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Date and Place of Birth 29th May 1952 - GLASGOW
Transfers to and from Burnley from ROTHERHAM UNITED - August 1983 (£15,000) released - May 1984
First and Last Burnley Games BOURNEMOUTH (h) - 3rd September 1983
LINCOLN CITY (a) - 22nd October 1983 sub: replaced David Miller
Other Clubs BRISTOL CITY, MANCHESTER CITY, ROTHERHAM UNITED |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 1983/84 | 8(1) | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 9(1) | - |
| Total | 8(1) | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 9(1) | - |
Profile by Tony Scholes
The summer of 1983 had seen changes at Turf Moor with the arrival of John Bond, the club's first manager for almost thirty years who hadn't previously played for the club. Bond set about making changes and brought new players in, some were successful and some were not.
Gerry Gow definitely fell into the latter category although given his previous playing record the very thought that he wouldn't prove to be a good signing was difficult to accept. The Glasgow born Gow had started his career with Bristol City as a youngster and had played much of his career there, making not far short of 400 league appearances for the South West club.
A skilful midfielder who scored more than his fair share of goals, he made a first team place at Ashton Gate his own. Such was his form he was called up for the Scottish Under-23s in 1974 but played just once for them, against England at Newcastle's St. James' Park with Burnley goalkeeper Alan Stevenson on the opposite side.
In the 1975/76 season he didn't miss a single game as Bristol City were promoted to the First Division with Sunderland, passing the Clarets on the way as we suffered relegation at the end of that season.
He took top flight football in his stride and played regularly for the four seasons Bristol City were there until they suffered relegation at the end of the 1979/80 season. His return to Division Two didn't last long; in October 1980 he joined John Bond's rebuilding at Manchester City as a replacement for Steve Daley. City paid £175,000 for him.
City's form took an almost immediate upturn, but they could hardly have gone in the other direction. They were bottom of the league, but by the end of the season Gow had helped them into a mid-table finish and had also played twice at Wembley in the memorable FA Cup Finals against Spurs. From the day he joined he didn't miss a single game.
Despite his form, he lost his place in the following season and in January 1982 signed for Rotherham in a deal worth £80,000. The Millers had been promoted in the previous season under Jimmy Mullen's captaincy and were now plying their trade in the second division, one higher than Burnley.
He played well for Rotherham, yet when Bond came calling again for him just after the start of the 1983/84 season they let him go with the Clarets paying £15,000 for his services. Our season had not started as well as we'd hoped, we lost 4-1 at Hull on the opening day of the season and three days later went down 1-0 to Crewe in the League Cup.
By the second Saturday of the season Gow was a welcome addition to the side. He played in the next eight league games and also the second leg of the tie against Crewe. Our league form very much improved, winning three and drawing three of the next six. But Gow didn't play particularly well overall and after a run of nine games was left out of the side for David Miller who hadn't previously started a game.
Miller made his debut in a home win against Southend and a week later Gow came on as a sub for him at Lincoln. That was to be Gow's last game for the Clarets. He was named on the bench once more, late in the season, but wasn't used and at the end of the season he was released just before his 32nd birthday.
That spelled the end of his Football League career although he dropped into the non-league as player/manager of Yeovil before leaving in 1987.
When people discuss Bond and his poor signings, Gow is usually the one that comes at the top of the list. He'd had a good career, he'd played over five seasons at the top level of English football, but it never happened for him at Turf Moor and the Burnley crowd never took to him.
Without doubt for most fans this was a signing that should never have happened.
Gerry Gow, a hero at Bristol City, was granted a testimonial in 2012 at Ashton Gate with a game planned against a Manchester City XI in July.
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