Gordon Cowans

[John Cutsbushes]

Sadly in a nursing home with dementia aged 65
What a player, only 21 games for us, but had real quality in everything he did
Think he was a Kendall signing

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Sadly in a nursing home with dementia aged 65
What a player, only 21 games for us, but had real quality in everything he did
Hhink he was a Kendall signing

Very sad news. He was one of those signings of older players who showed class in every thing they did.

 

[Digs blade]

Fantastic player, didn’t realise how good until he came to us back end of his career.
Wish dementia would get to fuck

 

[wavy-blade]

Class player , god knows where we all end up , I would rather be dead then have that horrible disease , best wishes to him and his family .

 

[Yewsman]

So remember first time watching him and Patterson v Arsenal in the League Cup at BDTBL. They were sensational closing down snapping at their players in midfield. Good Arsenal team. Beat them 1-0. Think Veart scored from a Mitch Ward cross?

 

[mattbianco1]

Awful. Experienced it too close to home and unfortunately as its hereditary in the family, no doubt I'll see it again.

It's such a cruel illness.

 

[stringjunior]

Dementia can get to fuck.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Really good player for us.

I listened to the Undr the Cosh with Alan Wright on earlier and he reminded me of some of the older players who were excellent for us during the 1990’s and 2000’s.

I can think of Cowans, McCall, Speed, McGrath, Wright, Marker, Ehiogu. Then to a lesser extent Creswell, Shipperley, Saunders, Peschsolido.

 

[raimond]

Really good player for us.

I listened to the Undr the Cosh with Alan Wright on earlier and he reminded me of some of the older players who were excellent for us during the 1990’s and 2000’s.

I can think of Cowans, McCall, Speed, McGrath, Wright, Marker, Ehiogu. Then to a lesser extent Creswell, Shipperley, Saunders, Peschsolido.

Aye but in fairness I think Nicky Marker looked like that from being about 19.

 

[derbysufc]

Absolute awful news.
I remember thinking wtf why have we signed him but what a player he was . The man could read a game and we played brilliant attacking football .
In an era we signed phil Thompson, Peter withe , Ken mcnaught,
Cowans was the best and Don Hutchinson.
I sincerely wish the bloke all the best and hope he has good family and friends around him. There's no coming back from dementia .would love sheffutd to invite him for a game see how much he was respected by blades fans .

 

[Super Furry Blades]

Absolute awful news.
I remember thinking wtf why have we signed him but what a player he was . The man could read a game and we played brilliant attacking football .
In an era we signed phil Thompson, Peter withe , Ken mcnaught,
Cowans was the best and Don Hutchinson.
I sincerely wish the bloke all the best and hope he has good family and friends around him. There's no coming back from dementia .would love sheffutd to invite him for a game see how much he was respected by blades fans .

Different era mate , Peter Withe signed in 85 Gordon Cowens a full ten years later in 1995
Poterfield signed Withe along with the others mentioned , it was like Dad's Army
Good luck Gordon horrendous disease.

 

[Weasel]

Yes, Cowans was a Kendall signing. He had the balance right in the middle of the park as he had Patterson as the ratter, Hutchison as the elegant more attack minded player, and Cowans as the experienced steady eddie who dictated the tempo of the game.

Gordon 'Sid' Cowans was very much like Stuart McCall in how they played for us at the latter end of their careers. They were both pretty much immobile as far as getting up and down the pitch as they basically just sat in the middle centre circle and dictated play from there. Importantly, they both knew the importance of keeping hold the ball for the team and would keep things simple at times so that we didn't just cough up possession after winning it back. The current team should take note.

Mark of a good player who used their experience to read the game and break up the oppositions attacks whilst feeding balls through for our attackers. They didn't need to run around like demented idiots, they knew their game inside out and had the games by the scruff of the neck by simply having the quality, experience and know how. Paul McGrath was similar in that he made the game look easy but obviously he was sat in the back line mopping all up with ease rather than the centre circle. Fantastic football brains on all of them as they got older.

I wish GC all the best with his battle against dementia.

