Wigan Athletic and Reading, as well as in Japan with Shimizu S-Pulse.

He was capped 41 times by Wales, scoring 3 goals.

Bowen joined Tottenham Hotspur as an apprentice in 1980, signing his first professional contract in December 1981.

First-team opportunities were limited for him at White Hart Lane and he made only 20 full appearances for the club though he was a member of the successful Tottenham Hotspur Squad of the 1984 UEFA Cup Final.

In the summer of 1987, Norwich City manager Ken Brown paid Spurs £90,000 for Bowen, who was one of a number of players that Norwich signed from Tottenham during that period.

He made his debut for the Canaries on 19 August 1987 in a league match against Southampton at Carrow Road.

Mark Bowen scored his first goal for Norwich City against West Ham United on New Year's Day 1988 in a 4–1 win at home in the first division.

Bowen spent much of his first season at Norwich playing on the left of midfield, but soon, Bowen made the left-back spot his own for the next eight years.

As well as carrying out his defensive duties in a consistent and dependable manner, Bowen was a threat going forward and in the 1989–90 season he finished as the team's joint top league goalscorer.

That season, he also collected the Barry Butler memorial trophy when the supporters voted him Norwich City player of the year.

On 8 April 1989, Bowen was involved in an unusual incident in a match against Coventry City at Highfield Road.

Goalkeeper Bryan Gunn was sent off for arguing incessantly with the referee after he had awarded Coventry a penalty kick.

Bowen went in goal to replace him, only for Coventry's specialist penalty taker Brian Kilcline to miss the spot-kick by putting it wide.

Coventry won 2–1.

Bowen was a key member of the Norwich team that finished third in the inaugural season of the FA Premier League after topping the table for most of that season (1992–93) and qualified for the UEFA Cup as a result.

In the second round of the UEFA Cup run, Bowen scored one of the most famous goals in Norwich City's history when his header put Norwich 2–0 up in the away leg against FC Bayern Munich.

At the end of the 1994–95 season, Norwich were relegated from the Premiership, many thought, due to the continually selling of key players.

The season that followed was one of the worst in the club's history and it was Bowen's last at Carrow Road.

The club was in a desperate financial position and came close to going out of business.

Gary Megson replaced Martin O'Neill as manager halfway through the season and although and ex team mate, he and Bowen did not enjoy a good relationship.

Bowen was critical of what he saw of the club's situation and was dropped from the team by Megson when he had played 399 matches for the club.

After leaving Carrow Road, Bowen signed for West Ham United making his debut appearance on 21 August 1996 in a 1–1 home draw against Coventry City.

He made 20 appearances for The Hammers in all competitions scoring one goal in a 2–0 away win against Nottingham Forest on 21 September 1996.

In January 1997 he signed a lucrative contract for Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan, again on a free transfer, before signing for Charlton Athletic shortly after the start of the 1997–98 season.

He was a member of the Addicks side that won promotion to the Premiership at the end of that season after a memorable play-off final against Sunderland at Wembley ended 4–4.

Charlton won the penalty shoot-out, with Bowen scoring one of the spot-kicks.

Since retiring in 1999, he has worked as assistant and First team coach to former international teammate Mark Hughes with Wales, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City and Southampton.

For example, in 2002, in a survey to mark the club's centenary, Norwich fans voted Bowen the club's best ever left-back and put him in the club's 'all-time XI'.

He is also a member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

He won 35 Welsh caps while at Norwich, meaning that he holds the record for being the club's most capped player.

He was nicknamed 'Taff' because of his Welsh connections.

Norwich won the match 2–1 and remained as the only British club to beat FC Bayern at their own stadium until Chelsea defeated Bayern at the Allianz Arena in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final.

Arsenal later did the same, though they lost their tie on aggregate following defeat at home.

Bowen was head coach and manager of Reading during the 2019–20 season.