From Mirror.co.uk
14 January 2006
ROBBIE FOWLER EXCLUSIVE: DON'T WRITE ME OFF.. I'VE YEARS AHEAD OF ME
Man City v Man Utd, Eastlands, today, 12.45pm
David Maddock
ROBBIE FOWLER will use today's Manchester derby to prove he still has fire in his belly.
The former Liverpool star has been written off by critics who said he was content to coast towards retirement in the final year of his contract.
A back injury that forced him to miss four months of the season gave them further ammunition.
But Fowler, who netted an FA Cup hat-trick against Scunthorpe last week, insists he still has the hunger to thrive in the Premiership.
The striker, who might have to be content with a place on the bench today despite his Cup heroics, said: "Just because I'm not playing doesn't mean I'm not hungry. Like everyone who is out of the side I want to play, but you have to show respect to the manager and your teammates.
"When you've had a back injury, people always seem to point the finger as though it's an excuse.
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"I had a fracture in one of the discs in my back but I've been fit and raring to go for a while now, and I am waiting for my chance. That's all you can do - work hard and wait - because eventually you get a chance in the end and then you have to take it."
Fowler got that chance last week and took it in style. His hat-trick against Scunthorpe was a classic treble, his finishing skills matching a positional sense that has improved, even as his pace has lessened.
City manager Stuart Pearce was full of praise afterwards and has been a source of encouragement as Fowler has fought to overcome the injury that has blighted his season.
Outside the City Of Manchester Stadium, however, people have been less complimentary, with even managers of other clubs questioning his desire to continue at the top level.
"People have questioned my hunger and that hurts me because, believe me, I have the same hunger as I have always had," he said.
"I've got the same hunger now as last season when I scored two goals at Norwich to bring up my 150 in the Premiership. I've got the same hunger as I have always had, and it makes me laugh to hear people are writing me off. I'm only 30 and I have got years ahead of me.
"I know I can still operate at the top level. It makes me laugh when people question my commitment because if they knew me they would know how much it hurts me not to be playing. I am terrible when I'm not playing, the worst in the world.
"I'll hold my hands up and say the injuries I've had have done me no favours recently. They've had a bad effect on how people look at me. But at the end of last season I was in the best form I've been in for years, and I did a good job for City.
"I'm over the back problem completely now, and I know that I am capable of returning to the same form as last year."
Fowler goes into today's match at the City Of Manchester Stadium a marked man after his gestures to the Manchester United crowd in recent derbies. In the past he has held up four fingers to represent the number of European Cups won by his boyhood club Liverpool and in his recently-published autobiography he admitted he was keen now to hold up his whole hand to celebrate Anfield's fifth triumph last May.
But he insists that the gesture is simply good-natured banter.
"Derby matches are always passionate occasions. They are always great to play in and there is always a bit of banter," he said.
"I love playing in games like that, and getting the crowd going, but I1 don't think it's anything more than that. I wouldn't do anything that made the fans get out of hand. It's just a bit of fun.
"I always looked forward to the Merseyside derby and the Manchester one is just the same. The fans get so wound up for the day, and they are desperate to win.
"You can't help but respond to that which makes the games so important and so great to play in. "The most important thing for City, though, is to get three points because we have struggled a little in the league lately and we need to get back to where we were earlier in the season."
For Fowler, nothing would give him greater pleasure than to go to the United fans with just a single finger raised in the air....to signify a goal of his own that would show the doubters that he can still do it at the top level. But for the time being he insists he is concentrating merely on winning his first-team place back -Andy Cole and Darius Vassell are first choices - and proving that he has a future.
"I can't talk about scoring because I don't know if I will be playing," he said.
"It's difficult for me to say too much because the strikers have done well at City and they deserve their place.
"But I am still backing myself. I still believe I can do it...and I still think that there are some years in me yet."
