Good things seem to come to Kieron Bowie when he least expects them to. From his debut as a 16-year-old at his boyhood team to his transfer to an English Premier League club, the big striker has taken some seismic twists and turns during his short career to date in his stride.
It is little wonder then that the Hibs frontman seems unfazed by the recent clamour for Steve Clarke to thrust him into the Scotland senior squad for the summer friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein. Or, that he hasn’t really given much thought to the theory that he can be the one to finally solve the national team's generational striking crisis, with former mentor John McGlynn predicting that he is Scotland’s future number nine.
After all, not thinking too far into the future has worked out well for him so far, so he doesn’t want to tempt fate.
“I know you might not believe me, but I haven’t really thought about it all that much,” Bowie said.
“It sounds crazy, but I’ve actually only started three games this season, so I’ve got a lot to do to prove that I can be in that senior squad.
“It’s obviously brilliant to hear people speaking about you in those terms, and especially when it is people you admire, but I’m honestly trying not to think about it too much. If I concentrate on doing well for Hibs, then hopefully I can make that step.
“If that leads to a Scotland call-up, then I’d be delighted.”
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.
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His double against Dundee last Sunday took him to five goals for the 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.
In fact, you get the feeling when speaking to him that despite the many experiences he has crammed into his 22 years, he hasn’t much changed at all since his days turning out for the mighty Glenrothes Strollers.
“At that time, it was just about playing with some of my mates and enjoying it,” he said.
“I 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.
“I went there and that's when I started playing as a striker, before that I was playing centre mid, so I didn’t play as a forward until I was maybe 13.
“I played there for a few seasons, done well and then I went to Fife Elite, and after that I was picked up by Raith.
“My 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, as such. I mean you're still young, you're still a kid, so it's purely just trying to enjoy yourself.”
That was an attitude he maintained even when he was now signed up to the team he had supported all of his short life, only realising fully how much of a ‘pinch me’ moment that was quite recently.
“I think it was from the age of seven I had a season ticket,” he said.
“To 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.
“But yeah, I just sort of took it bit by bit and started getting games there and doing well.”
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.
“Oh yeah, I think it definitely came a lot sooner than I expected,” he said.
“I 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.
“You 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.
“I 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.
“I 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.
“Towards 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 was really good.
“I hadn't trained that week because I had exams, and then I started my first game on the Saturday. The gaffer hadn’t told me that I was going to play, which was probably for the best.
“Then the season after that, that's when I sort of had my real breakthrough and played the majority of the games.”
“We won the league, and that was great, but it was through Covid,” he said.
“So, I don't know, it obviously counts because we got promoted but it wasn't really the way we wanted to do it. It would have been great to have the fans all there to share in that.
“But 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’s something that’s always stuck with me.
“It 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.”
These days, Bowie has come to expect the unexpected. But back then, still just 17, he couldn’t have imagined that his next stop would be London.
“The club and my agent actually did a good job of keeping it from me, so I wasn’t distracted by it all at first, because I didn’t know!” he said.
“But 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’t really turn that down.”
This is where Bowie’s mantra of not getting too far ahead of himself served him well.
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.
“I was training with the under 18s,” he said.
“When 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’t really see the manager or any of the first team stars if you like.
“But 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, ‘I can’t sit here for another year playing youth football, I’m ready’.”
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 a teenager for their under-23s.
Some players may have been content to be on the books of such a club and wait out their contract, but Bowie was eager to roll his sleeves up and get stuck into some ‘proper’ football.
That the opportunity came in the rather insalubrious surroundings of English League Two was something he looked forward to, instead of something he would look down his nose at.
As it turned out, though, Northampton Town manager Jon Brady wasn’t the one driving a potential loan deal, but a former occupant of the Hibs dugout.
“Yeah, that wasn’t straightforward,” Bowie said.
"My agent told me that there wasn't really too many options on the table, but Northampton was one.
“The manager though apparently wasn’t 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.
“I thought I did well, and it seemed like that made up his mind, and I went there on loan.
“It was League Two, so I was confident that I was up to playing at the level, but you never really know how you’ll cope with the physical side of it and that sort of thing until you’re thrown into it.
“I 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.
“Then in the summer I didn’t really know what I was going to do, but I knew for sure that I wasn’t 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.
“It 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.
“We 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.”
Cobblers manager Brady was, by then, more than sold on Bowie, calling him ‘a manager’s dream’ 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.
By this time, Bowie and his partner, Brooke, had twin girls, Victoria and Florence, and what he lovingly describes as the ‘constant carnage’ they bring to his home life meant that an opportunity to move back closer to their extended family was eagerly taken.
“If my partner is happy, I’m happy,” he said.
“Having the two wee ones up the road now is great. We’re all really settled, and I think that has helped me concentrate on my football. I’m even getting some decent sleep now with them being almost two, which wasn’t always the case!”
The motivation to come home to Scotland wasn’t solely based on familial harmony though. On the footballing side, playing for Hibs under David Gray was an enticing prospect.
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.
“To be honest, I have no idea what the fee was that Hibs paid for me,” he said.
“But the fact they were willing to spend any kind of money to bring me here is massive.
“The 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’t pressuring me to get back or anything like that.
“He 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.
“It was really difficult of course to sit in the stand when the team weren’t 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.
“But we’ve managed to turn it around and now everything is great. I always had faith that we would do that, because we’ve got a really talented group of players and a really good manager.
“The thing with the manager is that you can tell he knows what he is talking about. As a player, he treats you well and you know exactly what he wants from you.
“And then he just lets you go out and play and do what you are good at, and I think that’s a big secret to his success. We’ve got really talented boys here, and free spirits like Nectar Triantis for example, and he gives them a platform so that they can show the best of themselves.
“Hopefully, that’s 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. I feel like everything is going really well. Third is the aim and I don’t see any reason why we can’t get there.
“We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and see where that takes us.”
It is a philosophy that, to this point, has served Bowie well.
