Sid is a man that should have been an England legend: that he wasn't was down to narrow-mindedness ("we can't possibly have two ball-players in the side, and we already have Glenn"). He and Hoddle together would have been awesome; sadly, it only happened a few times.
I think Cowans signalled his greatness to the world when - on a balmy August evening in North London, in 1978 - Spuds paraded their 2 new Argentinian midfielders to an expectant White Hart Lane. Ardiles and Ricky Villa had recently arrived after helping their country win the world cup. Aston Villa was their first home game.
We stuffed 'em 4-1 and Cowans was the architect of their destruction!
He was pure class: as Virgil Caine said above - the definition of 'professional'.
