Background
He had only played 12 times for Northampton before catching the eye of Pat Whittaker, son of Arsenal manager Tom Whittaker.
He had only played 12 times for Northampton before catching the eye of Pat Whittaker, son of Arsenal manager Tom Whittaker.
Born in Maesteg, Bowen first played for Northampton Town. He was duly signed by Arsenal in the summer of 1950 as an understudy to Joe Mercer at wing half. He made his debut against Wolves on 24 March 1951, but only made a handful of appearances between 1951 and 1954, when Mercer finally retired due to injury.
In 1954-1955 Bowen became a regular in the Arsenal side, and would continue to be for the rest of the decade.
In the meantime, Bowen had also made his debut for Wales, in a friendly against Yugoslavia in September 1954. Along with goalkeeper Jack Kelsey, Bowen was the first Arsenal player to play in a World Cup.
In all he played 162 matches for the club, scoring twice. In 1959, Bowen returned to Northampton Town as player-manager.
Bowen would manage the Cobblers for eight years, and became known as a canny manager who signed quality players despite a tight budget.
He steered Northampton from the Fourth Division to the First in just five seasons. However, the club spent only one season (1965-1966) at the top, before being relegated. Bowen left Northampton in 1967, after a second successive relegation, though he rejoined the club for a second stint as manager between 1969 and 1972, by which time they had returned to the Fourth Division.
He presided over the club"s famous 8–2 FA Cup defeat at the hands of Manchester United, in which George Best scored six times.
In the meantime, he had also been manager of Wales between 1964 and 1974, although the side never did reach the heights it had when he was a player. Wales however did gain a 1-1 draw away to England in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, a result that would prove costly to England.
Bowen continued to stay with Northampton, serving as general manager, secretary and finally as a club director before retiring. He also had a sideline in journalism and bookmaking during his managerial career and was a summariser for Independent Television alongside commentator Hugh Johns for their coverage of the 1966 World Cup final.