My Father Keith Bowker
If you've read my autobiography then you'll realise that my one dream in life was to become
a footballer just like my father Keith Bowker. He managed to achieve something that millions of kids
dream about everyday and night and that is playing professional football maybe in the top division
of English football, for some it's just the dream of playing professionally.
If you were brought up in Exeter and you've followed football at all you're more than likely to
have heard the name Keith Bowker.
Some people have mixed reviews on how good he was and I can only listen to those who have seen him
play and from what I've been told, if I was half the player he was I would have made it at a good
level of football. His achievements alone speak for themselves.
He started his career at Birmingham City where they were in the top division of English football.
While he was a youth team player he managed to play in the final of the FA Youth Cup which is the
youth equivalent of the FA Cup. He went on to play 20 games for Birmingham playing right back and
scored 5 goals. To this day Keith Bowker is the number one full back in Birmingham City history
with the best goals to games ratio.
From here he moved onto Exeter City where he was to enjoy 2 spells. In between these he played
for Cambridge United under Ron Atkinson and also had a loan spell at Northampton Town while signed
for Cambridge he then went on to finish his professional career at Torquay United.
On returning to Exeter he managed to get himself into the top ten top goalscorers of all time only to
be recently forced down a place by Darren Rowbotham.
He has had many fond memories of his career, like scoring for Birmingham City in the old 1st division against Bob Wilson of Arsenal or going to Hereford and scoring the perfect hat-trick (right foot, left foot and header) to name a few.
Below is a photo of Keith Bowker in his Birmingham City days alongside big names of the 70's such as Trevor Francis, Garry Pendrey, Gordon Taylor and The Latchford Brothers
He enjoyed a good professional football career and also a good non-league managerial career once he left football. He went onto manage a very successful Taunton Town team winning the league and cup on numerous occasions.
Below you have the record of Keith Bowker's playing career.
League Statistics
FA Cup and League Cup Statistics: