Gordon Cowans
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gordon Sidney Cowans | ||
| Date of birth | 27 October 1958 | ||
| Place of birth | West Cornforth, County Durham, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1985 | Aston Villa | 286 | (42) |
| 1985–1988 | A.S. Bari | 94 | (3) |
| 1988–1991 | Aston Villa | 117 | (7) |
| 1991–1993 | Blackburn Rovers | 50 | (2) |
| 1993–1994 | Aston Villa | 11 | (0) |
| 1994 | Derby County | 36 | (0) |
| 1994–1995 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 37 | (0) |
| 1995–1996 | Sheffield United | 21 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Bradford City | 25 | (0) |
| 1997 | 7 | (0) | |
| 1997 | Burnley | 6 | (0) |
| Total | 690 | (54) | |
| National team | |||
| 1979–1980 | England U21 | 5 | (0) |
| 1980–1990 | England B | 2 | (0) |
| 1983–1990 | England | 10 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1997–1998 | Burnley (Reserves Team Coach) | ||
| 1998–2016 | Aston Villa (First Team & Academy Coach) | ||
| 2014 | Aston Villa (assistant manager) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Gordon Sidney Cowans (born 27 October 1958 in West Cornforth, County Durham) is an English retired football player and coach.
Cowans started his career at Aston Villa as an apprentice in 1974, and signed as a professional in 1976. During his time at Aston Villa, he won the League Cup, the League Championship, the European Cup and the European Super Cup.
Cowans left Aston Villa for the first time in 1985, signing for Bari. He then returned to Aston Villa in 1988 and left again in 1991 moving to Blackburn Rovers. When he left Blackburn he went back to Aston Villa, before moving to Derby County, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sheffield United, Bradford City, and finally Burnley.
He was also capped 10 times by England at international level scoring two goals, against Scotland and Egypt. Cowans is consistently rated by Villa fans as one of their 3 best ever players.
Cowans has returned once again to Aston Villa in a coaching role, first coaching in their youth academy before becoming first team coach and more recently taking on the role of reserve team manager after Kevin MacDonald left under Paul Lambert's new regime.
Although born in County Durham, Cowans came to Villa as an apprentice in 1974 at 15, and was part of the talented youth team that won the FA Youth Cup, an early indication of his talent. He soon made his first team debut, on 7 February 1976 as a substitute aged 17 whilst still an apprentice. At this time, he became a member of the England youth team. Progress continued and he was soon a regular in the Villa first team during the season Villa won the League Cup against Everton, and in 1979 he was voted PFA Young Player of the Year. In the 1980–81 season, Cowans won the league with Villa, and during the following season, the European Cup, on 26 May 1982. Cowans then broke his leg during a pre-season friendly in Spain and missed the whole 1983–84 season; upon regaining full fitness he was sold to Bari in 1985 for a fee of £250,000.
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