{"id":505451,"date":"2025-10-17T00:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T00:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/505451\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T00:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T00:16:14","slug":"daniel-farke-predicts-how-old-leeds-united-hero-jonny-howson-will-be-when-he-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/505451\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Farke predicts how old Leeds United hero Jonny Howson will be when he retires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke has singled out one of the unsung heroes in his squad for praise, having played a key role behind the scenes this season. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyone who has watched Leeds\u2019 under-21s this season will have noticed a familiar face marshalling the centre of defence for the Leeds Academ<\/a>y side. <\/p>\n

Although Harry Gray has been the centre of attention<\/a> for Leeds\u2019 young charges this season, Leeds veteran Jonny Howson has played an important role for the under-21s. <\/p>\n

Howson returned to Elland Road<\/a> this summer to take on a player-coach role with the Whites, 19 years after he made his debut for the Leeds first-team in an EFL Cup tie against Barnet. <\/p>\n

Now, Farke has praised Howson for his influential role<\/a> behind the scenes at Leeds, on the day after the under-21s secured a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao\u2019s B-team. <\/p>\n

\"JonnyPhoto by Alex Livesey\/Getty ImagesDaniel Farke praises Leeds United veteran Jonny Howson<\/p>\n

Speaking in his press conference ahead of Leeds\u2019 game against Burnley, Farke explained why it was so essential to have a player like Howson in the wider squad<\/a>. <\/p>\n

According to Farke, he warned his players not to even try to press Howson in an inter-squad friendly, and his longstanding connection with the club is an important part of Farke\u2019s philosophy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I heard the news that we wanted to sign Jonny Howson for our under-21s, I said, \u2018No, no, we signed him for the first team.\u2019 I love him as a player, really,\u201d Farke said.<\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

\u201cI always told him, with his quality and his calmness on the ball, he can play until he\u2019s 45, so even sometimes when I watch him on the other pitch and see how smooth he\u2019s still on the ball and composed, I\u2019m tempted to call him up for our training. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a bit of an in-house friendly also during the international break. I told my players, listen, Jonny Howson, we spoke about how we want to press, he\u2019s unpressable, you don\u2019t even have to try it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s top class, so don\u2019t worry, I won\u2019t call him up. But I think to have a lad like him around, with his personality also, with his Leeds roots, then as a role model for the young lads, it\u2019s a perfect thing that you need to have. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s also an important part and cornerstone of our philosophy to have our former players involved, and also local boys within the club. Of course, you can\u2019t run a Premier League side just with local boys, but whenever it\u2019s possible to do this, it\u2019s a joy to have Jonny around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DanielPhoto by Clive Rose\/Getty ImagesHow many games did Jonny Howson play for Leeds United?<\/p>\n

Eddie Burbanks is Leeds\u2019 oldest player<\/a>, but Howson would comfortably break this record if Farke\u2019s prediction comes true. Howson made his Leeds debut in Kevin Blackwell\u2019s final game as Leeds manager, as Ian Thomas Moore scored twice in a League Cup win over Barnet. <\/p>\n

However, the all-action midfielder only truly established himself as a regular in the Leeds first team following their relegation to League One. <\/p>\n

Overall, Howson played 225 times for Leeds and had a handy knack of popping up with a goal, including one in a famous comeback win over Burnley in 2010<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Now, the Leeds Academy product is playing another important role, helping to guide the next generation at Thorp Arch into Farke\u2019s first team. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke has singled out one of the unsung heroes in his squad for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,1385,393,4884,106143,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-505451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-daniel-farke","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-jonny-howson","13":"tag-leeds","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115386633163612961","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}