Talk:Robbie Fowler

Early Years

Attended St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Primary and Junior Schools in Liverppol 8. Moved to the Nugent Roman Catholic Boys School, Liverpool 7 for secondary education (1986-1991).

http://www.dinglerenaissance.co.uk/fpeople.htm http://www.4thegame.com/club/liverpool-fc/player-profile/574/robbiefowler.html

--86.0.175.188 (talk) 22:18, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Never had a homosexual encounter with Graham Le Saux

Some didn't waste anytime updating this page did they. Great news that Robbie's coming home!

Talent

"Robbie Fowler is widely regarded as the most naturally talented English player of his generation. He is the most popular player with the fans of the world's greatest club. He is a legend."

Surely that's opinion, not fact.

Format

There should be a seperate paragraph for his second stint at Liverpool. The Current format is chrono-illogical. YNWA

Revision

This page needs a lot of work to remove adulatory and WP:POV statements like:

... mercurial and prodigious talent ...

... two of the most awesome finishers in English Football ...

... Fowler's raw talent was fused with a notorious reputation off the field ...

... stuff of fairytale, and not only did he come on to a rapturous reception in his first appearance for Liverpool in 4 years ...

Stu 16:35, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Toxteth "housing estate"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.46.162.25 (talk • contribs) .

• Fowler is one of the most talented players in the game and this is not a secret but maybe we can neutralize this article a little bit. With respect, Deliogul 22:05, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

• I saw perhaps one line that could do with changing, and changed it. Could you be a little more specific about which bits you think need work? cheers, aLii 08:19, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

• I see nothing wrong with the stuff of fairytale...came on to a rapturous reception bit. It is true and seeing you can't actually define "stuff of fairytales" neither can you link a video of Fowler coming on to applause (which he did), just leave it in I reckon. Cls14 11:05, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

He did come on to a rapturous reception. I still have it on my phone.

Reasons for leaving Liverpool

Probably had more to do with Owen & Fowler never forming any sort of striking partnership rather than training ground bust-ups or secret deals. 84.69.7.243 22:11, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I'd say the not-quite-secret campaign Houllier waged against Fowler largely contributed to his (Fowler's) departure. If the manager wants you gone, there's not much hope for staying. The fact that Owen and Fowler both couldn't stay fit at the same time didn't help either.Zerotta (talk) 16:51, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

The God?

In one of the first lines it says he's commonly known as 'The God', citation maybe needed?

I, and any Christian Liverpool fan, and probably in fact many other Liverpool fans who aren't even Christians, find this nickname "God" to be highly offensive and blasphemous. I think it should be removed from the opening line. Paulfp 17:24, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

I too am offended by people claiming to be "God" (capital G), but Fowler's nickname (given to him by LFC supporters- not created by Fowler himself) is what it is. The fact that you're offended by it is inconsequential. To omit it is in many ways counter-encyclopaedic. Encyclopaedias aren't exempt from featuring potentially offensive content- provided the content is factually correct and unbiased. We (rhetorically) walk a slippery slope when we start censoring fact to conform to what makes us comfortable.Zerotta (talk) 16:43, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Statistics

moved this from the stats part of the page, originally inserted 5 Dec 2006 "Can someone check this out as I add this up to be 219 goals before tonight's goals v. Galatasaray

• Add up the league cup goals and I think you'll find it's 30"

I've added the relevant tag

Steve-Ho 09:28, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

I'll assume that the update was from a reliable source and cross-referenced then? Steve-Ho 10:03, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Rich List

Looked on the Times Rich List Wikipedia page for 2005 and couldn't find Fowler there. I presume this is because he is amongst the top 1000 British people and the list on Wikipedia is just people living in Britain rather than being British? Cls14 11:26, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

The BBC ran an article about the wealth of footballers just a few weeks ago; Beckham tops football's rich list. As you can see there Fowler's wealth is "only" in the region of £30 million now, which is some way behind the £50 million two years ago that he would have needed to feature on this list. aLii 12:57, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

First ever Champions League goal

Did he or did he not actually score against FC Haka back in 01-02 in the 4-1 home leg win? I'm not sure if the opinion of it being the "first" goal is based on the concept that the early rounds are "Qualifiers", but you are still technically in the Champions League even if you don't get to the group stages (just as you're in the World Cup, even if you don't get out of the Group stage, or in the FA Cup even if you never get out of the 1st round). Who has specifically stated that is his first goal? Cheers.--Koncorde 02:46, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

It was mentioned during the commentary of both the game where he actually scored, against Galatasary, and a previous game against Bordeaux when he didn't. I think Fowler's goals against Galatasary were his first in the Champions League proper rather than the qualifiers. His score tally does state that he scored once in seven appearances in 01-02 in Europe that was Champions League.--Welshie402 11:43, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Someone's inserted the detail now - but the actual quote from the BBC site says "Champions League proper"...which is like saying Dennis Law's goals for Man Utd in the 60's weren't in the "Champions League proper" also. Silly.--Koncorde 01:39, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

2000/2001 Season

Seeing as this is going to be his most successful season, does more attention need to be paid to his contribution in the competitions and the league rather than two lines?

Rangers fan?

