Ray Bowden

Bowden was born in Looe, Cornwall, and worked as a solicitor's clerk after he left school. He began his football career with the local non-league club, Looe F.C., for whom he scored more than 100 goals in a single season, including 10 in one match. He was spotted by Plymouth Argyle, signed amateur forms with them in 1926, and turned professional the following year. Still only 17 years old and of apparently frail physique, Bowden made his senior debut in March 1927. After two appearances the following season produced four goals, he took over the centre-forward position at the start of the 1928–29 season and went on to score 20 goals from 29 Third Division South matches. In 1929–30, his 18 goals from 28 league matches helped Argyle gain promotion to the Second Division as champions. In 1931, he was a member of the Football Association touring party that made a 17-match visit to Canada. On his return, he top-scored for Argyle for the second time – the first was in 1928–29 – and by the time he left the club, he had taken his totals to 82 goals from 145 league matches. Bowden signed for Herbert Chapman's Arsenal in March 1933 for £4,500, as the intended replacement for David Jack. He scored in the first two of the seven First Division matches he played in what remained of that season – not enough for a league-winners' medal – but was a regular for the next two campaigns, as Arsenal won two more titles on the trot. Playing mainly as an inside forward, behind Ted Drake, he still…

Plymouth Argyle

Football League Third Division South: 1929–30 Arsenal

Football League First Division: 1933–34, 1934–35 FA Cup: 1935–36 FA Charity Shield: 1933