EFL captain spotted leading fan chant in away end during Hull City vs Middlesbrough
01/01/2025 02:57 PM
A former Premier League star was spotted leading the support of the away fans during a Championship clash on Wednesday.
Jonny Howson was spotted among the traveling fans for Middlesbrough‘s trip to face Hull City in the Championship and getting right in on the action in the 1-0 win.
Howson, who is Middlesbrough’s captain, was spotted by fans in the away end and serenaded with ‘Howson, give us a song’.
More than happy to oblige, the injured midfielder could be seen shushing all of the fans around him, before stretching his arms out to the side.
He then launched into a rendition of popular Middlesbrough song ‘You Are My Boro’, much to the delight of the fans around him.
The 36-year-old midfielder is a hugely popular figure at the Riverside Stadium having joined the club in the summer of 2017.
Despite his advancing years, Howson is Middlesbrough’s club captain under Michael Carrick and is regarded as a key part of the Championship club’s side.
The central midfielder started his career with Leeds United after advancing through the youth academy with James Milner, Danny Rose and Aaron Lennon.
He went on to make 225 appearances for his boyhood club, before joining Norwich City.
It was there where he made 104 appearances in the Premier League, scoring eight goals in the process.
Now with Middlesbrough, Howson will be hoping to earn promotion back to the top flight before he hangs up his boots.
The 36-year-old is out of contract in the summer but like previous seasons, could be handed another 12-month rolling deal to extend his stay at the Riverside.
When Howson does hang up his boots, he’s expressed an interest in going into management, telling the local media: “As we sit here now, and things can change, I would like to give managing a go. But it all depends on opportunities. It’s how you get there. I would like to learn about the coaching and managing before going straight in, but football is a funny business.
“I’ve spoken to previous managers and there’s certainly one I can remember who said it was offered out of the blue and he fell into it like that. It’s hard to plan your ideal route. I would like to give it a go at some stage but it’s completely different to playing. It’s about managing players and I need to learn how to do that and, let’s be honest, make mistakes.
“It’s a cut-throat business. But I also understand if you get offered a certain role sometimes you have to take it because it might never happen again. It all depends on opportunities and what interests you. There’s a lot of parts to football now and different ways of learning to get to where you want to be. So there are a fair few roles that interest me but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
While management could be on the cards, he’ll may well be keen to just be a supporter for a while, especially given how much he enjoyed life in the away end.