 

[Weasel]

Just to make a point about Paul McGrath. I remember watching a game at the Lane as the opposition broke deep in injury time as we were leading by 1. Their winger was steaming down their left and running to the by-line at the kop end with the intention of pulling it back to a teammate for a simple tap in. The United defenders were in full panic mode as the opposition swamped into the box and it was a general melee. Instead of retreating with the rest of the headless pack, I saw McGrath just check his run, and turn back towards a position that seemed a little strange.... The ball was pulled back from the by-line straight into the feet of McGrath who nonchalantly picked up the ball, ran with it and played it out to safety. The whistle went about 30 seconds later. He had 'read' the situation perfectly and had the experience to know where he should be whilst most just ran back in a blind panic. Experience and quality. Cowans was similar.

 

[JohnDenver]

As a nipper I knew nothing but Bassett’s teams. No slight on them whatsoever (stand down, Pinchy), but Cowans heralded my first exposure to a different and more beautiful model of football.

All the best to Mr Cowans and family.

 

[Karaoke Blade]

I had the pleasure of briefly chatting with Gordon in Hong Kong in 2007 when he was out there with the Villa youngsters. Lovely bloke, and he said he enjoyed his time with the Blades. As has already been said, he was pure class on the pitch in his brief spell with us. Best wishes to him and his family.

 

[djbaldken]

As mentioned by someone earlier, my first memory of him was the Arsenal cup match.
A ball was swung into our box. It came to Cowans who had a couple of Arsenal attackers around him. Normally in such situations the ball would have been hoofed out into row Z on the John Street block.
Not Cowans though.
He controlled it on the outside of his foot. Dropped a shoulder, which left the two Arsenal players adrift of him, and then calmly floated a pass out to the Blades player on the wing. Danger over just like that.
I just remember thinking, ' wow, we 've got some player here'

Awful times ahead for him and his family. Best wishes to all concerned.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

What an absolute class act Cowans was , very classy midfielder , he absolutely ran the show in the 1-0 win over Arsenal in the cup ( Carl Veart goal ) . Was worth the entrance money alone to watch him , had a great partnership with Patterson . Very sad news indeed to hear that news , lost my mother to Alzheimer’s , fucking awful illness watching a once proud person disappear

 

[Broomhall Blade]

As a nipper I knew nothing but Bassett’s teams. No slight on them whatsoever (stand down, Pinchy), but Cowans heralded my first exposure to a different and more beautiful model of football.

All the best to Mr Cowans and family.

Totally agreed.
Something we have not seen enough of by Sheffield United.

 

[Rochdaleblade]

Really good player for us.

I listened to the Undr the Cosh with Alan Wright on earlier and he reminded me of some of the older players who were excellent for us during the 1990’s and 2000’s.

I can think of Cowans, McCall, Speed, McGrath, Wright, Marker, Ehiogu. Then to a lesser extent Creswell, Shipperley, Saunders, Peschsolido.

You missed out Chief!

 

[Sheffsteel]

Agree with the other comments, never realised how good Cowans and McGrath were.

McGrath only played a few games
for us but you could tell he’d previously been world class. He was slow when playing for us but incredibly he always got the ball before their player because he could small danger and like a psychic knew where the ball would be passed before it happened. Really amazing to watch.

Cowans was another class act. He never seemed to leave the centre circle area and he was the main reason we played an attractive passing style under Kendal. Cowans had a brilliant first touch, so our players could get out of danger passing to him even when he was semi marked up, he was so calm and composed when players tried to close him down and he’d constantly play quick short passes on the floor to feet. His game was pass and move, pass and move. Like Paul Coutts at his best.

 

[sitwell]

We seemed to become Villas B team at one bit, no wonder they won the European cup they had some players in their prime.
Cowans included.

 

[Fatlad666]

Very sad news, never let us down and as we all say, once a blade always a blade.

 

[The Crab]

I’m old enough to remember Gordon in his prime, and he still had plenty in his locker when he came to us.

My love to him and his family and my thanks to a bloody good player