FIRST THERE was the Tshirt, the praise, the fine, not to mention the interest of Calvin Klein. Next there was that penalty, that dive and unexpected plea for clemency. After that came his first international goal against Mexico and then, on Wednesday night at Goodison Park, a scuffle, a punch and a red card it has been some month for Robbie Fowler.

And these are just the headlines: throw in the facts that he also turned 22 and reached the 30 goal mark for a third consecutive season and it is no surprise to see why Fowler's name has been as ubiquitous as Tony Blair's or John Major's these past 31 days.

But, if there were articles glowing with adulation about Fowler's T shirt unveiling - to which The Observer devoted an editorial - and even more after his surprisingly Corinthian role in the David Seaman incident at Arsenal, then there were mixed reviews for Fowler's England display and finally, widespread head shaking alter his punching performance with David Unsworth.

In football's cliched world, the freshly unearthed saint had regressed to the sinning Scally we all know he really is. A month ago, Fowler's Liverpool team mates could easily pick him out because of the halo above his head but after he faces Manchester United at Anfield this morning, they will no longer be able to because Fowler is banned for the rest of the season.

All the while, a few remarks at the England camp aside, Fowler has kept quiet. Even last Sunday, as he sat in an executive box at Roker Park, David James pulling on a cigarette beside him, Fowler would not comment on his 30 goals other than to say: "I'm letting my feet do the talking for me at the moment".

They are eloquent enough for most but Fowler, who has harboured a deep suspicion of the press since he was "stitched up good and proper three years ago has spoken at last about his fluctuating experiences of late. With admirable understatement, he said on Thursday: "It's been a strange month. But to tell the truth I'd do it all again except for the sending off".

Wednesday night's fracas has obviously blighted Fowler's recent surge of form and although he had been sent off playing for Liverpool B team and the England Under 21s, both were for dissent, not for violent conduct.

Not that Fowler felt he was particularly violent at Goodison. "I was very surprised when I saw the red card because I thought it was handbags at 10 paces. It was a late challenge by him (Unsworth) and I sort of bit' because he was at me all night. But look at the size of me, I'm not violent, I'm brave-ish. No, I'm brave.

Robert Bernard Fowler has been part of football's consciousness since the then 18 year old announced his arrival in the big team with all five goals in a League Cup victory over Fulham. He scored 18 goals in that 1993-94 season - Graeme Souness's last at Anfield and followed that with 31 goals in his first full season.

Apparently undaunted by the phenomenal reputation he was earning for himself Fowler then topped that last season with 36 goals in all competitions - after having been omitted initially to accommodate Stan Collymore - and has already reached that definitive 30 goal figure again this season. With such talents, progressing to the England team was an inevitability.

Yet, despite his growing profile, the public's perception of Fowler as a boy/man - was restricted to newspaper gossip about his Toxteth upbringing, a liaison with a Labour MP's daughter, a wrecked hotel room and a busking appearance in Liverpool's city centre.

Then there was the fight with Neil Ruddock "he hit me once and that was it" - and without any contradictory comments from the man himself it was convenient, and, it seemed, applicable to paint a picture of Fowler as a riotous scally tearaway.

This, though, was an image that did not please Fowler and on Tuesday, after the memorial service for the eighth anniversary of Hillsborough, he set about redressing the balance.

"It was difficult at first because once I first got into the side it really did happen very quickly. Anything off the pitch I didn't want to know about, I just wanted to play football. But Liverpool were going through a bad time and I got thrown in. All eyes were on me.

I never really spoke then but when I did I used to get labelled in the press as a scally or a little ragamuffin and while I might be a lot of things I've never been a scally."

However, when asked about his view of himself, Fowler said: "I'm quite shy sometimes, I don't think of myself as a big star. I'm just normal and I've still got the same mates". The success and celebrity, he said, has not changed him though he has the BMW now, the fat salary, and has moved himself and his family out of Toxteth and into a rather plusher area in south Liverpool.

Both he and his great friend Steve McManaman had made financial contribution to Liverpool's striking dock workers before the incident, but when Fowler revealed the T-shirt, having scored with typically clinical ease against Bergen, he was not ready for the response.

"Macca had a T-shirt and handed me one and when I scored, I lifted my jersey. I thought it would be just a simple statement, I didn't realise it would cause so much furore. But I'm not embarrassed about it, there are footballers who have come out and supported the Conservative party and is that all right?"

When, four days later, Fowler hurdled the reckless challenge of Seaman and tried to prevent the Arsenal keeper being hooked or sent off, the crescendo of acclaim - made Fowler feel like doing an Emerson.

"I thought it could die down after that, but it dragged on for weeks and weeks and then there was a lot of hype about me before the England game. I can't remember the last time I was nervous, but I was nervous that night. And it showed, I didn't play particularly well, but I scored, I did my job."

Not for much longer, though. Yesterday's confirmation from Roy Evans that Liverpool would not appeal against the sending off, thereby delaying the introduction of the three match ban, means that today's match with Manchester United will be Fowler's last in the Premiership this season.

Naturally, Fowler is displeased about this, especially as his absence undermines Liverpool's already faltering challenge to the champions. Having scored four against them in the two league games last year, Fowler was even hoping that he had become United's "bogey man" but now, should Liverpool win this morning, Fowler will have to watch the last three games.

He still feels Liverpool would make worthy victors - "on our day I don't think anyone can live with us.

"It's frustrating because when I was growing up I was a big Everton fan and I couldn't stand Man U. They have won everything over the past four/five years and the people and the players of Liverpool don't like that. So when you do beat them a real buzz goes around the place.

How Liverpool need their bogey man to get them buzzing again this morning. He might do it too, because, after all, Robbie Fowler is the man of the moment.