As Robbie Fowler turns 40, his contribution to Liverpool Football Club is still deified by the Anfield faithful.
Yet despite the adoration, it is perhaps fair to say that he didn’t reach the same heights as some of his fellow Liverpool greats. Sure he scored a shedload of goals for the club, but he wasn’t their most prolific son.
He won stuff too – an FA Cup, two League Cups, the UEFA Cup and the European Super Cup is by no means a poor return – but he was born a generation too late to be part of Liverpool’s last league victory, and his two spells at the club fell either side of that famous night in Istanbul.
Despite representing Liverpool through what, in comparison to the seventies and eighties, was one of their more unsuccessful periods, Fowler still earns the nickname of God from the club’s supporters.
So why exactly did a set of football fans that had already been fortunate enough to witness their fair share of world-class footballers feel it was appropriate to elevate Fowler to such a Biblical level?
When Arsenal arrived at Anfield on 28 August 1994, a teenage Fowler had already forged a fearsome reputation, having scored 18 goals in the previous season.
On that sunny afternoon, he tore the Gunners apart to complete the Premier League’s fastest ever hat-trick in just under five minutes, whilst managing to get Martin Tyler quite excited in the process.
This was also the day that, as he recalls in his autobiography, the God tag was first bestowed upon him.
Those five minutes are still regarded as one of his greatest performances in a Liverpool shirt, and it laid the foundations for the goal-laden career that was to follow. Fowler would go on to score at will throughout the mid-to-late nineties.
Despite not being particularly quick or flashy, Fowler was blessed with the instinct of a finisher. He was untouchable on Merseyside, wearing nasal strips and experimenting with peroxide in his hair long before Eminem was on the scene.
Because of his tender years, he struck a chord with the younger generation of Liverpool’s support, who were perhaps not quite old enough to appreciate the club’s earlier victories both at home and abroad.
To those that were old enough to remember past successes, Fowler represented a hope that the club would rise once again to such glorious heights.
Falling out of favour with Gerard Houlier saw Fowler head over the Pennines to Leeds United in 2001. It was never the same after that.
He made his way back home via Manchester City in 2006 for a brief second coming, before playing out the remainder of his career with spells at Blackburn and Cardiff, followed by stints in Australia and Thailand.
Champions League and Premier League medals may have eluded him, but Robbie Fowler’s goals have ensured that his Godly status won’t be forgotten by Liverpool supporters any time soon.
And looking at the quality of some of his strikes, it’s easy to see why…
