Rival fans fear the worst as Jarrod Bowen stays

Aleksandr Mitrovic rattled in a remarkable 41 goals in 43 games when Fulham stormed to the title in 2021/22. Pablo Hernandez was the face-melting soloist in Marcelo Bielsa’s Elland Road rock opera, and those lucky enough to witness the magisterial talents of Adel Taarabt will argue that the QPR cult hero hit a peak few have equalled.

The captain STAYS! How big of a coup is this for West Ham? 🥳

But on the day that Bowen committed his future to the Hammers, ensuring that the captain will go down with his ship, fans of rival Championship sides are suddenly looking at the fixture list with an even greater sense of trepidation.

Jarrod Bowen provided nine goals and eleven assists for West Ham United in the Premier League last season.

If he can find the net against Chelsea, Aston Villa and Conference League winners Crystal Palace, just imagine the damage he could cause against Cardiff, Charlton and Lincoln.

Jarrod Bowen staying makes West Ham United Championship title favourites

One Bolton Wanderers fan – while looking forward to a first second-tier season in seven years – still suffers flashbacks to the days when Bowen inspired 4-0 and 6-0 thrashings in the black-and-amber of Hull City.

“I remember going to Hull away a few years back and Bowen tearing us apart,” said Bolton supporter wrote on X in response to the news of him staying at West Ham.

“He’s 10x the player now and has just signed a new deal at West Ham. It’ll be a cricket score against them lot.”

“(Bowen took the Championship by storm) as a youngster when playing in a League One-level Hull City team. He could genuinely bag 50 G/A this season,” says a voice from Humberside.

“Jarrod Bowen in the Championship. Credit to his loyalty but that is just ridiculous…” adds another with Derby County in his bio.

Supporters of Wolves were already frustrated to see West Ham strengthen behind-the-scenes with the appointment of Rui Pedro Silva. Nuno’s long-time assistant left Molineux for East London a couple of weeks ago.

Now, promotion rivals Wolves caused quite a stir themselves when they signed both Keiran Trippier and an evergreen Raul Jimenez. Though confirmation of Bowen’s enduring loyalty blows that enticing double-deal out the water.

“Now that Bowen is staying at West Ham, the Golden Boot race for next season will be between him and Raul,” one Wolves fan predicts. “Nobody else will come close.”

“That’ll be West Ham up as champions,” another says, fearing that the best Wolves can hope for is a podium finish. “(Owners) Fosun need to make sure the second-place berth is Wolves’.”

“I said (West Ham would win the league) when Rui rejoined Nuno. Bowen staying rubber stamps it.”

“Even if Bowen left and Rui Pedro Silva didn’t join them, they’d have still gone up as champions. Now, it just means they’re smashing the 100 point barrier. One automatic place left up for grabs…”

Bowen explains why he decided to stay at the London Stadium

No one of a claret and blue persuasion will be getting carried away at this stage. It is merely the nature of football fans to expect the worst.

Hammers News can confirm that there is a gentleman’s agreement in Jarrod Bowen’s new deal, meaning the 29-year-old would be free to leave in 2027 if promotion is not secured.

But while no one wants or needs the added pressure of expectation – like it or not, West Ham are everybody’s favourites for automatic promotion – Bowen staying inevitably shortens the odds.

“We obviously had a difficult season, difficult circumstances, so I think it’s important to have that time away with the people who are around you and who have been there for a long, long time in difficult times and just try and get on with life as normal as possible,” Bowen said in a statement on Friday.

“Obviously, we went down and then I missed out on the World Cup (at the end of May). So, in terms of a weekend, it probably couldn’t have gone any worse as a footballer in a career. But that’s just sometimes the hand that football plays you.

“For me, like I said, it was important to be with my family and stay with them and be disappointed about it because ultimately it hurt everyone and it should hurt everyone because it was such a disappointing thing that happened. But you can’t change it, and it doesn’t last forever.

“For me, it was only right to speak when the time’s right in circumstances like this, then it’s back to talking about football.”

Bowen follows in the footsteps of Gabriel Batistuta, Gianluigi Buffon, Marcos Senna, Franco Baresi Alessandro Del Piero, as one of the most high-profile players ever to stay at his club on the back of relegation.

Not to mention emulating Sir Trevor Brooking in 1978, Alvin Martin in 1989 and Mark Noble in 2011.

“I flew out to Prague in the Czech Republic to meet Daniel and Jiri (Svarc, Kretinsky’s right-hand man),” he added.

“And the ambition that I got from them – certainly in terms of the direction the Club wants to move in – it interests me a lot. It didn’t take a lot for me (to decide I wanted to stay), because this Club means a lot to me.”