“Bowen’s on fire…”
It is a song that has followed Jarrod Bowen around in his recent West Ham United career, but even more so now he is the Club’s hero of Prague.
Ever since his last-minute winning strike in the UEFA Europa Conference League final back in June, all Bowen has heard is fans singing his song back at him.
The altered version of Gala’s ‘Freed From Desire’ rang around the Eden Aréna on that faithful evening and followed the victory parade through east London 24 hours later.
While Bowen himself loved hearing it throughout the celebrations, his partner – Dani Dyer – may have heard it enough now.
During a chat with the first episode of West Ham United’s new official Podcast – Iron Cast – Bowen was asked by co-host James Collins if he was sick of the song yet.
He said: “Not yet, but my missus is getting a bit ‘come on now, I’ve heard it a hundred times’. But in my defence, I did score, and it has been on everywhere! So she still laughs about it.
“But even my mates, they came around and we had a bit of a party after the final, and they played the song for about an hour!
“She’s good though. She still loves it and we have a laugh. I think it was just that week where it was on repeat.”
It has been a mental few months for Bowen. Just two weeks before the UEFA Europa Conference League final, he and his partner welcomed twin baby girls into the world.
Such was the nature of the preparations for the final, Bowen hardly saw his new-born children, something he made sure to put right during a summer at home.
“It was end of May [they were born],” he continued. “It was just before the Leicester City game. We go up on the Saturday and play on the Sunday, and I got back late from that because we were a 4pm kick-off and then, on the Monday, we fly to Portugal.
“We’re there for a camp until Thursday. We’ve had the weekend and then it was off to Prague for the final. So they were born but, in that time, I probably saw them for about three days. It was so nice in the off-season to just be at home and spend time with them, all the kids, and my missus too.”
Hosted by award-winning podcaster Chris Scull and West Ham legend James Collins and available on all major apps, Iron Cast is the podcast for the Claret and Blue Army, so don’t miss your new episode every Tuesday afternoon!
