Mark Bowen: How Man City Signed Robinho & Kompany to Handling Joey Barton

Today we speak to a man who has been in and around football for over 40 years. Mark Bowen played over 400 games at the top of English football for the likes of Tottenham, Norwich and West Ham, before transitioning into management as both a head coach and assistant. For much of his management career he has partnered with Mark Hughes, acting as his assistant manager at Man City, Stoke, Southampton, Fulham and QPR. Most recently Mark has spent a number of years with Reading, and is currently going through a delicate process around his exit from the club; a conversation for another time. However this is something that we have wanted to do for a long time. Quite a lot of our shows fall into the more serious ‘business of sport’ category. Having got to know Mark, this is someone that has seen the inner workings of clubs transacting at the highest level, and has some incredible stories to tell off the back of it. From being at Man City when they were bought by Sheik Mansour and the Abu Dhabi group to being in the opposing dugout for QPR when Aguero scored THAT goal, this played to the kid in both of us while emphasising the fact that the business of football isn’t always a smooth process.

On today’s show we discuss:

1. The birth of the new Man City:

- Which players did Sheik Mansour want to sign as a statement transfer when he bought the club?

- How do you integrate a load of new players to form a cohesive team when the money is flowing and budget are virtually endless.

- The incredible transfer story of signing both Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta after the sale of one key player, and the conversation he had to have with Kompany when he arrived.

- Lionel Messi for £35m? How the club accidentally bit for one of the greatest players ever.

- Why was Mark Hughes fired by the club with the club flying in both the league and cups, and what happens to managers when they get that call?

2. Tales from Stoke, Southampton, and QPR:

- Turning Stoke into a top performing Premier League club who were able to attract top European talent like Bojan and Shaqiri.

- Overseeing a QPR team struggling for survival in the League with Joey Barton as captain and Tony Fernandes as owner.

- The Man City title win story…from the QPR dugout: what does Mark attribute that memorable Aguero moment to?

- Moving to Southampton and the challenge of managing top teams when there is an agreement to sell players you want to keep.

3. Football vs Money:

- Harry Redknapp’s reaction to Mark leaving West Ham to sign for a Japanese club…and the number that persuaded him the offer was too good to turn down.

- How to manage your personal life in football when the team takes you away from your family and home. Is it worth it?

- Is it always about the money, or do players need to be incentivised by other things in and around clubs?

- Where was Mark at his happiest both as a player and a manager?