Gordon 'Sid' Cowans

[T-Dog]

56 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Mixed feelings on this. Fully appreciate you posted this in good faith and with the best of intentions and I respect the sentiment, but he is still alive. Deteriorating of course and I wouldn't want to underplay what he and his family will be going through, it's a very hard transition to make and I wouldn't want to speculate one way or the other over how much life he or anyone else will have left on this spinning orb - but he's not dead. I think a minute of anything before kick-off would be a bit premature and maybe a bit rough for his family and friends, not to mention Sid if he happens to tune in to any coverage of the game. Clear from what Collymore wrote that although he's getting worse, there's still an awareness there. I would say a gesture like this is best kept for a future date when it will be a lot more meaningful and even more sad tbh. Again, without speculating at all.

Totally agree - a minutes silence isn't right, but, given he wore #10 for most of his Villa career, a massive 'there's only one Gordon Cowans' or similar is the best nod IMO.

[colhint]

Maybe as England did to highlight dementia the players could play with no names on the shirt.

[AVFCGB]

I heard this news nearly two weeks ago from a good friend of mine who played with Sid. I got to know Sid quite well through my mate.  Best memory was when I was at a barbecue at Kenny Swain’s place.  Sid was on great form with some brilliant stories from his career!  I won’t repeat them on here except one.  Saunders used to put his arm around Sid and my mate on Monday mornings and ask if they were ok!  Wasn’t to check if they were ok but to see if he could smell alcohol on their breath.  Sid was a class act and I’ll never forget or forgive that dirty animal that done his leg. Sid and McMahon would have been some pairing that season!

[icouldtelltheworld]

Played football with his son when I was younger, and him and my old man got quite friendly (which the old man loved, as you can imagine!) Terrible news - too young to have seen him play for us, but by all accounts a fantastic player and a lovely man

[GingerCollins29]

Too young to remember him in his pomp, but my Dad would regularly tell me about Sid, unbelievable footballer and by the sounds of it, a great man also. Wishing him and his family the best at a horrible time for them all. 

[maqroll]

Damn, he's way too young to be afflicted with dementia. What a tragedy. It's got to be particularly heartbreaking for his family and close friends. Life is just a **** dice roll. 

[avfc1982am]

1 hour ago, NurembergVillan said:

Please don't share publicly on VT who that relates to.

Without full context, nothing good can come of it.

I won't be for this very reason. 

[maqroll]

That's a very nice tribute from Stan. 

[maqroll]

Spot on, @NurembergVillan Exactly how that should be handled. Let it die a quick death. Impossible to know the actual context.

 

 I think there should be more portraits/murals of Villa legends in and around Villa Park, so players (and younger/newer fans) can become more familiar with the faces of Aston Villa heroes.

I regret not having seen Sid play. His stature at the club has been apparent all the while.

When I started following Villa in 1994,  1982 seemed like ancient history. But retrospectively, it was really just around the bend of time. 

So I do feel connected to Sid, through you guys, and I thank you for that. And I wish the absolute best for Sid and his loved ones.

 

 

 

 

[colhint]

For the younger members of our wonderful family and in this I would include all of us. I can't say Sid has been our greatest post war player because that would be unfair to my dad grandad, great grandad, great great grandad and great great great grandad. Such is our history, post war does It mean post WW2, WW1 the Boer war and Rorke's Drift. It means the Crimea and the charge of the light brigade. Because that's how long we've been around, some players and fans were before sevastebol. 

But he's in the top 3

[turnbull]

6 hours ago, AVFCGB said:

I heard this news nearly two weeks ago from a good friend of mine who played with Sid. I got to know Sid quite well through my mate.  Best memory was when I was at a barbecue at Kenny Swain’s place.  Sid was on great form with some brilliant stories from his career!  I won’t repeat them on here except one.  Saunders used to put his arm around Sid and my mate on Monday mornings and ask if they were ok!  Wasn’t to check if they were ok but to see if he could smell alcohol on their breath.  Sid was a class act and I’ll never forget or forgive that dirty animal that done his leg. Sid and McMahon would have been some pairing that season!

I can remember Keith Leonard saying something similar. If Saunders called the players together you could tell the ones that had been drinking, they'd be down tying their bootlaces! 

