RARELY HAS A YOUNG FOOTBALLER WEARING BLACK AND AMBER SEEMED SO UTTERLY UNFAZED BY THE TRANSITION FROM ACADEMY PROSPECT TO FIRST-TEAM STAR AS JARROD BOWEN. Ahead of the 2017/18 campaign, the Leominster-born winger had played just 177 minutes of league football for the Tigers. Fast forward 12 months and Bowen had firmly established himself as a key member of the first team squad after netting 15 goals in 44 games in all competitions to finish as the Tigers’ top goalscorer, picking up the Supporters’ Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards for his efforts. And the 22-year-old has continued his impressive progress in the current campaign with 13 goals in 27 appearances. All but one of his strikes at senior level have come in league fixtures, meaning Bowen has now amassed 27 goals in just 64 Championship starts as a Hull City player – an impressive record for a wideman at any level of the game. Having been rejected by both Aston Villa and Cardiff City at an early age, it’s certainly been some journey for the former Hereford man, who was playing non-league football at the age of 16 when handed his first taste of senior football by his previous club in March 2014. He hasn’t looked back since. And the secret to his success – hard work, determination and a desire to be the best he can possibly be. “I do still have to pinch myself at times because I’ve come a long way since first coming here as a 17-year-old kid,” he said. “It’s been an unbelievable journey so far. It was only six years ago that I was playing for Hereford at the age of 16 in the Conference. The journey I’ve been on since coming to Hull City has been rewarding, but it’s also been hard as well. “I had to wait for my chances but I’ve always worked hard and remained patient. I always believed that my patience, effort and commitment would be rewarded and that proved to be the case last season. To be given the opportunities I was in the previous campaign was fantastic but then it was down to me to make the most of it. “Sometimes when you’re young, you feel like there’s no pressure on you because you’re still learning. As a young player, you just want to learn. When I was training at Bishop Burton with the Academy, I just wanted to be involved in the first-team environment down at Cottingham. please log in to view this image “But it’s not as easy as that – you’ve got to be prepared to work hard, be patient and wait for your opportunity and make sure you take it whenever it comes. I wanted to play more games than I did in the 2016/17 Premier League campaign, but I knew that I had to be patient. Luckily, my patience was rewarded with what happened last season. “If given the opportunity, you have to take it and thankfully I managed to do just that. It’s all about hard work and putting the effort in. It’s important to realise that it doesn’t just happen overnight. You can’t get frustrated if you’re not playing for the Under-18s or the Under-23s or if you’re not training with the first-team on a regular basis, you’ve just got to crack on with it and put the work in. “Ultimately, it’s all down to what you put in. You’ve got to be strong mentally throughout the whole process and you can’t let setbacks or disappointments affect you whatsoever. That can be tough for a young kid looking to carve out a career in football but it’s just what you have to do. “Football is about so much more than 90 minutes on a pitch at the weekend. You’ve got to be mentally strong to deal with everything that can be thrown at you. There are so many different situations that can arise for whatever reason and you just have to be strong enough to deal with it all and take it in your stride.” Bowen has certainly taken everything in his stride since arriving in East Yorkshire. Signed under Steve Bruce in 2014, he made his senior debut under Mike Phelan in 2016, before being handed a first Premier League start by Marco Silva in 2017. And whilst it was the 2017/18 campaign – firstly under Leonid Slutsky and then Nigel Adkins – that saw Bowen rally make his mark in black and amber, the youngster was quick to highlight his experiences in the previous campaign as a key period of his development. “I was fortunate enough to be training day in, day out with established first team and international quality players. You look at Harry Maguire, who shone for England at the World Cup in the summer, and the likes of Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore and Curtis Davies. The experiences I had during the 2016/17 campaign were invaluable in my opinion. “Even the season before, having the chance to train with the likes of Mo Diamé and Hatem Ben Arfa was a great experience. I was on the same training pitch as them – players of real quality – and didn’t feel out of place, which was a massive confidence boost. That gave me real belief. please log in to view this image “There was talk of me going out on loan that year (2016/17) but both managers that season – Mike Phelan and Marco Silva – said they thought I was good enough to be around the team, which again gave me a lot of confidence. I made my debut against Exeter City in the League Cup early on in the season and featured a few more times, then Marco Silva came in and I played against Manchester United in the League Cup semi-final and started the last game of the season against Tottenham. “Silva was great with me. He was always working with me to tell me what I needed to improve upon and what I was good at. It benefited me a lot and he showed a lot of faith in me by giving me chances. Unfortunately, we got relegated that season but since then I have been playing virtually week in, week out, which I consider a privilege.” Bowen’s progress in the early stages of the previous campaign was rewarded with a new and improved deal that saw him extend his stay until at least the summer of 2020, with the Club also holding the option to extend the deal for a further twelve months. At the time of putting pen-to-paper, he highlighted his desire to continue his development and improve as a player – and nothing has changed for the grounded winger in the past 16 months. “You have to have that desire to be the best you can possibly be. Personally, I always feel as though I have room to improve. Whatever your strong points or strengths, you always have weaknesses that can be developed and improved. If you want to be the best you can possibly be, you’ve got to work for it and you’ve got to be prepared to give it everything to improve. “You can’t stand still for one second. I’ve learnt that from the numerous experienced professionals that I’ve been lucky enough to train and play with during my time here. Watching them and speaking to them, I know they’re where they are now because of the hard work they’ve put in