Gary Rowell

Gary Rowell (6 June 1957 – 13 December 2025) was an English footballer, most notably with Sunderland, and later a local newspaper columnist in north east England.

Born in Sunderland and raised in Seaham, he left school and joined Sunderland as an apprentice in 1972. His professional career was split (1976–84) between playing as a striker for two seasons (albeit often coming from deep) but mainly playing in midfield.^{[citation needed]} He scored 103 goals for The Rokerites in all competitions, surpassing the previous record post-war goalscorer, Len Shackleton, who had scored 101 goals.^{[citation needed]} Rowell's record stood until it in turn was beaten by Kevin Phillips in the early 21st century.^{[citation needed]}

Gary was a talented player who many supporters felt was destined to become 'fully' capped by England.^{[citation needed]} Unfortunately, his career was severely disrupted by a serious knee injury that he sustained during a game against Leyton Orient (in which he had already scored the winning goal) during March 1979.^{[citation needed]} Following a lengthy recovery, Rowell continued to score goals in the First Division at a healthy strike-rate, but he always looked likely to struggle to maintain full fitness for the whole of any season.^{[citation needed]}

Sunderland manager Len Ashurst forced Rowell out of Roker Park as part of a huge rebuilding plan in 1984, part of the slide which would ultimately take them to the third tier of English football for the first time in the club's history.^{[citation needed]} Rowell moved to Norwich City in the summer of 1984, but never recreated his goalscoring exploits because of a knee injury he picked up on his first pre season tour with the Canaries.^{[citation needed]} The injury would ultimately blight the rest of his career, although he did go on to play for Middlesbrough, Brighton & Hove Albion and Carlisle United before finishing his career with Burnley.^{[citation needed]}

Rowell is remembered by Sunderland supporters for scoring a hat-trick for Sunderland in a 4–1 win away at local rivals Newcastle United on 24 February 1979.^{[citation needed]} Describing the match later, he said "When we hit the 4th I had a chat with Kevin Arnott about whether to try for a fifth or just to take the piss. We decided to take the piss."^{[citation needed]}

Rowell later worked as a financial consultant and a radio pundit.

As radio summariser he worked with Real Radio, commentating on all Sunderland games,^{[citation needed]} having had previously spent seven years covering Sunderland's games on Metro Radio^{[citation needed]} and Magic 1152.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, he was voted Sunderland's all-time cult hero on the television programme Football Focus,^{[citation needed]} whilst in 2006, Sunderland fanzine A Love Supreme voted him their Best Player of the 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Such accolades reflect his almost 'iconic' status on Wearside, which has led him to recently be inducted in to the Sunderland A.F.C Hall of Fame.^{[citation needed]}

Rowell died from leukemia on 13 December 2025, at the age of 68.