Tom Cowan (1989 to 1991)
Rangers secured the services of highly rated left full-back Tom Cowan from Clyde on February 9th, 1989.
With Brian Clough keen to take Tommy to Nottingham Forest, Graeme Souness made his moved and paid £100,000 for the youngster despite having made only 18 senior appearances for the 'Bully Wee'. Tommy made his debut the following month in a 3-0 win over Hamilton in which another debutant, Mel Sterland, made a scoring start to his own Rangers career.
Cowan was outstanding in the 4-0 win over Hearts on 29th April 1989 as Rangers regained the Championship (the first of our 9 in a row sequence). Competing with (among others) Stuart Munro, John Brown and Chris Vinnicombe for the left back position, Tommy never quite managed to make the number 3 shirt his own but more than played his part in the title decider of 1991 as Gers defeated Aberdeen 2-0 on the final day to make it 3-in-a-row.
Incredibly, he played a large part of that crucial game with a broken leg as a walking wounded XI defied the odds to secure Walter Smith his first trophy as manager. This proved to be his final first team appearance for the Club.
by Rick Plews
