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Gary Owers

Gary Owers
Personal information
Full name Gary Owers[1]
Date of birth (1968-10-03) 3 October 1968 (age 56)[1]
Place of birth Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Sunderland
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1994 Sunderland 320 (25)
1994–1998 Bristol City 130 (9)
1998–2002 Notts County 154 (12)
2002–2003 Forest Green Rovers 50 (1)
2003–2005 Bath City 67 (6)
2005–2006 Forest Green Rovers 0 (0)
2006–2007 Weston-super-Mare
2007 Minehead
2020 AFC Sodbury
Total 697 (53)
Managerial career
2003–2005 Bath City
2005–2006 Forest Green Rovers
2007 Weston-super-Mare
2009–2011 Aldershot Town (assistant manager)
2012–2014 Plymouth Argyle (assistant manager)
2015 Gateshead (assistant manager)
2016–2017 Bath City
2017–2018 Torquay United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gary Owers (born 3 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer, and football manager. He most recently managed Torquay United. He was previously manager of Bath City and Forest Green Rovers as well as the assistant manager at Aldershot Town, Plymouth Argyle and Gateshead.

Career

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne,[1] Owers began his career with Sunderland, making his debut in 1986 and playing in the 1992 FA Cup Final, in which Sunderland lost to Liverpool. In December 1994 Owers moved to Bristol City for a fee of £250,000, and he spent four years there, before moving to Sam Allardyce's Notts County in the summer of 1998. In 2000 Owers signed a new two-year deal with Notts County.[3] He was released by Notts County at the end of the 2001–02 season and was signed by Nigel Spink, the manager of Forest Green Rovers in August 2002.[4]

Owers became player-coach at Bath City in October 2003.[5] He was appointed as Bath's new manager the following month,[6] and led them to sixth place in the Southern League Premier Division in 2005–06, missing out on the play-offs on goal difference.

Owers replaced Alan Lewer as manager of Forest Green Rovers on 25 May 2005[7] after they had been relegated from the Conference National. However, they got a surprise reprieve as Northwich Victoria's ground failed to meet division rules, meaning they were relegated with Forest Green taking their place.

In his first season in charge of Forest Green, where he managed the club's first ever full-time professional squad, he led the team to 19th place in the Conference avoiding relegation on the last day of the season with a 2–0 victory over Stevenage Borough.[8] However, after a disappointing start to the 2006–07 season, he left the club alongside assistant manager Shaun Taylor on 27 August 2006.[9]

On 11 November 2009 Aldershot Town Manager Kevin Dillon, confirmed that Owers was to be his new Assistant Manager at Aldershot Town.Under Dillon and Owers Shots finished in their highest ever league position ( 6th ) before losing to Rotherham in the play-off semi-final.

In June 2011 Owers was appointed as a scout at former club Bristol City under manager Keith Millen. He was promoted to first team coach after the arrival of Derek McInnes.

In June 2012 Owers joined the coaching staff at Plymouth Argyle primarily to work with the youth team players under newly appointed Academy Manager Kevin Hodges. In January 2013 Owers was promoted from Argyle's youth set-up to begin working with the first team by newly appointed manager John Sheridan.[10]

In April 2014 he left Plymouth Argyle, with his role being taken up by Sean McCarthy and player Paul Wotton.[11] In March 2015, he was confirmed Head of Recruitment at SPFL Premiership side Motherwell.[12] However, only three months later in June 2015 he was named as assistant manager to Malcolm Crosby at National League club Gateshead[13] but left the club in November 2015 following the sacking of Crosby.[14]

On 4 February 2016, he returned to Twerton Park for a second spell as manager of Bath City.[15]

On 13 September 2017, Owers left his position at Bath City to accept the role of head coach at National League club Torquay United.[16]

On 25 October 2017, after Torquay achieved a 1–0 away win at Ebbsfleet United, courtesy of a Jamie Reid special, Gary Owers claimed of Torquay United "we're not rubbish anymore".[17] However a number of poor performances and results ensued. Under Owers Torquay were relegated from the National League with 2 games to spare, finishing the season 7 points from safety.[18] A poor start to Torquay's following season saw Owers step down from his role one day shy of a year in charge.[19]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 28 April 2017
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref.
P W D L Win %
Forest Green Rovers 25 May 2005 27 August 2006 50 10 14 26 020.0 [7][9][20]
Bath City 4 February 2016 13 September 2017 76 32 18 26 042.1 [15][16][21]
Torquay United 13 September 2017 12 September 2018 38 10 9 19 026.3 [16][22]
Total 164 52 41 71 031.7

References

  1. ^ a b c "Gary Owers". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ^ "New deal for Owers". BBC Sport. 12 October 2000.
  4. ^ "Forest Green sign Owers". Non League Daily. Baltic Publications. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  5. ^ Bath appoint Owers as player-coach[usurped]
  6. ^ Bath go for Owers[usurped]
  7. ^ a b "Owers is new Forest Green manager". BBC Sport. 25 May 2005. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Forest Green 2–0 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 29 April 2006.
  9. ^ a b "Manager Owers leaves Forest Green". BBC Sport. 27 August 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  10. ^ "Argyle boss promotes coach Owers". BBC Sport.
  11. ^ "Gary Owers leaves role as Plymouth Argyle first-team coach". BBC Sport. 28 April 2014.
  12. ^ "Gary Owers is Head of Recruitment". Motherwell F.C. 9 March 2015.
  13. ^ "Former Forest Green boss Gary Owers set to swap Motherwell for Gateshead". Stroud News & Journal. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Gateshead: Tynesiders sack manager Malcolm Crosby". BBC Sport. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  15. ^ a b "Bath City: Gary Owers makes a return as Romans boss". Bath Chronicle. 4 February 2016. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016.
  16. ^ a b c "Gary Owers: Torquay United appoint Bath City manager as head coach". BBC Sport. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Torquay are 'not rubbish anymore'". BBC Sport.
  18. ^ "Angry Torquay United fans turns on Gary Owers again after defeat". 8 September 2018.
  19. ^ "Head Coach Gary Owers Steps Down At Torquay United". Torquay United Official Website. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  20. ^ "Forest Green: Results/matches: 2005/06". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Bath City FC: Results". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  22. ^ "Managers: Gary Owers". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 May 2018.