\n After all, not thinking too far into the future has worked out well for him so far, so he doesn\u2019t want to tempt fate.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI know you might not believe me, but I haven\u2019t really thought about it all that much,\u201d Bowie said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt sounds crazy, but I\u2019ve actually only started three games this season, so I\u2019ve got a lot to do to prove that I can be in that senior squad.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s obviously brilliant to hear people speaking about you in those terms, and especially when it is people you admire, but I\u2019m honestly trying not to think about it too much. If I concentrate on doing well for Hibs, then hopefully I can make that step.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: SNS Group) \u201cOf course, I would love to do it, as any Scottish player would. But if I take my eye off the ball here, then I won\u2019t get that opportunity. It\u2019s all about working hard, hopefully staying fit, and showing what I can do for Hibs.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf that leads to a Scotland call-up, then I\u2019d be delighted.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The stat that he has only started three matches for Hibs this season following his transfer last summer from Fulham is jarring. Bowie has of course had his injury issues this term, with a niggling hamstring problem leaving him sidelined for much of it, but he has wasted no time in making an impact whenever he has managed to get on the pitch.\n<\/p>\n
\n Read more:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n His double against Dundee last Sunday took him to five goals for\u00a0the season, and when you factor in assists, he has been involved in a goal every 74 minutes for the resurgent Hibees. Bowie’s laid-back persona somewhat clashes then with an on-field career that seems to have almost played out in fast-forward so far, but even as his star has been on the rise, his feet have remained firmly on the ground.\n<\/p>\n \n In fact, you get the feeling when speaking to him that despite the many experiences he has crammed into his 22 years, he hasn\u2019t much changed at all since his days turning out for the mighty Glenrothes Strollers.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cAt that time, it was just about playing with some of my mates and enjoying it,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI played for a team called Real Fife before that, then after that team folded one of the coaches came and said to come and train with them.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI went there and that’s when I started playing as a striker, before that I was playing centre mid, so I didn\u2019t play as a forward until I was maybe 13.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI played there for a few seasons, done well\u00a0and then I went to Fife Elite, and after that I was picked up by Raith.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cMy parents were great, taking me to games every Saturday, Sunday. It was just sort of the enjoyment that you got then, it wasn’t really about trying to make it,\u00a0as such. I mean you’re still young, you’re still a kid, so it’s purely just trying to enjoy yourself.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n That was an attitude he maintained even when he was now\u00a0signed up to the team he had supported all of his short life, only realising fully how much of a \u2018pinch me\u2019 moment that was quite recently.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI think it was from the age of seven I had a season ticket,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cTo be fair, I was just sort of taking it in my stride, I didn’t really think too much about it at the time. But looking back on it, it’s sort of like your dream, isn’t it? And I’ve done that already, which obviously means a lot.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cBut yeah, I just sort of took it bit by bit and started getting games there and doing well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n What Bowie omits there from his telling of his first team breakthrough was that he was just 16 when then Rovers manager McGlynn handed him his debut.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cOh yeah, I think it definitely came a lot sooner than I expected,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI started training with the first team maybe in the November, I was still at school then, so I was coming in once or twice a week. So, I think even it came sooner than what the gaffer expected.\n<\/p>\n \n \n \u201cYou had guys like Iain Davidson, Kyle Benedictus and Steven MacLean as well, he was there for a few months. John Baird too, David McGurn. So, there were a lot of real senior players.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI was the young lad. I didn’t know what to expect, but they were all great with me. They would be having a go at me if I needed it, but they were mostly just really nice to me just because I was so young.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI wasn’t used to playing at that level. But you could tell as time went on that I started to get used to playing with all these full-time players and the standard of it.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cTowards the end of that season I made my debut against Montrose in the league in February, and then I made my full debut later on in the last game of the season against Montrose again, this time away, which\u00a0was really good.