Howson is back training after surgery

JONNY Howson is back on the grass after his hernia surgery.

The midfielder turned right-back jetted to Europe during the international break to go under the knife.

But Howson is bang on schedule, back in training and has targeted a return within a few weeks.

“I’ve had a little bit of surgery on a hernia,” he explained as he attended a ‘Football Welcomes’ refugee inclusion project at the Herlingshaw Centre.

“I flew to Germany last Monday and had it done Tuesday morning and it went well and hopefully I won’t be too far away.

“I saw a specialist surgeon out there the club have used before. I spoke to the club doctor Bryan English and he recommended the surgeon.

“It is a routine procedure for them and I presume it was all straight-forward. I’m back on the grass now.

“Since I’ve had it done I’ve been speaking to quite a few of the lads who have had hernias before in their careers.

“It seems a fairly common thing and people recover well with no problems so hopefully I’ll be back as good as new.

“I’m not sure of the timetable but I’m outside now, I’ve started running a little bit and it feels really good.

“So hopefully I can kick on now and within a couple of weeks I like to think I’ll be back.”

While he has been sidelined, Howson has been forced into being a reluctant spectator.

He watched the hardearned 1-0 win over Reading from the West Stand Upper and admits it was a draining experience.

“It was certainly a very different perspective,” he said. “Speaking from a personal point of view, there’s nothing worse as a player than watching.

“Watching the last five or 10 minutes when they had a few corners and

Daz (Darren Randolph) made a couple of terrific saves... it’s the worst thing ever watching it.

“It is so frustrating. You can’t affect it. At least if you are out there you can understand the situation and you can do your job.

“But sitting and watching it from up there you are helpless.”

Being in the crowd did have some positives though said Howson: he got a real sense of the crowd getting behind the team.

“The atmosphere was really good,” he said.

“As much as I don’t like being a spectator it is maybe sometimes not a bad thing to sit back and take it in. You can sense the mood of the ground.

“When you are playing you don’t get that, you tune out from any distractions and concentrate on the game and things are all happening so fast you don’t see or hear much from the background.

“It was good to experience that and you could get a sense that people are with us. It was very supportive. People seem to understand there’s a little bit of change going on but they can see the good things that are happening too.”

He also got a good view of Dutch new boy Anfernee Dijksteel. The £2m summer signing from Charlton has slotted into the right-back berth in the two games Howson has been out.

“He’s done really well,” was his assessment. “Sometimes when you move to a new club it can take a while to settle in.

“But theres a real togetherness in the group and that has helped him bed in quickly and you can see he is getting better every game.”

Jonny Howson was speaking at a ‘session of the Football Welcomes’ refugee football inclusion project supported by the MFC Foundation and Amnesty International.