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Mark Gower

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Eastwood: Gower Is Better Than Robinson

Eastwood: Gower Is Better Than Robinson

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Out of favour Wolves striker Freddy Eastwood has sung the praises of Swansea City new boy Mark Gower.

Eastwood who was Gower's team mate whist he was at Southend United has even revelled that he had tried to persuade Wolves manager Mick McCarthy to sign the former Barnet player. So highly regarded at Roots Hall , Gower was offered a lucrative two year contract with the Shrimpers but chose ambition over money to seal championship football.

This transfer window has seen Swansea lose one of the veterans of the side in Andy Robinson who joined league one outfit Leeds United in acrimonious circumstances. It came as a blow to the plans of Roberto Martinez of keeping the league one champions together. Despite this loss Eastwood believes that Gower is just as good if not better than the departed winger.

Signing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1996 the midfielder found it difficult to secure a place at White Hart Lane and had a loan spell at Motherwell before being sold to Barnet for £32,500 in 2001. Making 90 appearances for the Underhill Park club , Southend United came calling for Gower. For a bargain £25,000 fee the Edmonton born player made the move to Essex and whilst at Roots Hall notched up an impressive 203 appearances for the club. It was at the club that Eastwood saw Gower's abilities and the Welsh international is adamant this was the best move for the 29 year old.

Eastwood Told The WM:

"I remember coming up against Robinson when I was at Southend and he was a top player so I can understand if fans were upset to lose him - but in my mind Mark is just as good.He`s got great ability on the ball and I really enjoyed playing with him because he created so much for me and last couple of seasons he`s been banging goals in too, which any club would love.He is a brilliant buy, I`ve no doubt about that.Since I`ve been at Wolves I`ve been telling Mick McCarthy to have a look at him because I think he`s probably the best player Southend have got. He probably needs to make the step up now and move on and playing in the Championship with Swansea will be ideal for him"

I heard about it a few weeks ago and I was hoping it work out because in my mind it`s a good move for him and a great move for Swansea."

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I think Freddy may fancy a move to our friends in Swansea? ;)
 
Kris has summed up my opinions on this as well as I could have done. For me Gower's biggest attribute was his stubborn refusal to hide away from the ball even when he was having a shocker. He always wants the ball and he'd always back himself to do something with it. It's an attribute that you rarely see in a player and I doubt we'll be seeing someone else play in that way in the near future. One thing is for sure though and that is that someone, whether a new signing or a member of the current squad, will have to step up and fill the void because so much of our football went through Gower that he really was integral to the way that he played.

He had shockers at times but even an off-form Mark Gower was a more potent attacking force than a flying JCR, Tommy Black, Mitchell Cole, Steve Clark, Scott Houghton and any of the other inferior wingers that we've had since the likes of Ricky Otto & Paul Byrne were playing their football at Roots Hall.

For being at the heart of the renaissance of Southend United in the past five years, for more than 200 games and a huge number of goals, Mark Gower would be the third name on the teamsheet behind only Stan Collymore & Freddy Eastwood in my best Southend United XI and I wish him all the best at Swansea City.
 
I liked gower as a player and I have had the added bonus of being on the line of sight for some of his great goals.. But he is gone, so bothered about him.. just as I am bothered about Eastwood.. in fact reading some of the above stuff about Eastwood sayying Gower should go, Well I wish Eastwood would shut up.. sure say what he likes in private but why blag our players around like we are some two bit feeder club.. As for ambition over money, does anyone honestly think we are offering Gower more than Swansea?
 
Just got back from a few days away in oslo, when i flew out from stansted on sunday morning i bumped into mark gower and had a nice chat with him.
He said it was a shame to leave and loved the fans and wished us all the best for the futre but the draw of playing in the championship again was too good to turn down, he is settling in well and his family are moving down next week, swansea were off for a pre season trip to sweden
 
Seaside Sailor said:
Just got back from a few days away in oslo, when i flew out from stansted on sunday morning i bumped into mark gower and had a nice chat with him.
He said it was a shame to leave and loved the fans and wished us all the best for the futre but the draw of playing in the championship again was too good to turn down, he is settling in well and his family are moving down next week, swansea were off for a pre season trip to sweden
Click to expand...


Nice recount there, hope he'll be happy there, wish him all the very best.
 
:clap:
GORKA Pintado wasted little time in settling into life as a Swan as the Spanish striker bagged a first-half hat-trick in a 6-0 pre-season win over Swedish side Östersunds FK.
The summer signing from Granada, known as El Toro, grabbed a debut treble inside 32 minutes as Roberto Martinez’s side got their first taste of action in the build-up to the new season.
And he was joined on the scoresheet by fellow new boy Mark Gower, the former Southend man netting after Guillem Bauza had notched a second-half brace.
There was an injury scare when Marcos Painter was taken to hospital after suffering a broken nose in the final two minutes of the clash, played as part of the side’s week-long fitness and team bonding camp in Scandinavia.
But boss Martinez, who saw all of his new arrivals pull on a Swans shirt for the first time, insisted he was pleased with the run out.
“It was a very pleasing exercise,” said the Spaniard, who was without Angel Rangel and Jason Scotland after the pair both underwent recent operations, while Dennis Lawrence nursed a knee injury and Bodde remained in Holland.
“We have trained very hard but this was our first 11 against 11 and it was tremendous to see the attitude of the players.
“They have been training four times a day,” he revealed. “We have 24-hour sunlight here and are at altitude so that helps us achieve the fitness levels we want.”:clap:
 
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