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI hadn’t trained that week because I had exams, and then I started my first game on the Saturday. The gaffer hadn\u2019t told me that I was going to play, which was probably for the best.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThen the season after that, that’s when I sort of had my real breakthrough and played the majority of the games.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n \n \u201cWe won the league, and that was great, but it was through Covid,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cSo, I don’t know, it obviously counts because we got promoted but it wasn’t really the way we wanted to do it.\u00a0It would have been great to have the fans all there to share in that.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cBut listen, we done it in the end and I think that the main strength of that Rovers team was the togetherness of the squad and all the senior pros just keeping us level-headed. Especially me as the young lad. That\u2019s something that\u2019s always stuck with me.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was just a really enjoyable period for me, but I didn’t really think about it too deeply at the time. Looking back on it now, it was really good for me and my development to then move on from that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n These days, Bowie has come to expect the unexpected. But back then, still just 17, he couldn\u2019t have imagined that his next stop would be London.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe club and my agent actually did a good job of keeping it from me, so I wasn\u2019t distracted by it all at first, because I didn\u2019t know!\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cBut eventually they told me that Fulham had put in an offer for me and asked me what I thought. It seemed like a great opportunity, so while I was obviously sad to leave Raith, I couldn\u2019t really turn that down.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n This is where Bowie\u2019s mantra of not getting too far ahead of himself served him well.\n<\/p>\n \n Any preconceived notions he may have had of working closely with Fulham manager, the former Chelsea and England midfielder Scott Parker, or sharing a training pitch with the likes of Alphonse Areola, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Aleksander Mitrovic or Ademola Lookman – all on the Craven Cottage books at the time – were soon dashed.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI was training with the under 18s,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen I got there, it was still during Covid, so they had us training in a different location to the first team altogether, So, I didn\u2019t really see the manager or any of the first team stars if you like.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cBut I enjoyed it. It was a good experience. But by the end of the second year I was itching for an opportunity to get out and play football. I just thought, \u2018I can\u2019t sit here for another year playing youth football, I\u2019m ready\u2019.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Bowie had scored 15 goals in 20 games for the Fulham under-18s as they won the Premier League South title in 2021, and then five in 19 while still\u00a0a teenager for their under-23s.\n<\/p>\n \n Some players may have been content to be on the books of such a club\u00a0and wait out their contract, but Bowie was eager to roll his sleeves up and get stuck into some \u2018proper\u2019 football.\n<\/p>\n \n That the opportunity came in the rather insalubrious surroundings of English League Two was something he looked forward to, instead of something he would\u00a0look down his nose at.\n<\/p>\n \n As it turned out, though, Northampton Town manager Jon Brady wasn\u2019t the one driving a\u00a0potential loan deal, but a former occupant of the Hibs dugout.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cYeah, that wasn\u2019t straightforward,\u201d Bowie said.\n<\/p>\n \n “My agent told me that there wasn’t really too many options on the table, but Northampton was one.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe manager\u00a0though apparently\u00a0wasn\u2019t too sure about me. It was actually Colin Calderwood who was the assistant there at the time, and he was the one who was really keen on bringing me in.\n<\/p>\n \n \n \u201cI thought I did well, and it seemed like that made up his mind, and I went there on loan.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was League Two, so I was confident that I was up to playing at the level, but you never really know how you\u2019ll cope with the physical side of it and that sort of thing until you\u2019re thrown into it.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI started off on the bench, but worked my way into the team, and by the end of the season I thought I had done quite well. I got five goals, and I felt that I had made a contribution to the club winning promotion.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThen in the summer I didn\u2019t really know what I was going to do, but I knew for sure that I wasn\u2019t going to be going back to Fulham to play in the youths again. Then Northampton came back in for me, and it just felt like the right move.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was a step up to League One this time, but I had come on quite a bit by then I felt, and I managed to do well again.