JARROD BOWEN’S dad Sam has a family mantra: “We don’t have a reverse gear, so we’re always going forward”.
West Ham supporters will be hoping the saying applies to his son’s new side too and they do not end up careering into the Championship.
After three years of mooted moves to the top flight, Hammers fans can be confident their latest signing will be doing all he can to stay there after sealing a £20million deadline-day switch.
Hard work has never been a problem for Bowen, 23, who one summer as a teenager dragged tractor tyres across a field to bulk up.
Yet he almost gave up the game in frustration aged 16 after a failed six-week trial at Cardiff and with local side Hereford scrapping their youth team.
The Leominster lad recalled: “At that point, I was just like, ‘I can’t be bothered with this’.
“But luckily Hereford’s youth team started back up again. They had to ask me a few times to go back – I took some persuading because I was ready to give up on it.
“But in the end I agreed to start playing again.”
It proved the correct decision as the then 17-year-old played a huge role in pulling off Hereford’s Great Escape in the Football Conference under mentor Peter Beadle in 2014.
Yet Bowen did not receive a penny throughout due to the club’s cash woes, which would ultimately see them disbanded weeks after staying up.
Strike-partner Michael Rankine, cousin of England star Danny Rose, recalled: “After we stayed up on the final day at Aldershot, their chairman brought beers in for us.
“I don’t know if Jarrod had one and if he did, he kept it in his sleeve!
“It felt like a promotion. We went on a night out in Hereford afterwards but I don’t think Jarrod came because he was too young.
“We celebrated because we thought the club would be saved and we would get paid. It didn’t happen.”
Bowen had offers from West Brom and Wolves after Hereford’s winding-up but opted for Hull, whose “workmanlike” ethos dad Sam felt better suited his son.
He joined as an Under-18 player but quickly made the reserves and in 2016 found himself playing seven Premier League games — all defeats — for the Tigers, who were relegated.
Bowen scored in the opening-day 1-1 draw at Aston Villa the next season, which saw his father injure his ankle ligaments as he fell down the Villa Park stairs in celebration.
What would follow was another 53 goals for the club working under Leonid Slutsky, Nigel Adkins and Grant McCann.
Adkins, who alongside his coaching staff worked particularly on developing Bowen’s right foot, said: “We’ve always said hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard.
“What you have in Jarrod is a young man who is prepared to work hard, which is good.
“But that needs to continue. He can’t just think, ‘I’ve got my move now’, and stop. He has an outstanding attitude and still has a hell of a long way to go in his development.”
Bowen’s move has been a long time coming and the fact it has finally arrived after a recent switch in agent seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
Ex-Scunthorpe ace Rankine, 35, commented: “How Jarrod made it as a footballer is the best way. He’s earned his stripes.
“He still replies to me now on social media. A lot of players lose themselves when they go higher up, but he hasn’t. He’s still grounded.
“He’s got the ability and he’s not brain-dead. Sometimes when you play on the wing, you can be all speedboat no driver, but he’s not one of them.”
West Ham, who visit Manchester City tomorrow, need Bowen to hit the ground running given their perilous situation currently sitting 18th in the drop zone.
Bowen claimed it was a “no-brainer” to sign for David Moyes and revealed the Irons were the only clubs to put in a “concrete offer”, despite interest from Crystal Palace.
He added: “We are in the relegation places at the moment, but you only have to look around the squad, the coaching staff and everyone to see that there is plenty of quality and Premier League experience.
“They know what it takes to stay in this division.
“I’m playing in the Premier League and my first two games could be against Manchester City and Liverpool. I don’t think it gets much better than that.
“It’s what I always dreamed of as a kid.
“This is what everyone works for and where everyone wants to be. It’s going to be different, I know that. It’s a different level, everything is new and I know I’ve got to step up again.
“But I’ve come a long way to get this far and I believe in myself.”
Beadle once hailed Bowen’s ability to adapt quickly as one of his biggest strengths.
But Adkins has warned West Ham not to pin their hopes of survival on their new recruit, pointing to two of his former charges who took a while to get to grips with the Premier League.
The ex-Sheffied United chief said: “I had Che Adams who went to Southampton. There was a lot of expectation on him and he’s found it hard to adjust to the Premier League.
“I also had Dominic Calvert-Lewin who is doing ever so well at Everton now but he needed a bit of time to adjust to it too.
“You can’t place all expectation on Jarrod. He’s got to go and see what it’s like.”
Bowen may not be afforded that time with West Ham currently stuck in reverse gear and heading nowhere but backwards.