Bumped into Sid and his son Henry about a year ago now and it was a bit of a shock to see him TBH. I've seen a lot of Dementia and Alzheimer's over the years, both my parents had it and the wife's parents too, but to see someone with it who's only 2 years older than me was an eye opener. 

All the best to him and his family. 

[blandy]

I posted this on the old VT front page in 2002

Quote

Monday, December 02, 2002

Villatalk's "The Greatest Villan" Nomination - Gordon "Sid" Cowans

Why do I nominate “Sid” as the greatest Villan?
Well, Perhaps first I should explain the criteria I would use to determine whether anyone is deserving of Villa “greatness”.

Ability above far the “norm”, Loyalty, Love - both ways “we” have to love them and they have to love the club. Committment too, both on and off the field. Vision, inspiration, perspiration and the ability to affect the course of history too are essentials too.

Sid has all of these in buckets.

Anyone who has seen Sid play will find it impossible to argue that he has footballing ability in spades. He’s the only truly two footed player I can recall seeing. With either foot Sid could pull the ball down from mid-air and stroke, caress even, a pass to a team mate in the best position to recieve the ball. Nearby or 50 yards away. Did he ever put a pass astray? He must have, but I don’t remember any. Perhaps the first indication of greatness - memories of him are all good.

Although born in Durham Sid came to Villa as an apprentice in 1974 at 15 and was part of the bunch that won the youth Cup. An early indication of his talent. He soon made his first team debut, at 17 in 1975 whilst still an apprentice. He became a member of the England youth team, too. Progress continued and he was soon in the Villa first team on a regular basis during the season when we won the League Cup (eventually) at Old Trafford against Everton.

Sid’s progress continued and he became part of the England U-21 side. Then later the B side and in ‘83 the full side, winning 9 caps and scoring against Scotland at Wembley. If it wasn’t for a strange preference for the very inconsistent and underperforming, London based, Hoddle he would have been capped far more often in what was a barren period for Enland’s national side.
Back where his heart lies with Villa things were going just great. He was a pure class act in our midfield and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1979-80. Things got even better for Sid and for Villa, when after a few years of steady improvement the Club won the league in 1980/81. Sid, in this season was perhaps at his very best. He of course continued to make everything look easy, but he seemed to turn into the complete footballer - he would pick the ball up from Allan Evans, or Ken McNaught, turn and lay it off, out wide, or find Shaw or Withe and then suddenly he’d be recieving the ball again and playing through a pass to create a chance to score, or cross. he could tackle, too. Sid is lightly built, like a taller Lee Hendrie, but boy could he tackle. No bottling out, just straight in there, and more often than not winning the ball, and then maybe after a turn and drag through his legs the ball would be with Swain or Morley and off we’d go again.
Like all of Ron Saunders’ team he was very fit and ran all day. Of course the whole side was fantastic - all 14 players used that season could perhaps be nominated. But Sid did more than any of them - he played more games for us - 399 League apps (+15 as sub), scoring 49 goals in 3 spells.
After Ron Saunders left, courtesy of Ron Bendall, Tony Barton suddenly found himself manager of the team he led only a month or so later to become European Champions, 26 May 1982. And Sid, again, was an absolutely crucial part of the side that beat Bayern in Rotterdam (‘scuse me while i pause for a moment..).

The next season we got to the quarter finals, but were knocked out by Juventus in the second leg, after a great game in the first leg, during which Sid scored a diving header in front of the Holte, to get us back into the game. We did win the Super Cup though, and Sid scored a penalty in the 3-0 2nd leg win over Barcelona. He was assaulted by their keeper on retrieving the ball from the net, but just trotted back to the half way line. Far too cool to get involved in any ructions.  

Sid had his leg horribly broken in a pre-season “friendly” in Spain and missed the whole 83/84 season, but back he came, only to be sold to Bari, along with Paul Rideout in 1985. At a time when players wages were Ok, but nothing at all like they are today, Sid had a chance to earn real money and well deserved it was too. 