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe were one of the favourites to go down, but I got nine goals that season, and we managed to stay in the league. It was a really enjoyable time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Cobblers manager Brady was, by then, more than sold on Bowie, calling him \u2018a manager\u2019s dream\u2019 as he reluctantly conceded that his club had no chance of holding onto the striker at the end of his second loan spell at Sixfields.\n<\/p>\n \n By this time, Bowie and his partner, Brooke, had twin girls, Victoria and Florence, and what he lovingly describes as the \u2018constant carnage\u2019 they bring to his home life meant that an opportunity to move back closer to their extended family was eagerly taken.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIf my partner is happy, I\u2019m happy,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cHaving the two wee ones up the road now is great. We\u2019re all really settled, and I think that has helped me concentrate on my football. I\u2019m even getting some decent sleep now with them being almost two, which wasn\u2019t always the case!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The motivation to come home to Scotland wasn\u2019t solely based on familial harmony though. On the footballing side, playing for Hibs under David Gray was an enticing prospect.\n<\/p>\n \n \n It is a debt he is eager to repay, particularly to Gray, as he gave an insight into the sort of man management that has the Hibs players ready to run through brick walls for him, and that now – after a stuttering start – has the club on their longest unbeaten run since 1948.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cTo be honest, I have no idea what the fee was that Hibs paid for me,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cBut the fact they were willing to spend any kind of money to bring me here is massive.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe manager has been great with me from day one, and when I was injured for that long spell this season and the team were really struggling, he wasn\u2019t pressuring me to get back or anything like that.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cHe was really supportive, and he kind of just let me and the rehab guys get on with it. Then when I was fully ready to come back and make an impact then they were just to let him know. I think his man management is really good.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was really difficult of course to sit in the stand when the team weren\u2019t getting the results I actually felt they sometimes deserved. For any player that is hugely frustrating when you are sitting in the stand injured and feeling you could be helping the boys out.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cBut we\u2019ve managed to turn it around and now everything is great. I always had faith that we would do that, because we\u2019ve got a really talented group of players and a really good manager.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe thing with the manager is that you can tell he\u00a0knows what he is talking about. As a player, he treats you well and you know exactly what he wants from you.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd then he just lets you go out and play\u00a0and do what you are good at, and I think that\u2019s a big secret to his success. We\u2019ve got really talented boys here, and free spirits like Nectar\u00a0Triantis for example, and he gives them a platform so that they can show the best of themselves.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cHopefully, that\u2019s what I can do in the rest of the season. I want to make up for lost time in a way, and hopefully I can contribute more over the coming weeks.\u00a0I feel like everything is going really well. Third is the aim and I don\u2019t see any reason why we can\u2019t get there.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019ll just keep doing what we\u2019re doing and see where that takes us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n It is a philosophy that, to this point, has served Bowie well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good things seem to come to Kieron Bowie when he least expects them to. From his debut as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[1500,748,4044,5686,4884,5681,12,5683,5682,5684,712,5685,16,15,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-32427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-daily-news","11":"tag-global-news","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-inkl","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-news-app","16":"tag-news-headlines","17":"tag-news-today","18":"tag-scotland","19":"tag-today-news","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114363614079119765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}(Image: SNS Group) \u201cI was just a raw boy, you know what I mean? I had only played in grassroots football, then I came in training with all these lads that are professional, and at the time you could sort of tell I was sort of a bit off it compared to them.\n<\/p>\n
(Image: SNS Group) Still at such a tender age, Bowie was now a key part of McGlynn\u2019s Rovers side that would go on to win promotion to The Championship, with the youngster chipping in with 10 goals along the way.\n<\/p>\n
(Image: Getty Images) \u201cThe manager\u00a0told me I could come on a week\u2019s trial up to St Andrews in pre-season if I liked, and it was one of them where I thought to myself, \u2018You know what? I will come up!\u2019\n<\/p>\n
(Image: SNS Group) The Easter Road club paid what was described by their manager as \u2018a significant fee\u2019 to bring Bowie to Leith, a show of faith that wasn\u2019t lost on him.\n<\/p>\n