Although relatively inexperienced in terms of management, Liverpool-born Ryan Lowe has a good working knowledge of lower-division football after an eighteen-year playing career spent mainly in the north-west. After spending his formative years on the books at Liverpool, he drifted into non-league football with a succession of local clubs until he began to make his name with Burscough at the turn of the century. Having scored 34 goals (including three hat-tricks) in helping the Linnets to reach the Northern Premier League Premier Division in 1999-2000, Lowe was finally signed by Third Division Shrewsbury at the age of 21 after trials with Everton, Tranmere and Rochdale.
He made his Football League debut in a 2-2 draw with Macclesfield in August 2000, but he was used as a substitute initially. It took him twenty-three appearances to score his first goal for the club, which came in a remarkable 7-1 away win at promotion-chasing Rochdale in February 2001. Shrewsbury finished fifteenth, but 2001-02 was to be a much better season. Interestingly it took him eighteen games to get off the mark this time, but he started to score more regularly as Shrews challenged for a play-off spot. They went into the final game of the season at home to already promoted Luton needing a win to guarantee a play-off spot, but they went down 2-0 to finish in ninth place. The 2002-03 season promised much, but was to prove a disaster at Gay Meadow. Inexplicably, it took Lowe fourteen games to score his first goal of the season, the third season in a row that had seen such a slow start. He scored the first hat-trick of his career in a 4-1 win over Bury on Boxing Day, but Shrewsbury were struggling near the foot of the table. A 3-1 win over Rochdale on 1 March seemed to have opened up a reasonable gap over the bottom two, but a terrible run of just four points from their last fifteen games saw them relegated to the Conference in bottom place.
Although never looking likely to win the title, Shrewsbury had a consistent season in the Conference in 2002-03 and comfortably secured a play-off spot with third place. A 5-3 win on penalties against Barnet in the semi-final took Shrews to the final against Aldershot Town at the Britannia Stadium. The match finished 1-1 after extra time, and Shrewsbury won their place back in the Football League at the first attempt with a 3-0 win on penalties. Strangely, Lowe did not take a spot-kick in the penalty shootout despite being the team’s centre forward. He had a quiet season in 2004-05 as the Shrews finished 21st in their first season back in the League, contributing just three goals from thirty-four appearances. On 25 March he signed for League Two rivals Chester City, who had been promoted as champions alongside Shrewsbury the season before, but they fared little better than Shrewsbury in twentieth place.
The five years Ryan Lowe spent at Shrewsbury were to prove his longest spell at any club, scoring 37 goals in 194 games for the Gay Meadow club. The next ten years would see him appear for eight different clubs, and his initial stay at the Deva was to last just over a season. Having scored seventeen goals in a poor side in 2005-06 and effectively keeping Chester in the League, he was on the move to Championship strugglers Crewe at the end of March 2006 after disagreements with manager Mark Wright. Crewe were relegated at the end of the season, although Lowe had to wait until the opening day of 2006-07 for his debut, scoring after seven minutes of a 2-2 draw against Northampton. The side finished in mid-table obscurity, although Lowe scored the second hat-trick of his career in a 5-1 win over Carlisle in September. Crewe struggled near the foot of League One for most of the 2007-08 season, eventually finishing two points clear of relegation. Lowe ended the season on loan at League Two Stockport, who were challenging for promotion. Stockport did win promotion via the play-offs, although Lowe was not involved in any of those games.
After a relatively undistinguished two seasons at Gresty Road, he was on his way back to Chester City in the summer of 2008. Unfortunately, his return to Chester coincided with their descent from the Football League, and at the end of his first season back at the Deva, he found himself relegated from the Football League for the second time in his career. Having scored an excellent eighteen goals in a poor side, Chester’s Player of the Season signed for League Two Bury in June 2009 for the first of his three spells with the club. Lowe scored very consistently in 2009-10 as Bury finished just three points off the play-offs. One significant event from this period was taking his Level 2 coaching badge, followed during the next few years by the UEFA B Licence. In 2010-11 he enjoyed the best season of his career as his 27 league goals fired Bury to promotion to League One. During that season he set a new Bury club record when he scored in nine successive league games. He also had the distinction of scoring the promotion-winning goal in the 87th-minute of the 3-2 win at champions-elect Chesterfield in April 2011.
By this time, Lowe was a marked man. After scoring seven goals in the first seven games of 2011-12, he was on the move to League One rivals Sheffield Wednesday for an undisclosed fee (rumoured variously to be between £100,000 and £1 million). It proved another productive move, as his nine goals helped Wednesday to automatic promotion to the Championship. To everyone’s surprise, Lowe was immediately sold to Milton Keynes Dons back in League One. Having become their top scorer as the Dons narrowly missed a play-off place, he was on the move again to Tranmere on a free transfer during the summer of 2013. Despite another 20-goal season, Lowe suffered the third relegation of his career as Rovers lost their place in League One after a 2-1 home defeat by Bradford on the final day. Two weeks later he was back at Bury on a two-year deal, and found himself starting the 2014-15 season with a new club for the fourth year in a row. It proved another good move as Bury won automatic promotion from League Two, the third promotion of Lowe’s League career. Ironically, promotion was secured on the final day at former club Tranmere, who were relegated from the Football League.
