Arthur Rowley, Mladen Petric and Jimmy Bullard

[Stefano Okaka Chuka]

Unusually in this May edition of FourFourTwo there are THREE excellent pieces Fulham related. This is weird as we normally are not really covered by the magazine...

The first one is about a certain Arthur Rowley, that holds the record for the most goals in the history of English league football, 434 goals from 619 appearances (plus 34 more goals in the cup fixtures). He used to play for us between 1948 and 1950 when we reached the old first division and he bagged 26 goals in 56 games for us. Frank Osborne, the then manager, decided he wasn't first division material when he scored only 7 goals in his first season in the top flight and let him go to Leicester for a bargain of £14.000. Fulhamish, is it?
He only got capped for England B once and he was always overshadowed by his more notorious brother playing for United, Jack Rowley.
The article is a very fascinating account of his life and goals...Is anybody in here old enough to remember him?

The article about Petric is a funny one as the lad talks about his passion for magic tricks and Michael Jackson...Apparently he is a massive fan of David Copperfield and he is handy in making rabbits disappear himself or at least that's what he says. He was nicknamed The Magician in the Hamburg dressing room...

As for Bullard, there is an interview in which he says he lied about Klinsmann wanting him for Germany so England would hurry up and select him...He also says he has a pub in Crayford, the One Bell, full of football memorabilia and that he regrets not signing for Celtic. Obviously he talks loads about his fishing and golf, but the thing that made me chuckle is his answer to the question "What's the craziest thing you've done?". He replies that he asked Duncan Ferguson if he could borrown his hair straighteners after the scot had punched a Wigan teammate.LOL

[Peabody]

I remember Arthur Rowley with us. He joined us from West Brom, half way through our promotion season and his goals ere a major contribution to us winning the title and whilst it is true, that was prolific with his other teams, they were all lower league sides (Shrewsbury for example). So maybe Frank Osborne knew what he was  talking about.

[filham]

I remember Arthur Rowley with us. He joined us from West Brom, half way through our promotion season and his goals ere a major contribution to us winning the title and whilst it is true, that was prolific with his other teams, they were all lower league sides (Shrewsbury for example). So maybe Frank Osborne knew what he was  talking about.

Yes ,Rowley was a brilliant signing that played a big part in us being promoted in 1949, he carried a bit of weight but packed a lovely left foot shot. His brother Jack played for Man.U and was perhaps the better player but it was Arthur with his exploits in the lower division who broke many records.