Jarrod Bowen: from playing without pay to scoring for fun at Hull

16 January 2019 10:00
The prolific forward has helped Nigel Adkins’ side soar up the Championship table – a world away from his start at HerefordAt the start of December, when Hull were in the Championship relegation zone, it would have been easy for the club, in a city synonymous with cream-coloured telephone boxes, to raise the white flag. Fast-forward seven weeks and Nigel Adkins’s side are the country’s form team, suddenly looking up rather than down. Six league wins on the bounce have propelled them to within four points of the play-offs, while the maligned vice-chairman, Ehab Allam, has spoken of renewed optimism. It has been a concerted team effort but no player has been more instrumental than Jarrod Bowen, who has scored nine goals in his past eight matches.Hull have done some shrewd business in recent years – handsomely profiting from the sales of Harry Maguire and Andy Robertson to Leicester City and Liverpool respectively – but, considering they did not pay a penny for Bowen in July 2014 after he left the now defunct Hereford United, the 22-year-old forward may well top the lot. Before arriving in east Yorkshire Bowen held talks with West Bromwich Albion and Wolves but joined Hull, for whom he made his Premier League debut three years ago, after impressing the then academy manager and now first-team coach, Tony Pennock. He is not the only one flying the flag for Hereford in the Football League, with Sam Clucas at Stoke and Marley Watkins at Bristol City. Related: Football League launches investigation into Leeds spying on Derby training To watch the team he had a soft spot for as a kid crumble around him and fall away must have been desperately hard Continue readingreadfullarticle

Source: TheGuardian