STAN BOWLES was the maverick’s maverick.
In an era of the footballing dandy, starting with George Best becoming the ‘fifth Beatle’, Bowles embodied a player who wanted to make the most of every moment.
Rodney Marsh, Alan Hudson, Tony Currie and Frank Worthington were cut from the same cloth.
But Bowles’ cloth was superior, deeper. A player who could drink as well as he could dribble.
Who could score on the pitch as well as he could score off it. And who could never resist a punt.
That was true even before he inherited Marsh’s No 10 shirt at Loftus Road.
His Crewe boss Ernie Tagg came up with one of the great quips, saying: “If Stan could pass a betting shop like he can pass a football, he’d be a rich man.”
Now, after a long battle with dementia, Bowles has died, aged 75, leaving memories that still stir blood at QPR half a century after he strutted his stuff with Gerry Francis, Don Givens and Dave Thomas.
The blue and white hooped shirt might never have looked as if it really fitted, billowing out as he jinked his way across the paddy-field pitches of the 70s.
But Bowles loved every minute of it.
The fame. The fun. The attention. The booze.
And, above all, the girls.
That he could play was unquestioned.
After playing fewer than 20 games in three seasons at Manchester City, it took spells at Bury, Crewe and Carlisle before he really got the platform he deserved.
Terry Venables, a kindred spirit who died in November, once admitted: “He is one of the finest players I have ever known.”
Those Rangers fans who saw Bowles take them so close to the title in 1975-76 — pipped at the death by Liverpool — will agree.
Few modern stars would conduct a singalong from his own fans after scoring. Or throw a bucket of water over fans who were giving him stick.
He once turned up just 12 minutes before the start of one game to tell his boss: “You wouldn’t believe it — that f***ing horse got beat in a photo-finish.”
Then he scored within 120 seconds of kick-off.
And when Sunderland plonked the FA Cup they won by beating Leeds in the 1973 final on the Roker Park touchline, he dribbled from the other flank before sending it flying through the air.
Bowles at one point agreed sponsorship deals with two different boot companies for the SAME match — and wore one of each manufacturer’s product.
Worthington once said: “Stan has spent all of his money on gambling, booze and birds.”
Which prompted the inevitable reply: “At least I haven’t wasted it!”
That inability to follow rules also hurt him.
Bowles made just five England appearances and was simply not the type of player Alf Ramsey, Don Revie or even Joe Mercer would ever trust.
Angry at being hauled off by Mercer after just 55 minutes of a victory over Northern Ireland, he walked out on the squad ahead of the next game against Scotland — and was spotted at White City greyhound track.
There was no self-pity, even in retirement.
Pressed on whether he was a creature of his own urges, Bowles insisted: “If I wanted, I could stop myself. I don’t need to be told.”
On and off the pitch it was a life fully lived. If not always well lived.
