From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Rowlands
Personal information
Full name	Martin Charles Rowlands
Date of birth	8 February 1979 (1979-02-08) (age 30)
Place of birth	Hammersmith, England
Height	1.75 m
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Queens Park Rangers
Number	14
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997-1998 1998-2003 2003-	Farnborough Town Brentford Queens Park Rangers	033 0(9) 149 (20) 188 (33)
National team2
2004-	Republic of Ireland	005 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 January 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Martin Charles Rowlands (born 8 February 1979 in Hammersmith, London) is an Irish professional footballer who plays for QPR. He formerly played for Brentford.

Club career

After staring for Kilburn Gaels GAA club at underage level Rowlands started his football career at Farnborough Town in 1997 before moving to Brentford in August 1998 for a transfer fee of £45,000.^[1] In five season with Brentford, he made 186 appearances in all competitions, scoring 23 goals.^[1]

After suffering a broken leg, QPR manager Ian Holloway took a gamble on Rowlands and signed him on a free transfer from local rivals Brentford in the summer of 2003. This gamble paid off, as Rowlands scored 12 goals from midfield, helping his new side to promotion from the Second Division. That season, Rowlands also showed versatility, playing right back, right midfield, left midfield and centre midfield; excelling in all positions. He won both the supporters and players' player of the year competitions.

Since then, Rowlands has suffered many injuries and has never truly recaptured his outstanding form of 2003/04. However, in 2006/07 he managed to score 10 goals from midfield.

In 2007/08 he was selected captain, and was regularly among Rangers` best performers. He played 43 league games, scoring 6 goals, including a memorable brace in Rangers' 4-2 victory at Watford. He won both the Supporters' Player of the Year and the Ray Jones Players' Player of the Year award. As of August 2008 Rowlands was the longest-serving member of the QPR squad having spent 5 years at the club.

He is widely regarded as one of the best players outside the Premier League. ^[2]

International career

Following good displays with QPR, Rowlands was called up to the Republic of Ireland squad in the summer of 2004, playing two games. His good club form in season 2007/2008 and his subsequent player of the year awards with QPR led to Rowlands being included in Giovanni Trappatoni's first Republic of Ireland squad.

After a substitute appearance against Italy in Ireland's penultimate qualifying game for the 2010 World Cup, Rowlands was chosen to start for Ireland against Montenegro in their final group game.

On 14th October 2009, he injured his ACL while playing for the Republic of Ireland v Montenegro, resulting in him being ruled out of the rest of the 2009/10 season for QPR.

Honours

Brentford

• Football League Division Three winner: 1998-99
• Football League Trophy runner-up: 2001

QPR

• Football League Division Two runner up: 2003-2004

References

External links

• Martin Rowlands player profile at qpr.co.uk
• Martin Rowlands career stats at Soccerbase