Former West Ham, Leeds United and Newcastle man reflects on shock move into international management

The latest step in the managerial career of former West Ham United and Charlton Athletic star Lee Bowyer can certainly be described as unexpected.

Bowyer started his playing career with the Addicks before going on to feature for the likes of Leeds United, Newcastle United and Birmingham City, winning the Carling Cup with the latter in 2011 after a surprise Wembley win against Arsenal. A first step into management came in 2018 when the once-capped England international returned to Charlton and a near three-year stint with the Addicks came to a close in March 2021 as Bowyer replaced Aitor Karanka at another of his old clubs, Birmingham City.

He left the Blues at the end of the 2021/22 season and has spent the last 14 months in charge of the Montserrat national team after taking the unexpected step of moving into international management in the Caribbean.

Ranked 180th in the FIFA world rankings and taking charge of a side sat between Belize and Cambodia is not where you would expect a former Premier League star to be - but Bowyer has revealed he is enjoying life in charge of the British territory.

Speaking on The Football News Show, Bowyer said: “It's very good. something completely different, different to what I’ve done in the past. Obviously being in England, managing in the Championship and League One, this is completely different, there’s a lot of travelling but you get to see different parts of the world and it's good. I just felt it was a difficult challenge. I spoke to the president of Montserrat and he told me about the journey they want to go on.

“We had World Cup qualifiers in the summer and were hoping to reach the knockout stages in the World Cup qualifiers. That was a big draw for me, that and working with different levels of players because our players, it's tough we have some who play league football back home in the EFL and some playing non-league who have jobs as well as playing for their team.”

He continued: “I know back home in England it's day-in-day-out, and there are positives to that because you get to mould your team, but the most important thing is you pass on your knowledge, that's why I'm here. I was very fortunate as a player and a coach to work under good managers, and now I'm here to pass on my knowledge to a group of lads who want to learn and improve.”

Bowyer’s side are back in action on Thursday when they host St Vincent and the Grenadines in their latest Concacaf Nations League fixture.