‘YOU HAVE TO SAVOUR GOOD TIMES BUT KEEP A LEVEL HEAD’
AFTER Middlesbrough dumped Tottenham out of the FA Cup on Tuesday night, the Teesside Gazette asked readers to describe Jonny Howson’s performance in a single word.
One reply said simply ‘Iniesta’. It might seem outrageous to compare an ageing Championship stalwart to one of the greatest midfielders to grace a football pitch but, for one night only, Howson really was in the Spaniard’s class.
Against a team of internationals and the most potent striking partnership in Premier League history, it was Howson who shone. Howson who dominated. Howson who laid the foundation for Josh Coburn’s emphatic extra-time winner.
He passed. He tackled. He snuffed out danger and sparked attacks. “Jonny gave us a pivot to play,” said Boro boss Chris Wilder. What could be more Iniesta than that?
“It was lovely hearing stuff like that,” admits the down-to-earth Yorkshireman, who joined Boro in 2017 after lengthy spells at Norwich and boyhood club Leeds.
“But probably because you are older, you know not to get too carried away. That’s a shame in some respects, because you never truly get to enjoy those big moments.
“There’s always that thing of ‘The next game is just round the corner’, and I’m realistic enough to know that if I have a stinker on Saturday then nobody will be singing my praises.
“I always remember one of my youth coaches back at Leeds. He said ‘No matter what happens, whether you’re man of the match or subbed at half-time, you’ve always got to keep a level head’. I’ve tried to live by that.
“It’s difficult at times. When you go through a tough spell, it’s only natural to get disheartened and down. On the flip side, you have a night like Tuesday and you’re over the moon, excited, on top of the world.
Milestones
“I try to keep it all at a distance, but, yeah, games like that, praise like that that’s why we play football, isn’t it?”
Howson’s night finally ended in the 118th minute, when his 33-year-old legs all but buckled beneath him.
Such fatigue was understandable. Since making his debut for Leeds in 2006, Howson has played 629 games, averaging a remarkable 41 per season.
“When I came here, Stewart Downing was around for the first couple of seasons,” he says by way of explanation.
“Stew set a couple of different milestones, whether it was career appearances or games for Middlesbrough.
“I remember reading that and thinking ‘Wow, that’s good going’. To have played at such a high level and internationally for so long - it was a real inspiration to me.
“Until then I wasn’t massively aware of my numbers. It was the first time I really looked at what I’d done, and now I’m extremely proud of my record.
“You have to be fortunate, of course. Some people pick up a lot of injuries, and that’s just the way they’re made.
“I have been fortunate. But I’m also a big believer in looking after yourself and I’ve always done that to give myself the best chance.”
Still, to those of us who remember him as a teenager at Elland Road, hearing Howson described as a “veteran” by pundits during the Spurs game was jarring.
“Age is something you can’t do anything about, isn’t it?” he laughs. “And my three best mates never let me forget how old I am, don’t worry about that!”
And like all ageing players, Howson is drifting backwards. In days of yore, he was a goalscoring box-to-boxer in the mould of Steven Gerrard. The 2010-11 campaign yielded 11 goals for Leeds.
Now the midfielder is a deep-lying pivot, anchoring Boro’s three-man midfield and filling in at the back when - as instructed - the wide centre-backs rampage forward.
“I’ve always said - and this was prior to joining Middlesbrough - that I’ll do any job I’m asked to the best of my ability,” he said. “Whether that’s playing out of position. Using the ball a certain way.
“It looks like the goals have dried up over the years and they have. But let’s be honest - that’s because I’ll try owt!
Headlines
“When Jonathan Woodgate was manager here, I played right-back. A little bit at centre-back. I enjoyed it.
“The way I looked at it was, we’d all like to be the No.9, scoring all the goals and getting all the headlines. But the fact is, you can’t be. You do what’s best for the team, you do what you’re told and that’s how a team functions.”
I try to keep it all at a distance but games like that, praise like that – that’s why we play football, isn’t it?
Jonny Howson
We’ve created something for the long term, that people will want still to talk about many years from now
Jonny Howson
Middlesbrough are functioning like clockwork right now, thanks in no small part to the brilliantly coached up-and-at-em ethos of Wilder, who replaced
Neil Warnock in November.
Pre-weekend, the ex-Sheffield United boss had won 11 of his 19 games in charge to put Boro firmly into the playoff picture with a quarter of the season remaining.
“Playing under Chris now, it’s great,” says Howson. “The most enjoyable thing in football is attacking, and that’s what we do.
“But the bottom line is that nothing beats winning. Nothing. I would take - and I’m sure a large number of fans would take - winning games of football even if it was played in an unenjoyable way.
“There’s no right or wrong. The game is full of opinions and perceptions. Chris is a top bloke who says it how it is, and we all really appreciate that.
“But I’ve enjoyed working with everyone. Chris, Neil, Jon, Tony Pulis before that. You see different ways of achieving results and that’s something I find really interesting. But nothing beats winning.”
Some wins, though, are bigger than others.
“Moments like Tuesday don’t come around too much in football,” said Howson, who will face Chelsea at home in the quarter finals.
“They’re the ones that you look back on. Nobody ever stops you in the street to talk about a bad game you had ten years ago, do they? It’s the good times they remember. We’ve created something for the long term, that people will still want to talk about many years from now. That’s a lovely thing.”