In 1976, Stan Bowles was at the height of his powers. Queens Park Rangers had just enjoyed the best season in their history, finishing just one point behind champions Liverpool in Division One, and Bowles was the star of the show.
Having refused to travel with the team for a lucrative April tour of Israel (one of many no-shows that bedevilled the course of his controversial career), Bowles was invited by the BBC to appear on Superstars, a popular television show where top sporting celebrities of the era battled it out against one another in a series of challenges. Things did not go well. The Superstars story, passed on by word of mouth over the years, doesn't exactly do Bowles any favours. It is the one story, perhaps more than any other, which people associate with the player. It overshadows some of his greatest and most famous moments on the pitch.