Tony Le Mesmer There has been an improvement under Bowen, no doubt about that.
But given the huge amounts the club has invested in player recruitment, I would say that a top 6 finish (or top 6 form) is the absolute bare minimum the club should be achieving this season. Anything else should be considered a failure.
Bowen obviously hasn't been coaching the team all season, but I wouldn't be giving him any more than 7/10 so far.
On the field, the team is at least starting to move in the right direction.
We had 8 points after 11 games, nearly a quarter of a season. To get to around the 74 point mark needed to grab a play-off spot we would have needed to pick up 66pts in 35 games that is challenging for the title form.
We are picking up points at a rate now that, if we had been picking them up at the same rate since August would see us up on 51 points - so 2 points outside the play-offs.
The fact we aren't is all on Gomes and the start we made - Bowen is doing all he can - taking a squad who could make the play-offs and having them in play-off form - not much he can do about the start under another manager.