Goals were harder to come by in League One in 2015-16, and in November Lowe joined League One Crewe on loan for his second spell at Gresty Road. He signed for them permanently during the summer of 2016 after Crewe were relegated to League Two, but he was on the move back to Gigg Lane for the third time when he was appointed player-coach in January 2017. With his playing career winding down in his late thirties, Lowe was appointed caretaker manager of Bury in October 2017 when Lee Clark was sacked with the club second to bottom of League One. Despite studying for his UEFA A Licence at the time, he did not feel ready to step up to management just yet. Chris Lucketti was appointed permanently to the position in November, but results worsened further and Lowe took over as caretaker once more when Lucketti was sacked in January 2018. Little did he know what awaited him in his first year as a manager, but in the short term he was unable to prevent relegation. Bury handed him the job on a permanent basis on 10 May 2018, at which point he decided to retire from playing to concentrate on management.
At the end of a very good lower-division playing career which produced an impressive 214 goals from 703 appearances, Ryan Lowe was at the juncture many retiring players face: could he make the step-up to management successfully? Bury had been relegated with very few points, and he faced a huge task in reversing the downwards momentum. Lowe had already won promotion from League Two with Bury on two occasions as a player, and the aim was make it a hat-trick from the manager’s office. History was not on his side: Bury had never bounced back at the first attempt after relegation to the bottom division, and this was the sixth time it had happened.
As many expected, Bury started the 2018-19 League Two season very poorly, collecting just four points from the first five games. To the initial admiration of the football world, Lowe turned the season on its head. Form rapidly improved, and the club was taken over by businessman Steve Dale for £1 in December 2018. A run of nine wins and four draws in January and February took them into contention for the title, but a storm broke over the head of the club when Dale began to reveal their terrible financial position. Players claimed they had not been paid since February, and the promotion bid began to falter. Despite taking only nine points from their final nine games, Bury somehow limped over the promotion line with a 1-1 draw at Tranmere in the penultimate game.
It appeared to have been a magnificent promotion against the odds, but that view was to waver with further revelations about the running of the club. Estimates of the total debt were impossible to quantify, although £16m was considered a fair assessment. Wages were eyewatering for such a small club, with some players rumoured to be on £7,000 per week. Further scandals erupted regarding a ruinous mortgage on Gigg Lane, the sale of car park spaces, debts to charities and local businesses, ‘abysmal treatment’ of staff, and accusations of extensive fraud over a period of at least seven years. The police launched an investigation, as did the EFL and the FA, and the club desperately sought a new buyer. Acrimony between owner Dale and the club’s supporters reached new heights with demonstrations outside the ground, and it began to look like the club would be unable to start the 2019-20 season. Bury FC had been living way beyond its means for many years, and a dark shadow was cast over the club’s promotions from League Two in 2015 and 2019. Interestingly, Lowe states he is unable to comment on Bury’s demise for the time being, having signed a non-disclosure agreement.
It is little wonder that Ryan Lowe chose to move on in the summer against that background, and he was appointed manager of recently relegated League Two side Plymouth Argyle on 5 June 2019. With his promotion at Bury becoming tarnished by off-field revelations, he may have been forgiven for feeling the need to prove himself again, and that is exactly what he did. Assisted by five of his players from Bury and backed by a good budget from new owner Simon Hallett, Plymouth made a mediocre start and sat in the bottom half at the end of September. After that, they lost just five more games as they maintained a constant challenge for automatic promotion. Two successive wins at the start of March took his side above neighbours Exeter into third place, and promotion was confirmed by the points-per-game calculation after the curtailment of the season. Ryan Lowe had his second successive promotion from League Two, and this one was beyond any doubt.
Not many managers can point to a record of relegation-promotion-promotion in their first three seasons, but that is the case with Ryan Lowe. Quite how he will fare back in League One is an unknown, but his reputation in the game is growing. Claiming to be influenced by Klopp, Guardiola and Benitez, he is one of the new breed of managers who are slowly changing the face of the game in the lower divisions. Establishing Plymouth in League One this season will enhance that reputation further, and will inevitably generate attention from bigger clubs.
Key:
P = Promoted; R = Relegated; SF = Lost in play-off semi-final; F = Lost in play-off final; PO = Won play-off final; D = Demoted.
Figures are league games only; cup matches and play-offs are not included.
League position shown is either the position at the end of the season or the position at the time of departure.
Writer: Scotimp
If you haven’t already had a go at our quizzes, this is a great way to learn some random information about the Football Club, as well as helping us generate much-needed page views: Quiz No.1, Quiz No.2, Quiz No.3, Quiz No.4, Quiz No.5, Quiz No.6, Quiz No.7, Quiz No.8, Quiz No.9, Quiz No.10, Quiz No.11, Quiz No.12, Quiz No.13, Quiz No.14, Quiz No.15, Quiz No.16, Quiz No.17, Quiz No.18, Quiz No.19, Quiz No.20, Quiz No.21, Quiz No.22, Quiz No.23, Quiz No.24, Quiz No.25, Quiz No.26, Quiz No.27, Quiz No.28, Quiz No.29 and Quiz No.30.
Who Are The League One Managers?
No.17: Ryan Lowe (@Only1Argyle):https://t.co/ax8ylaYKHo#PAFC #Plymouth pic.twitter.com/I52otBtqzy
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