Bowen: Spurs always close to my heart

Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) Football Club is located in North London. The club is also known as Spurs. Tottenham's home ground is White Hart Lane. The club motto is Audere est Facere (To dare is to do).

Blackburn's assistant manager Mark Bowen says he hasn't lost his love for Spurs after progressing through the junior ranks at the club in the early 1980s.

Bowen will be alongside Mark Hughes as we take on Rovers in the Barclays Premiership at Ewood Park on Saturday.

But, as the former Welsh international explains, it went so well for him at Carrow Road that the role Spurs had in his development has almost been forgotten!

Bowen was a key man as Norwich City finished fourth in the old Division One in 1989 and then third in the first year of the Premiership in 1993.

"Understandably, people associate me with Norwich because of the number of games I played for the Canaries, but Tottenham was where I started and they will always be near my heart," he told Rovers' official website this week.

"I only played about 30 first team games for them, but I spent seven years there from leaving school at 16 years old. They really brought kids up the right way and taught them how to play.

"As a youngster growing up there, training and mixing with the likes of Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle and Steve Perryman, it was a fantastic education for any young professional.

"I always look out for Spurs results and I am really looking forward to the game on Saturday. You know my feelings about this particular result, though!"

With thanks to www.rovers.co.uk