for so many years. I’m grateful to everyone that has given me advice and helped me along the way whilst I’ve been here. I’m still young and I’m still learning. I just want to keep playing football and keep progressing.” please log in to view this image Bowen has collected his fair share of column inches and headlines during his time in a Hull City shirt, largely down to his impressive contribution in front of goal – a responsibility he thrives on. “I love scoring goals – it’s as simple as that. You do it once and you just want more! It’s great to obviously contribute with goals and assists, but the top priority is to work hard and help get the team results. There really is no better feeling than scoring goals and I enjoy the responsibility that comes with it. “Scoring 15 goals last season was a tally that I was obviously delighted with, with it being my first full campaign in the first-team. If anyone had said to me that I would score five goals before the start of the season, I’d have been delighted! I said on many occasions last season that my target was to get one goal – and I still stick to that. Whether people believe or not doesn’t really matter, but it’s the truth. That was my aim, so to end up with 15 for the season did come as a bit of a surprise, albeit a very nice one! “Having achieved what I did last year though, I knew I needed to push on this year. Coming into the current campaign, I wanted to kick on, keep playing games and continue to improve and develop my game in all areas and that included scoring more goals. It had to be another season of progress for me and the team. “I was struggling a little bit coming into December with just four goals for the season, but last month was obviously a big one for me. Scoring six goals in as many games took me up to double figures, which was a massive confidence boost for me personally. I only scored twice in a game on one occasion last season, which was against Bolton at home early on in the campaign, so to get three braces in December – and then add another against Sheffield Wednesday last weekend – was very pleasing from a personal point of view. It shows signs of improvement and development in my game, which is obviously what I want. Bowen’s recent strikes have brought a range of different celebrations – some of which have attracted more attention than others – as he explains: “My brother was planning on watching the Swansea game on TV back home, so he just suggested doing the call me celebration if I scored. That’s what I did, which some people took the wrong way with the January Transfer Window fast approaching. I think some people thought it was me on Sky Sports saying call me about a move, so I think it’s best that I put it out there that it wasn’t the case whatsoever. “There was the darts one against Bolton – myself, Brandon (Fleming) and Robbie (McKenzie) had a darts competition coming up. We were speaking beforehand and it was suggested a dart celebration would be fun on the back of that. I scored, threw my darts to celebrate and Robbie held up a 180 board on the bench, so that one was all planned. You’ve got to do something a little bit different and funny, haven’t you? You can’t just run back to the centre-circle. please log in to view this image “There was also the one at Leeds – putting my finger to my lips. I think that was just a case of adrenaline getting the better of me! When you see objects coming at you from the crowd whilst you’re celebrating, you lose all control. It was just instinct really – nothing more – but it was a good moment and another great memory for me. “To be honest, all I want to do is score goals because scoring goals is a big part of my game. I just want to keep playing games, keep having an impact on the side, keeping working hard and keep improving. That’s all I can do. I’m still young and I’m still learning every single day. All I can do is try to be the best I can possibly be and that’s my only focus.” Whilst Bowen’s individual progress has been clear for all to see, so has the Tigers’ as a team over the past two-and-a-half months. After registering just two wins in the opening fourteen games of the season, the team were languishing in the bottom three of the Sky Bet Championship table with just nine points. A remarkable turnaround in form has seen Nigel Adkins’ men claim 30 points from the last 39 available with just one defeat in their last thirteen league outings. It’s a run of form that allows the Tigers – who now find themselves just four points off the play-offs – to look up the table rather than over their shoulders although Bowen insists there is absolutely no chance of anyone in the dressing room getting carried away. “Over the past couple of years, it’s always been looking at the bottom end of the table and looking over our shoulders to see what’s happening behind us,” he added. “But we’re on a really positive run of form now as a team. We’ve strung together a decent run of results and we’re looking up now, which is a huge positive. “We’ve shown great character to recover from what was a disappointing start to the season. I can’t put my finger on any one thing that has been the catalyst for it. We’re just working hard for the gaffer, working hard for the team and each other and showing our qualities. Everyone is grafting and we’re grinding results out when we need to. please log in to view this image “That’s what the Championship requires – the ability to grind out wins when you’re not at your best. It’s a great feeling to be looking up, but we know we’ve got to maintain our performance levels of late in order to make sure that feeling remains. The games came thick and fast over the Christmas and New Year period and we’ve still got a lot of games coming up and a lot more work to do. “Every game is tough at this level and we know whoever we come up against, we’re going to be in for a tough test. All we can do is continue to do what we’ve been doing of late. We’ve had that consistency to our game of late and we know that must continue to be the case if we want to continue moving up the table.”
Good article and what is most pleasing for me is that he seems to be so sensible. A credit to himself and his family.
Lad's a ****ing gem. When we eventually lose him, I'll be pleased for the lad, as it will be to a much better team than ourselves. Unless it's TWS. Then he can **** off.
got his head screwed on right, which is fantastic and maybe unusual. i hope he'll be here at the end of the season but i can't help feeling he'll be off to some bigger club eventually. i hope he thinks hard about that when the time comes - he doesn't want to spend the next few seasons bench warming and he doesn't want to go sideways to one of the premier league bottom feeders. look at josh tymon, ffs.
