Manchester
\nStan Bowles raised his arms into the air and took the acclaim of the Loftus Road crowd.
\nIt was a familiar sight throughout the 1970s, but this was August 2015 and was to be the last time Bowles graced the pitch he once ruled.
\nBowles, the former QPR, Brentford and England inside-forward, has died aged 75 after a long battle with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.
\nHe looked in good physical shape as he was presented to the crowd on \u2018Stan Bowles Day\u2019, QPR\u2019s home fixture against Rotherham, but his condition had already taken its toll.
\nNevertheless Don Shanks, Bowles\u2019 best friend and former Rangers team-mate who accompanied him out on to the pitch, told the Guardian: \u201cWhen Stan walked out at Loftus Road he knew exactly where he was, for some reason. A moment of knowing who he was.\u201d
\nThe epitome of the 1970\u2019s football maverick, there was a time when pretty much everyone knew who Bowles was.
\nBorn in Collyhurst, Manchester, on Christmas Eve 1948, Bowles began his career as an apprentice at Manchester City.
\nA brief stint at Bury followed before Bowles joined Fourth Division Crewe, whose manager Ernie Tagg came up with the immortal line: \u201cIf Stan could pass a betting shop like he can pass a football, he\u2019d be a rich man.\u201d
\nWithout the benefit of hindsight, it would go on to sum up an entire career.
\nBowles moved up two divisions to join Carlise and then, in September 1972, signed for QPR for a fee of \u00a3110,000.
\nOver the next seven years, Bowles made 315 league appearances for Rangers and scored 97 goals.
\nYet those figures barely scratch the surface of Bowles\u2019 talent – think Lionel Messi playing with a cigarette in one hand, a lager top in the other and a copy of the Racing Post sticking out of his back pocket.
\nA snake-hipped bag of bones, often wearing a kit that seemed to look two sizes too big, Bowles jinked, feinted, dribbled and darted past the poor, unsuspecting full-backs of the day.
\nA trademark goal would see Bowles drop his shoulder, cut inside on to his right foot and effortlessly accelerate, leaving a right-back floundering in a blur of quick feet and long hair, before driving the ball in at the near post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manchester Stan Bowles raised his arms into the air and took the acclaim of the Loftus Road crowd. It was a familiar sight throughout the 1970s, but this was August 2015 and was to be the last time Bowles graced the pitch he once ruled. Bowles, the former QPR, Brentford and England inside-forward, has died […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-389646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n