Lee Bowyer hooked on coaching at boyhood club Charlton
Former Leeds, Newcastle and one-time England midfielder is back where his playing career started at Charlton as assistant manager to Karl Robinson
LEE BOWYER felt it would be “criminal” if he had not passed on his vast football knowledge.
The former Leeds, Newcastle and one-time England midfielder is back where his playing career started at Charlton as assistant manager to Karl Robinson.
And while he is unsure as yet whether he wants to pursue a managerial career long term, or return his lakes in France for a quiet retirement of his beloved fishing, the 40-year-old is relishing improving his young Addicks.
Bowyer told SunSport: “I was very fortunate. I started here so it’s a bit of a fairytale coming back.
“I played with the top players and against the top players during my era. The managers I had, there were five or six international managers.
“It would be criminal really if I didn’t pass on my knowledge. I learnt a hell of a lot from all different people. For me to keep that myself is the wrong thing to do.”
Paul Jewell suggested Bowyer take up a coaching role when the wideman was at Ipswich, but Bowyer preferred to go quietly into the sunset and leave football behind.
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That changed when old Leeds pal Harry Kewell invited him to help out at Watford Under-21s in 2015 for a brief spell.
That led to a return to Charlton last season where he got the coaching bug with a role helping out the midfielders before his appointment as Robinson’s No2 in the summer.
Perhaps Bowyer’s biggest strength is his innate will to win.
Though he insists Crawley chief Kewell takes competitiveness to another extreme, commenting: “You can be playing a computer game against Harry and he has to win.”
Bowyer’s desire has come in handy for Robinson this season, adding to the team’s belief they can beat anyone in League One.
But it means Robinson is given no leeway on the fairway just for being the boss when the pair play their regular rounds of golf!
Bowyer revealed: “Karl is quite superstitious. We were on a good unbeaten run and we were playing golf every Friday.
“No matter where we were going, up and down the country, we would stop somewhere on the way to play golf.
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“I don’t let my kids win, so I would never let Karl win!”
You can tell Bowyer is enjoying his role moulding the players of today with the experience he gathered from the star players and managers of yesteryear, from Robbie Fowler to Alan Shearer, George Graham to Sir Bobby Robson.
He had played in training the day we spoke due to an injury to a defender and still felt he had the touch, if not the pace. Though it was nothing compared to working under Gianfranco Zola.
The ex-West Ham ace said: “Zola was unreal. His first training session, he chipped Rob Green. He got it on the half-turn and just dinked it to the far post.
“We were all looking at him thinking ‘Bloody hell, you’re better than us, you should be playing ahead of us!’
“It’s not like I’m telling them rubbish. I played to a very high standard so what I’m telling them is the truth. It works, because I’ve seen it work and made it work, as a player.
“Tarique Fosu, the little winger. He kept coming square to receive the ball, but he couldn’t see what was going on behind him. If he comes on the side, he can see what’s going on.
“It’s a small detail, but now he becomes a much better player. And that’s what football is, small things that make you a better player than others.”
Defender Ezri Konsa is perhaps Charlton’s most exciting prospect right now, and Bowyer sees similarities between the 19-year-old and Rio Ferdinand.
The No2 added: “He’s unbelievable. He won’t be here forever. He’ll be playing Premier League soon.
“He’s way ahead of everybody else in the way he reads the game.
“On Saturday, quite late on, the ball broke in our box behind our centre-half and he came and swept it up. That’s what Rio always used to do. He’s always one step ahead.
“At times he takes liberties because he’s too good. And I tell him all the time that he can’t do that.
“He won’t be able to do that at the top because he’ll get punished. But he will learn, like John Stones has.”
Charlton finally seem in a better place after years of misery and fan protests against absent owner Roland Duchatelet.
A win at the Valley over Wimbledon tomorrow can take the Addicks third.
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Bowyer added: “The club is in a very good place at the moment. We’ve recruited excellent players in the summer.
“I watched the end of last season and this season and there’s no comparison. The fans seem happy, getting behind the team. They want to see good football and see their team win, and that’s what’s happening.
“Football isn’t difficult. If you’re winning and you’re playing well, your fans will be behind you, no matter what club.”
Having one of their own assisting in the dugout probably helps too.