Having had the opportunity to chat with Howson on multiple occasions during his eight seasons as a Boro player, I’m pretty sure the 37-year-old will regard his time on Teesside as, if not a failure, then a period when he failed to deliver what he promised. Perhaps, when he returns to the Riverside for a proper farewell at some stage next season, he will appreciate that a promotion party is not the only way to measure a career. He didn’t lead Boro back to the Premier League, but over the course of 341 senior appearances, he achieved so much more than that.
Leeds United might have been Howson’s first love, but in his eight years on Teesside, the proud West Yorkshireman demolished the notion that you can never have a second team. Even if he had been born in James Cook and raised in Pallister Park, he could not have been more devoted to his adopted club or better illustrated what it should mean to represent Middlesbrough.
On the pitch, his talents shone through from the moment he was signed by Garry Monk in the summer of 2017 for a fee of around £6m. Think back to that summer, in the immediate aftermath of relegation. Not without justification, it has come to be thought of as the moment when Boro frittered away the parachute-payment money that should have been their ticket back to the top-flight. Britt Assombalonga, Martin Braithwaite, Darren Randolph. Players wanting a quick buck.
Then there was Howson. He was an attacking-midfielder initially, signed off the back of a successful spell at Norwich and, initially at least, one of Monk’s key creative assets. That was his role for a while, but once Monk departed, his status evolved. Tony Pulis saw his defensive strengths and felt he had found a midfield general. Neil Warnock fancied him as a defender and moved him to right-back. “I always thought Jonny was half-decent when I managed against him,” said Warnock, with his trademark glint. “But bloody hell, he’s a fair bit better than that.”
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Howson’s technical abilities were often underplayed, particularly when he slotted in at centre-half and cruised through a game against Championship bruisers, but it was his footballing character that made him stand out. Commitment, leadership, whole-hearted effort, unflinching professionalism. Old-fashioned virtues? Perhaps. But also ones that any player, coach or supporter would want in their team.
Howson never grumbled when he was asked to change position, never even considered the option of giving less than 100 per cent. As club captain, a role he was appointed to after the 2020-21 campaign that saw him voted Player of the Year by the North-East Football Writers’ Association, he was in a position to ensure his own values were passed on to those around him. As a club committed to promoting and developing young talent, Boro could not have wished for a better role model. There are plenty of Rockliffe Park academy graduates who owe much of what they believe in to Howson.
Interviewing Howson was always fascinating. All too often now, hurried chats with footballers can feel generic. “I’m just focusing on the next game”. Not with Howson. Whether at Rockliffe before the start of a season, at a club event when the skipper was tasked with representing the club in the best possible light, or pitchside after a defeat, when Howson was invariably handed the unwanted task of putting his head above the parapet, he was never one for giving a pre-prepared answer. Ask a question, wait for four or five seconds while Howson had a proper think, then be prepared for a five-minute answer that could wander off pretty much anywhere.
Howson was always his fiercest critic because he was so demanding, but he was also incisive, humorous and unfailingly friendly. Supporters lived him because there was no façade. With Howson, you got what you saw. And what you invariably saw was a devoted family man, fully aware of just how privileged he was to be paid to be a footballer.
One of my favourite chats with Howson came in the summer of 2022, when he had just signed a new contract to end talk that, even then, was starting to focus on his retirement. What drove him on during those dark winter days when the rain was lashing down at the training ground?
“Some will want to do it for money, some will want to do it for medals, some will want to do it for their family or their sense of self-pride,” he said. “There’s lots of different reasons and motivations. People are different, but with regard to myself, I think the main driving force is that I’ve always just wanted to do the best I possibly can, and if I can look myself in the mirror and genuinely know I’ve done that, that’s good enough for me.”
Howson could look at himself in that mirror on each and every day of his Boro career and know he had not let himself, his team-mates or the club’s supporters down. Ultimately, that’s got to be worth more than a promotion winner’s medal.
