Early career Born in
Collyhurst,
Manchester,
Lancashire, he began his career as an apprentice at
Manchester City, After a brief and unsuccessful stay at
Bury, he was signed by
Ernie Tagg, manager of
Crewe Alexandra, then in the
Fourth Division. Signed by Tagg on a month's trial, Bowles agreed a two-year contract less than two weeks later; Bowles later said Tagg was a "father figure" who helped him rediscover his touch and appetite for the game. Tagg is often quoted in respect of Bowles' gambling problems; he used to give the player's wages direct to his wife, saying: "If he could pass a bookie's as well as he passes a football, he'd be a very rich man." Tagg managed a Crewe
pub, The Vine. Stan Bowles said: It was Ernie Tagg who made that crack about my ability to pass a betting shop. It was a bit rich, coming from him. Ernie had a pub [The Vine], and I remember him staying there for a darts match instead of watching a game once. At least I used to turn up! With 18 goals in 51 league games for Crewe, Bowles' skill caught the eye of a number of bigger clubs. In October 1971, he was signed by
Carlisle United, at the time a
Second Division club, for a fee of £12,000, well under Crewe's £25,000 valuation. He scored 12 goals in 33 league appearances for the club, including a hat-trick in a 3–0 win over league leaders
Norwich City at
Brunton Park. He was in the Carlisle side that beat Italian giants
AS Roma 3–2 victory in the
Stadio Olimpico in 1972, infuriating the home side by performing
keepie uppies on the halfway line. He replaced
Rodney Marsh, who had been transferred to Bowles' first club Manchester City six months before. Bowles took over Marsh's number 10 shirt, which other players had been reluctant to wear in fear of being compared unfavourably to the mercurial Marsh. Bowles had no such qualms about taking the shirt, and joked that, coming from the
North, he had never really heard of Marsh. The trophy had been placed on a table at the side of the pitch when Bowles tore straight across the park and claims to have kicked the ball at it full speed, sending the Cup flying through the air. Bowles spent just over seven years at QPR, playing a central role in arguably the club's greatest ever team, that which finished as league runners-up in
1975–76 season under
Dave Sexton. In the
1976–77 season, having finished as league runners-up, QPR played in European competition for the first time. During this campaign, Bowles broke the record for goals scored by a British player in a European campaign with 11 goals including two hat-tricks against
Brann Bergen from Norway and two goals against
Slovan Bratislava, a side which featured many of the
Czech team that had won the
European Championships in
Yugoslavia only months earlier. The 3–3 draw against Bratislava on 20 October 1976, is regarded by many as the club's greatest away performance. In 1979, Bowles fell out with QPR's new manager,
Tommy Docherty. Docherty made Bowles train with the reserves for nearly six months, before selling Bowles to
Nottingham Forest in December 1979. A 2014 fans poll saw Bowles voted the club's all-time greatest player. In 2022, the Ellerslie Road Stand at QPR's ground,
Loftus Road was renamed the Stanley Bowles Stand. Bowles failed to settle at Nottingham Forest under the management of
Brian Clough, and he ruled himself out of the
1980 European Cup final, after Clough refused to allow Bowles to play in
John Robertson's testimonial. Bowles was essentially understudy to the UK's first £1 million signing
Trevor Francis during his one season at the
City Ground. Neither were a success and once
John Chiedozie was sold, Bloomfield resigned and Bowles was sold.
Brentford He joined
Brentford the following year. Persuaded to sign following a cash payment of £4,000, Bowles took the money to
White City Greyhounds losing most of it to the
bookmakers at the track. Picked regularly by manager,
Fred Callaghan, he featured throughout the
1981–82 and
1982–83 seasons in a midfield trio alongside
Chris Kamara and
Terry Hurlock. He chose to retire at the end of the 1982–83 season after the club finished 18 points short of automatic promotion. Bowles came out of retirement to briefly rejoin the club on a non-contract basis during
1983–84 season, before retiring again in February 1984. He received a
testimonial in 1987, earning £17,000. After retirement from the professional game, he continued to play at non-league level for
Epping Town. ==International career==