HOWELLS THAT FOR AN ADOPTED HERO?

DUAL national Lee Howells surely possesses the best Bristolian accent ever to come out of Australia.

- Jon Palmer

Only three players have made more appearances for Cheltenham Town than the Perth-born midfielder, with the majority of his 450 starts coming outside the Football League.

Archie, as he has been universally known, helped the Robins recover from relegation to the Southern League in 1991/92 and became one of the key figures in their rise through the divisions under Steve Cotterill’s leadership.

They returned to the top level of Non-League after an unbearably tense last day draw at Burton Albion in May 1997 and followed that up with an FA Trophy triumph 12 months later.

The next year, Howells was described by Cotterill as the ‘jewel in the crown’ as his side won the Conference title, securing promotion to the full-time ranks for the first time in the club’s 112-year existence.

In 2001/02, they made history again by reaching the third tier before Cotterill left for Stoke City.

But things could have been so different if it had not been for a chance meeting between Howells’ parents and Lindsay Parsons in a Bristol shopping mall.

Parsons had coached Howells as a trainee at Bristol Rovers and had become youth development officer at Cheltenham.

“After it didn’t work out at Rovers, I had been back playing for Brisbane City and then Rochedale Rovers in Australia for four years and my parents told Lindsay I was coming back,” Howells said. “He told them to get me to ring him when I got home and I was due to come back as my mother was not well.

“I played in a couple of reserve games and things went from there.”

Cheltenham paid 1,500 Australian dollars for Howells, who made his first-team debut in a 2-2 draw at Wycombe Wanderers in November 1991.