Does anyone have another source for Robbie Fowler being a Rangers fan beyond the one website cited in the article? It doesn't back it up in any way, it just lists his name. KeithD 20:56, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I found that link retroactivley after someone else put it in (I have more reservations about him being nicknamed 'Prawno' as I dont recall it in his book, but that link seems to be a website fairly well maintained to be somewhat valid but there's unlikley to be anything beyond that. Welshie402

photograph

Can we put in a photograph of himKendirangu 15:16, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Not a Rangers Fan

Robbie isn't a Rangers fan. Rangers supporters think he is as Robbies favourite player for Everton, Trevor Steven moved to Rangers and that Robbie became a supporter of Rangers from then on but it is stated in his autobiography that Robbie has only supported Everton as a child then Liverpool.

GA review comments

Here we go (at last)...

• His "born... " should be in brackets per WP:MOSBIO.
• Where was he born - add to lead.
• Championship isn't linked in the lead but Premier League is... consistency required.
• Don't think we need the three other top scorers in the lead.
• Headings should comply with WP:HEAD.
• Citations should be placed per WP:CITE.
• Update the "correct as of" for club appearances in the infobox.
• Cite turning professional on his birthday.
• Why is heading Football career - does he have any other career?
• Wikilink Coca Cola Cup, San Marino.
• Cite "...feat equalled only by Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney."
• "a match considered the best of the decade [9]"
  • By whom? State here.
  • Missing full stop?
• "On the December the 14th 1996" - yuck, try "On December 14, 1996, ..."
• "...the second of which reached a century of goals one game quicker than his mentor, Ian Rush." - the goal didn't reach a century, Fowler did. This needs rewording.
• "Also in 1996 Fowler received a call-up to the full England squad for the first time in 1996, " - 2x1996... copyedit required.
• "making two appearances in the tournament." cite it.
• Consider flowing some of the short Liverpool paragraphs together.
• "Owen firmly established himself ..." - POV - needs to be neutral.
• "Robbie’s..." - encyclopaedias should use surname.
• "...season, He..." - copyedit.
• "...unique Cup Treble." - cite it.
• "...hammering...", "...memorable...", "...dream start...", "...rapturous reception..." - POV.
• Quite a large section on his first Liverpool stay, it probably could do with being summarised.
• "...2001–02 Season ..." - no need to capitalise season.
• Be consistent over how you wikilink seasons, either just the years, or years+"season".
• Leaving City for Liverpool on a free needs citation.
• "...stuff of fairytales..." POV - either quote someone saying it, or rephrase.
• Cite his own quote.
• Avoid text in parentheses.
• "1st May 2007" - 1 May, 2007 instead.
• "Reading Football Club", "Birmingham City F.C.", "Fulham" - need consistent approach to linked team names.
• Wikilink seasons in the Club performance table.
• "2000–2001" or "1995–96" - be consistent in season ranges.
• Get rid of the Records section - add that into the appropriate section of his career.
• Avoid raw URL's in references - add a nice title, use the Cite web template or something like this.
• Fix ref [37].

A lot to fix so I'll have to fail it for now. Please let me know if I can help further. The Rambling Man 19:36, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

A lot of "can't see the wood for the trees" stuff there. I'm about halfway through at the moment. Oldelpaso 09:47, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Should be done now. One or two things I didn't change; I think the section about his first Liverpool stay ought to be the longest - its when most of his major achievements occurred. I left "hammering" in there, because I don't think its POV to describe an 8–0 win in that way. Oldelpaso 12:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree - nice work, and congratulations. I'm looking forward to your next article. Phil Sandifer 17:32, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Possible protection needed?

Does anybody else feel that this page deserves protection? It seems like everytime I come on to Wiki it has been vandalised in some way. I'm not sure how to go about nominating this page for protection so thought I would put forward this suggestion. Kosack 20:06 8 January 2008 (UTC)

In an average week it gets vandalised a couple of times, which is less than would usually warrant semi-protection. It could probably do with a few more people watchlisting it though. Just make sure to warn vandals after reverting, most stop after a warning or two. Oldelpaso (talk) 20:19, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I have this article watchlisted after a batch removal of unreliable sources - I know nothing about Robbie Fowler. A quick count reveals 4/28 (14%) edits are vandalism, which passes the 5% threshold. All vandalism is coming from dynamic IP addresses, so blocking these is ineffectual, indicating that page protection is sensible. Read Wikipedia:Protect#Semi-protection and Wikipedia:Rough_guide_to_semi-protection. Requesting protection, which prevents editing from IP addresses and new accounts, is easy - see Wikipedia:Requests_for_page_protection and read the style of similar requests. hth -- John (Daytona2 · Talk · Contribs) 19:43, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I see you've got it protected - good work ! If the vandalism continues after the block simply ask for another one, and so on for a few times, afterwhich ask for indefinate semi-protection. Good luck ! -- John (Daytona2 · Talk · Contribs) 22:23, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Le Saux

Small point here but its states in the article that Fowler taunted 'the admittedly homosexual Grahame le Saux', but on the link to Le Saux's page it calls the rumours unfouded, maybe an adjustment needed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.241.58.15 (talk) 10:09, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Proof-reading

I've given the article a good once over and I'll look to fix some niggling issues like missing publishing dates on sources. The prose in the article is occasionally sketchy and I'm going to do a few more things to make sure it deserves it's GA status. Just a note that International dates should be used here: i.e. 31 May 2008 not May 31, 2008. Sillyfolkboy (talk) 17:38, 31 May 2008 (UTC)