How Jonny is giving himself ‘best chance’ to keep going
BORO VETERAN HOWSON HAS NO DESIRE TO HANG HIS BOOTS UP JUST YET
JONNY Howson will turn 36 in May but has no plans to call a day on his playing career yet. Having already stated his desire to play on next season, he is hoping that will be at Middlesbrough, where his contract is up at the end of the season.
Still proving how important he can be for Michael Carrick’s Boro, Howson has looked good value for another 12-month contract extension after recently returning from a short-term injury to help Boro to three wins and a draw in their last four games.
So how and why does Howson keep himself going now?
When it’s suggested to him that he shows no signs of slowing down, the considered Boro skipper says: “It’s really nice that you say that because obviously that’s what I want. I don’t want to slow down but at some stage, it is going to or it is going to maybe take its toll. When that will be, who knows?
“I’ve spoken a few times on it. It’s nothing specific. I’m fairly lucky body-wise in that I don’t naturally put weight on, I’ve been lucky with injuries, no real serious ones. I do look after myself day-in and day-out, I try to do the right things. I don’t want to cut corners.
“I remember going back a few years, young Nathan Wood who I was fairly close to, he used to be in the gym all the time and I use little bits like that as motivation or things to keep me pushing. I looked at him and if he’s doing extra in the gym, why can’t I be, rather than taking the easy route?
“There are players at other clubs putting the extras in and come a Saturday I have to compete with that. Sometimes when you get a bit older you have to do a bit less to look after yourself but, on the other hand, you maybe have to do a bit more, whether that’s recovery, looking after yourself, eating the right foods... that’s how I look at it.
“If I want to play on as long as possible, I have to give myself the best chance of doing that and hopefully we’re here in another year or two years asking the same questions.”
For the time being, Howson is still enjoying his football and still has that burning desire to make sure he’s in the best possible condition he can be, game by game.
That recent knee injury, which was initially feared to be far worse, only served to reinforce Howson’s decision to play on. But he knows he will slow down eventually.
As much as he wants to prolong this ride as much as he possibly can, he knows eventually that father time will catch up and, in a sport that moves on so quickly, his time to hang up the boots will come. He’s taking the first steps into planning for life after football – at least as a player.
“There are a few of us to be fair just started on the coaching badges,” he revealed. “We have a good group with a couple of the analysts, physio and a few of the lads. I’ll be honest, I’d like to stay in football. I’m laughing thinking what my mates would be saying, but football is the only thing I really know. I’ll keep it at that because they’d say a lot worse!”
On Michael Carrick’s help with that, he continued: “I get on really well with the gaffer. We have a chat about all sorts. From my point of view, I ask him about his career, different things. I ask him all sorts about his success and what it was like when he was coming to the back end of his career, to get some idea.
“It’s not something he’s pushed on me but when I have spoken about that’s maybe a route I might take, he’s been very helpful. He sat with me one afternoon and I know he’s done it with one of the other lads as well, taking time out of his own schedule and spent a good couple of hours going through the ins and outs of managing and coaching.
“His staff have been the same, Danksy, Woody, Grant, it’s something I appreciate. It’s the same with my playing, I want to learn as much as I can, even now, and stepping from that into coaching, you want to learn from the best and pick up bits that might help you going forward.” While those initial postplaying