Kieron Bowie targets Scotland squad as Hibs star says the best is still to come (2025)

Bowie has caught the eye for the Hibees after recovering from a serious hamstring problem that kept him out of action for four months

Kieron Bowie admits young and old are providing plenty of inspiration for him in his bid to star for club and country.

The striker’s debut campaign at Hibs has been mostly a disappointment after a recurrence of a hamstring injury sustained on Scotland Under-21 duty last September left him sidelined for over four months.

The 22-year-old concedes it will not be until next season Hibs fans see the best of him as he plays catch-up in his bid to regain peak fitness.

Long-term, Bowie is hoping success at Hibs can help him break into the senior national side.

And he can draw comfort from seeing Hearts marksman James Wilson become the youngest Scotland player at only 18 last month.

Closer to him, Bowie is taking pointers from former Premier League striker and team-mate Dwight Gayle –once a £10million signing by Newcastle United – as he looks to hone his own game.

Asked if Wilson’s call-up gives him hope of future recognition Bowie, who is hoping to make only a fourth league start in today’s visit of Dundee, said: “Yeah, definitely.

“There’s a wee chance there eventually but I’m just trying to get back to full fitness.

“I’m still not there yet and it’ll probably be next season before I’m fully myself – but I’m trying to do as best as I can.

“I’ve shown glimpses of what I can do but to actually do that I need to build full fitness – I’ll get there.

“It’s like playing catch-up, isn’t it? Everyone else has had a pre-season and I’ve not had that then I’m coming back, doing runs and stuff like that.”

For now, Bowie, who began his career at hometown club Raith Rovers, is planning to glean as much advice from elder statesman Gayle ahead of the 35-year-old’s planned summer retirement. Gayle’s body may be slowing down but he remains sharp in the head.

Bowie added: “Gayley, being a striker as well, gives little pointers now and then.

“He’s not constantly trying to coach but he’s giving me, Rudi (Molotnikov) and the younger lads pointers of what we should do and what we can do in certain situations. Just watching him in training, you can see he has a lot of quality.

“You can tell what he’s done in his career and take bits off his game and add it to yours.”

Off the pitch, Bowie is as settled as he can be with one-year-old twin girls Victoria and Florence keeping him on his toes.

A return to Kirkcaldy following four years at Fulham has proven to be the right one with his parents on hand to give him and partner Brooke some time to themselves.

“It’s good back up the road,” he added. “My parents are here and my two girls are there all the time having sleepovers at my parents’ house – we didn’t have that down there.

“We were constantly parenting so now we can sort of have nights to ourselves.

“It’s good to get a bit of a break sometimes.

“To be fair, my partner’s very good. I don’t know how she does it, honestly! I go home and they go to sleep a few hours later and I’m knackered.

“So she does it for a full day but credit to her. Days off are like a full job for me.

“They’re two in June so it’s just carnage now.”

Hibs paid £600,000 to bring Bowie back north of the border last summer and the striker is desperate to help repay some of that fee.

He has hit three goals in 16 outings in his injury-hit campaign but would love to end the season by helping Hibs secure a European spot. That would cap a stunning

turnaround in fortunes for a team that were propping up the Premiership table as recently as mid-December.

David Gray’s side can even equal a 77-year club record by going 17 league games unbeaten against the Dark Blues today.

Bowie added: “Playing in Europe is an ambition. At the start of the season no one was thinking about that.

“Everyone was talking about us getting relegated so to have an opportunity of even being involved is brilliant.”