In the following close season, Fowler helped the England under-18 team win the 1993 European Championship,[5] before making a scoring first-team debut in Liverpool's 3–1 win in a first round League Cup tie at Fulham on 22 September 1993.[6] Fowler scored all five goals in the second leg at Anfield two weeks later, making him the fourth player in Liverpool's history to score five in a senior fixture.[4] He scored his first league hat-trick against Southampton in only his fifth league game. His very first league goal for the Reds had come on 16 October 1993, when an 87th minute equaliser at home to struggling Oldham Athletic saved the Reds from what would have been one of the biggest Premier League shocks of the season, with a last gasp own goal giving Liverpool a 2–1 win.[7] He scored twice in a thrilling 3–3 draw at Tottenham Hotspur on 18 December.[8]
His first 13 games for the club yielded 12 goals, and he was rewarded with an England Under-21 debut against San Marino in November 1993, in which he scored England's opening goal in the third minute. Fowler was unable to sustain his goal-a-game ratio throughout the season, but finished his first season as the club's leading scorer with 18 goals in all competitions, although Ian Rush had scored more goals in the league. It was, however, a disappointing season for Liverpool, as they finished eighth in the Premier League without making any impact in any of the major competitions, though the departure of Graeme Souness as manager and the appointment of Roy Evans as successor built up hope for the future.[4]
[edit]Success and fame
In the 1994–95 season, Fowler was an ever-present for Liverpool, playing in all of their 57 competitive matches, including the victory in the 1995 League Cup final, and a match against Arsenal in which he scored the Premier league's fastest ever hat-trick, in four minutes and 33 seconds,[9] a record that still stands.
He also managed braces against Aston Villa, Ipswich Town, Chelsea and Norwich City in the league that season.
Fowler was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year in two consecutive years in 1995 and 1996,[10] a feat equalled only by Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney.[11]
Throughout the mid and late 1990s, Fowler was widely considered to be the most natural finisher playing in England.[12] Fowler sealed this reputation as he scored more than 30 goals for three consecutive seasons, up to 1997. He remains the only player to have scored 30 plus goals in his first three full seasons in England scoring 98 goals with a total of 116 in 3 and a half years, something which has also yet to be beaten in La Liga, Seria A and the Bundesliga too. Fowler's partnership with Steve McManaman was largely described as the reason why Liverpool had become the club known for being the most potent attacking force in England at the time,[13] and Fowler was renowned for scoring goals of all varieties, from every angle and distance, with McManaman describing him as the "greatest goalscorer of all time."[14]
Stan Collymore, Fowler's strike partner from 1995 to 1997, said in his autobiography that Fowler was the best player he has ever played alongside. Fowler and Collymore were among the most prolific goal-scoring strike partnerships in England during the 1995–96 season.
