ISL newcomers East Bengal FC have appointed former Liverpool FC forward Robbie Fowler as their manager on a two-year deal.
Nicknamed “God” by the Anfield faithful, Robbie was born in Liverpool, joined the Liverpool FC youth setup at the age of nine, signed a pro contract at the age of 17 and went onto become a prolific goalscorer and club legend for The Reds.
After spending almost a decade at Liverpool FC, the striker turned up for Premier League clubs such as Leeds United, Manchester City and overall scored a staggering 162 goals in 379 Premier League appearances. During his time in England, he picked up the winners’ medal for the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League runners up medal. For the England National Team, Robbie won a total of 26 caps.
Fowler’s managerial career kicked off at Thai outfit Muangthong United FC in 2011. He joined the club initially as a player and then went on to take up the role of a player-manager. After exiting the club, he briefly took up a coaching role at the Liverpool FC Academy. Then in the 2019-20 season, Fowler was appointed manager at A-League side Brisbane Roar – he already had experience as a player in Australia when he featured for North Queensland Fury and Perth Glory during the latter stages of his playing career.
Robbie’s stint with Brisbane Roar was fairly decent – the team was placed fourth in the league when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted play – however Fowler left to England and did not come back when the league resumed leading to a fair bit of animosity between club and manager.
For ISL newcomers East Bengal, in Fowler, although a big name/profile, as a manager Robbie could be considered a novice especially when compared to the rest of the coaches in the ISL.
Fowler will be joined by assistant Anthony Grant, Terence McPhillips as set piece coach, goalkeeping coach Robert Mimms, sports scientist Jack Inman, physio Michael Harding and the analyst will be Joseph Walmsley. The Indian assistant coach will be former Indian international Renedy Singh. [Source: Marcus]
We have signed the contract last night (Thursday) and Robbie Fowler is expected to join the side directly in Goa within a week.
As of now, we have offered him a two-year contract which could be extended in due course.
It (East Bengal’s name under the new investors) could be Sporting Club East Bengal or Shree Cement East Bengal as per your interpretation.
We as a corporate group cannot prefix ‘Shree Cement’ to East Bengal, so we have decided the team as “SCEB.”
H. M. Bangur, Managing Director, Shree Cement to PTI
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