Fortunately we had an option of first refusal to buy him back. So obviously we did and in 1988 Graham Taylor brought him back and to our delight he was still the same old Sid. Same wiry frame, same talent and desire and there he was reading the runs of Platty and Rambo and controlling the midfield. We went on to finish as runners up before GT went off to manage England. Some turnaround isn’t it? - from relegated to back where we belong in the top division, and finishing second to Liverpool. And for Sid too, as he was called back into the England side under GT the next season. So plenty of evidence of his talents all round - broken leg, recover, move abroad, adapt well, come back to the club he loves, huge influence on our history and back as an international.

Still the tale’s not over, Big Fat Ron sold Sid in ‘91 to Blackburn (where he helped them to promotion). The attraction to VP was still there though and he came back again for the 1993-1994 season. Sold again to Derby he spent his last playing days doing a good job for a number of first division teams - Wolves, Sheffield United (from one of their sites, here’s a neutral testimony on his talent)

“The first thing I noticed about Gordon Cowans was how many times he actually touched the ball in a game....I could not believe a player could receive and pass the ball THAT many times in a game. Also, no matter how many times he touched the ball he nearly always found another United player with his pass... For a man of 37 he buzzed around and passed and moved all afternoon whilst still managing to bring a calming influence to the midfield.

The part of Cowans game that impressed me most...was his ability to come short, receive the ball from either Kelly, Vonk or Ablett, turn and bring someone else into the game. He was the link between defence and midfield/attack....Gorden Cowans took control of midfield and he wasn't scared to bring others into the game, he made other players "tick". It was difficult to hide when Gordon Cowans was playing because he'd give you the ball and make you play and he was always ready to receive a return pass or find space to give you an option once he'd despatched the ball. One of the last things I saw Gordon Cowans do was set Andy Walker up for a marvellous goal at Reading in April. Nothing special, just a simple 15 yard pass and Walker did the rest. BUT that was Gordon Cowans, so simple, yet so effective.”
http://homepages.shu.ac.uk/~cmssa/traww/issue4/misslink.htm,

Sid moved from Shef Utd to Bradford, Stockport and Burnley where he started into coaching, before yes you’ve guessed it, returning back to VP for a 4th time, in ‘98, to coach the youth team. And as with all the other times, he’s done a great job - the youth team won the FA youth cup last season and more than that the players that are coming through all seem properly coached in the footballing skills that Sid is remembered for.

There’s a lot of facts and figures in all that lot above, but in truth the things I remember Sid for are the things on the pitch, the perfect 30 yard pass down the line on a wet wednesday at Stoke, the ball spinning backwards so as not to run out of play on the greasy surface. Perfect. No one else on the pitch could do that. 

So there you have it really. Pure class. All the other people nominated ARE Great Villans, but none has given us as much as Sid, none have had such an influence and continue to do so.

Finally, almost as an afterthought, anyone heard of anything bad about Sid- fights, drink or Drugs, controversy of any kind? Failure? No obviously not. A great player, a winner, a modest man, a nice bloke and one of us.

THE GREATEST VILLAN has to be

First Division Champion, European Champion, League Cup winner, promotion winner, youth Cup winner, youth cup winning coach.

Sid Sid Sid Sid Sid....

 

[Follyfoot]

32 minutes ago, blandy said:

I posted this on the old VT front page in 2002

 

Nailed it

[Pongo's Socks]

I lost my dad to this horrible disease. My thoughts go out to him and his family and friends. 

And what a bloody player!

[Robtaylor200]

25 minutes ago, Pongo's Socks said:

I lost my dad to this horrible disease. My thoughts go out to him and his family and friends. 

And what a bloody player!

I did too mate. Last words with my dad, he thought I was the doctor

But he died in hospital at 92 years old, with his Villa scarf on the bottom of the bed Holte ender in the sky 

[Robtaylor200]

Hope he gets a verse of   Oh my lord on Saturday 

[stewiek2]

12 hours ago, colhint said:

Maybe as England did to highlight dementia the players could play with no names on the shirt.

Or all play with 10 Cowans on the back of their shirts.

Edited March 29 by stewiek2

[Jas10]

 

[choffer]

 

[WallisFrizz]

I think the family are asking that he’s not mourned before he’s actually died. I get that. My mum died from Alzheimer’s last year, it’s an incredibly cruel disease that is not just about memory but functioning and mobility. However, those affected can live contentedly for some years in specialist care homes. My mum only lasted just over a year once she could no longer live at home but many survive much longer.