Jonny Howson hoping for new Boro contract

I would keep hold of him. He is the example our young professionals should be looking to. I would’ve loved to have seen O’Brien stay fit and get 15-20 games to get his rhythm, that’s the sort of level of player we need to bring in to replace Howson and eventually Barlaser.

We are going into a summer where we’re really looking to strengthen the team, not the squad, like last summer. Letting Howson leave means you have to replace him. We’d then be needing two midfielders instead of one really good one. I would keep him around and look to address the real areas of weakness - we need 3 or 4 quality players ADDING to the group as it is imo. You let Jonny go and that becomes as many as 5.

I would like see him offered a new deal.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
Letting Howson leave means you have to replace him.
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We need to replace him in the first team whether he stays or not. Even if we keep him, we can't rely on him to be playing the majority of our matches at 36 year old. He's played the most amount of minutes in the Championship after Fry this season. I don't think that was ever the plan. Obviously things haven't really worked out for O'Brien with his injuries.

If Hackney leaves, we need two first team CM bringing in irrelevant of whether Howson stays or goes. If Howson leaves we will need a 3rd CM for the squad. It's a big ask for the recruitment to find players of that quality in one window and something we really need to get right.
 
Without doubt give him another year.

Not just because he "deserves it", he still puts in some excellent performances granted he's had 1 or 2 poor games lately.
 
It depends what he wants to do. If he expects to play the majority of games we should let him go. If he is happy to fill in to cover for injuries then his presence would be welcomed I think.
 
I would keep him but with his full understanding that he wouldn't be a nailed on starter for every game as this summer it's time we sign a proper replacement.
 
I'd only keep him, if he's happy being a squad player.

Unfortunately, we need to build a first 11 without him in it.

He's a top pro and someone who I would like to still keep in and around the group as he's a leader. And he's probably still good enough to fill in now and again, but I feel his performances aren't near the standard we need, on a 3 match week basis, if we're wanting to achieve promotion.
 
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This one is one Scott needs to get right. He needs a good CM this window and one that's ready to compete at this level now otherwise it's a big failure. He's had plenty of time to find his man. We've known we need to replace Jonny since last summer. He only had a 12 month contract offered. There's no excuses for not getting this one right really.
 
To be fair I suspect the plan this year was for him to be, if not a squad player, then at least a rotation option. No one expected Hackney and O'brien to be out for as long as they were.

Definitely keep as back up. Im sure having to play every minute of every match isn't doing his performances any favours and he's still been pretty good.

He'd probably have been a lot better if we could've managed his playing time a bit better.
 
Marvanelli said:
I'd only keep him, if he's happy being a squad player.

Unfortunately, we need to build a first 11 without him in it.

He's a top pro and someone who I would like to still keep in and around the group as he's a leader. And he's probably still good enough to fill in now and again, but I feel his performances aren't near the standard we need, on a 3 match week basis, if we're wanting to achieve promotion.
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Every player is a squad player. The best 11 get picked. Howson will know that and Carrick will too. If he gets another year and he is performing in training better than someone else he will start and thats exactly how it should be.
I expect that of Carrick unlike what we saw from Warnock and even Wilder who had their favourites.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
I would keep hold of him. He is the example our young professionals should be looking to. I would’ve loved to have seen O’Brien stay fit and get 15-20 games to get his rhythm, that’s the sort of level of player we need to bring in to replace Howson and eventually Barlaser.

We are going into a summer where we’re really looking to strengthen the team, not the squad, like last summer. Letting Howson leave means you have to replace him. We’d then be needing two midfielders instead of one really good one. I would keep him around and look to address the real areas of weakness - we need 3 or 4 quality players ADDING to the group as it is imo. You let Jonny go and that becomes as many as 5.

I would like see him offered a new deal.
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I agree, good post. We really cant afford to let many players leave we are very thin on experience.

The other problem i think with someone like him being a squad player is he usually takes games to get up to speed and being in and out wont help his performances or his fitness.
 
asredastheycome said:
If he gets another year and he is performing in training better than someone else he will start and thats exactly how it should be.
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Without doubt.

But the chances of his performances being good enough to push us into a promotion campaign look slim, and are looking slimmer with each passing week.

If he's performing better than others, in and around him in the squad, then yes, he definitely deserves to start, however, if he's performing as one of the best, then that would concern me because at 36 years old, he shouldn't be the best performing midfielder in the squad.
 
I personally think we should keep JH, mostly as a back up to any injuries, let him do his coaching badges here and have a go at coaching the academy midfielders.
In other words a bit of a jack of all trades for a season. It keeps him involved and in a way that could possibly suit all parties.
A Grant apprentice if you like.
 
Keeping him to be squad player has to come with the contract to match. It's often quoted that he's our highest earner (along with McNair) and neither of them are offering good value as back-ups. If they want to remain a part of the club but play the back-up role they need to accept half what they are currently getting.
 
Nano said:
Keeping him to be squad player has to come with the contract to match. It's often quoted that he's our highest earner (along with McNair) and neither of them are offering good value as back-ups. If they want to remain a part of the club but play the back-up role they need to accept half what they are currently getting.
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Or 2/3’s, unless of course you are a club accountant Nano!
 
Nano said:
Howson is still the best in our squad at what he does. That's not because he is still amazing, he's definitely declining year by year, but it's because the recruitment team have failed to find anyone better than a 36 year old Jonny Howson. They've definitely tried to replace him but they keep getting it badly wrong. If we go into next season with him as first choice again then it's just more failure from the recruitment team.

We should have someone who is as good as Howson was several years ago ready to take over and make this question really easy. I'm not against him still being in the squad if the finances are good, he's good enough and fit enough, but he shouldn't be our best option.
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Time to cut them a bit of slack. We spent £5m on Howson 7 years ago and we've had good value from him. Our layout under the current director of football and his recruitment team has been nowhere near as generous. We're not recruiting with parachute money.
 
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