Rob Edwards makes unique Middlesbrough FC decision after Jonny Howson exit | OneFootball

The long-serving captain has played his final match for the club.

Rob Edwards is not looking to replace former Middlesbrough captain Jonny Howson's role in the side with one person, but rather with a "leadership group".

Boro confirmed on Tuesday that the 37-year-old versatile midfielder has left the club. He was out of contract this summer and the Teessiders have decided not to offer him a new one.

Howson has been at the Riverside Stadium since 2017, when he was signed by Gary Monk. Capable of playing all over the midfield, few would've imagined that he'd go on to play in Middlesbrough's defence at centre-back and full-back in the last few years of his career at times.

He is now set to join Championship winners Leeds United as a player-coach for their under-21's, as has been reported by The Athletic - he came through the club's academy prior to joining Norwich City in January 2012.

Middlesbrough not looking to directly replace Jonny Howson role in their squad

Appointed club captain in 2021, and having remained in that position since then, Howson's departure leaves a vacancy, but one that the new boss is not looking to directly replace.

Instead, Edwards is going to share the leadership responsibilities around a number of players. Dael Fry, Darragh Lenihan and Aidan Morris have taken the armband so far this pre-season.

"We’ll shift it [the captaincy] around over the next couple of games," said the Welsh head coach, via the Northern Echo.

"H [Hayden Hackney] is a leader as well. I’ve spoken to a few of those kind of boys and explained that’s how we’ll do it.

"For me, right now, I want to try and build more leadership across the whole group. I want to give them that responsibility and see how they respond when they’ve got the armband on.

"I thought Aidan responded really well to that. Don’t read too much into it, though, because we will be sharing that out over the next few weeks. I want to have 11 leaders out there each week ultimately."

Middlesbrough's new captaincy approach can work in the long run

This is definitely a more modern approach to management, leadership and coaching. Rather than placing all the responsibilities on one person's shoulders, this theory, in theory, allows all of the natural leaders to show off their characteristics and provide a more well-rounded approach to the job.

Ultimately, someone will need to wear Boro's captain's armband each game, and passing it around to different people from contest to contest may make it feel a little less important than it has always traditionally been. The general approach, though, is not one without precedent of working.

Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have taken a similar approach to their leadership structure. During Granit Xhaka's final years at the Emirates Stadium, Martin Odegaard was the skipper, but the Swiss international, who formerly led the dressing room, was encouraged to show off his natural instincts and help the Norwegian in his role.

That example has turned out pretty well, and Boro may find the same results with their new process.