Charlton Athletic Born in
Canning Town, London, Bowyer played for youth team
Senrab He turned professional in April 1994. He went on to become a first-team regular, making 58 appearances for Charlton and scoring 14 goals.
Leeds United In 1996, he was signed by
Leeds United manager
Howard Wilkinson for £2.8 million, which was a record for a British teenager. Later the same year, Bowyer was convicted of
affray and fined £4,500 following an incident in a
McDonald's restaurant in London in which
CCTV footage showed Bowyer throwing chairs and racially abusing a staff member of Asian origin. Initially, Bowyer was kept out of Leeds' first team by
Alfie Haaland and
David Hopkin; he eventually replaced Hopkin in the
1998–99 season, and from then on was a first-team regular. He was a key player in
David O'Leary's Leeds side that qualified for the
Champions League in
1999–2000, and which reached the semi-finals of the
UEFA Cup in 2000 and the Champions League in 2001. In the Champions League run he scored crucial goals against
A.C. Milan,
Barcelona and
Anderlecht. He was voted the Leeds player of the year by supporters in both 1998–99 Following an incident near a Leeds nightclub in January 2000, in which an Asian student suffered severe injuries, Bowyer and teammate
Jonathan Woodgate were charged with causing
grievous bodily harm with intent and affray. An initial trial at
Kingston upon Hull Crown Court collapsed in April 2001 after an article in a Sunday newspaper, and following a second trial at the same venue which ended in December 2001, Bowyer was cleared of both charges while Woodgate was convicted of affray and sentenced to
community service. Bowyer was generally recognised as playing some of the finest football of his career during this period and would often go straight from court to play for Leeds. In 2005, the player agreed a £170,000 out-of-court settlement of a civil action for damages brought by the victim and his brother, who had been less seriously hurt in the assault. After Bowyer's acquittal, Leeds fined him four weeks' wages for a breach of the club's code of conduct. Despite having had the backing of the club during the trial and the club paying his extensive legal fees, Bowyer took exception to the fine and was placed on the transfer list. The dispute was later settled and Bowyer removed from the transfer list, though he returned to it at the end of the season after turning down a new five-year contract. A £9 million fee was agreed for a move to
Liverpool, which fell through with manager
Gérard Houllier not convinced the player had the "hunger or desire" to play for the club. In January 2003, Bowyer signed for
West Ham United. He had made 265 appearances for Leeds in all competitions, scoring 55 goals. The transfer was not popular with a section of West Ham supporters who questioned Bowyer's attitude towards racism. A protest against his signing was held outside
Upton Park before Bowyer's introduction to the crowd. Claims that Bowyer would have received a £1 million bonus had West Ham stayed up were denied by the club's then manager
Glenn Roeder. In the event, Bowyer was hampered by ankle injuries and made only eleven appearances for West Ham. West Ham were relegated and Bowyer was not offered another contract. In April 2005, Bowyer was in the media spotlight again after an on-pitch brawl with teammate
Kieron Dyer in Newcastle United's
Premier League match with
Aston Villa. This resulted in a red card, plus an automatic three-game ban, for each player.
The Football Association fined Bowyer £30,000 and imposed an additional three-game ban, and the club fined him six weeks' wages; Dyer was not fined as Bowyer was perceived to have thrown the first punch. In addition, Bowyer was charged by
Northumbria Police in connection with the brawl with offences under section four of the
Public Order Act. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of using threatening behaviour and was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs. Bowyer made 98 appearances for Newcastle in all competitions and scored 11 goals. He made 22 appearances in the 2006–07 season, However, Bowyer made a quick and sooner-than-expected recovery and played in five of West Ham's crucial games towards the end of the season. He made his debut on 17 January at home to
Cardiff City in the
Championship, scoring an equalising goal in the fourth minute of
stoppage time to make the score 1–1. Following the expiry of his contract with West Ham United, Bowyer signed a two-year contract with Birmingham in July 2009. He scored winning goals in consecutive Premier League matches, against
Fulham and
Wolverhampton Wanderers, to take Birmingham into a mid-table position at the end of November, and was part of the team that went on a run of 15 games unbeaten in all competitions, including a club record 12 unbeaten in the top flight, as they finished in ninth place, the club's best for more than 50 years. In September 2010 Bowyer was forced to apologise for verbally abusing a
West Bromwich Albion supporter. The incident occurred following Bowyer's substitution after he had committed a rash challenge on
Gabriel Tamaș. and then followed that up with a late equaliser against
Manchester United. In January 2011, television replays highlighted incidents, unnoticed by the match referee, in which Bowyer stamped on Arsenal defender
Bacary Sagna and appeared to rake his studs down the same player's
Achilles. Suggestions in the media that Bowyer could receive a six-match ban prompted Birmingham manager Alex McLeish to argue that the football authorities were not treating all clubs equally when using television evidence. Bowyer received the standard three-match ban for violent conduct. From 2010, Bowyer held the record for most
yellow cards received in the Premier League; by the end of that year, he had 98 yellow cards in the competition as well as five red. He made his first appearance in a major final in February 2011, in the starting eleven as Birmingham defeated favourites Arsenal 2–1 in the
League Cup Final at
Wembley Stadium. At that time, it was reported that he was not to be offered a contract extension, but after Birmingham's relegation to the Championship, Bowyer left the club when his contract expired at the end of the 2010–11 season.
Ipswich Town and retirement On 10 July 2011, Bowyer joined
Ipswich Town on a free transfer. He signed a one-year contract. He scored his first goal for Ipswich with a late winner against former club West Ham United on 27 September. He was released at the end of the 2011–12 season, having scored twice in 29 appearances, after which Bowyer retired from playing. ==International career==