MIDDLESBROUGH boss Tony Mowbray has backed Belgian midfielder Faris Haroun to establish himself as a Boro regular ahead of today’s visit of Hull City.
Haroun joined the club last summer after completing a successful trial period following spells in Belgium with Racing Genk and Germinal Beerschot.
The six-times capped international has become a cult hero with fans who have adopted the expression of booming his name out every time he either touches the ball or comes off the bench.
Mowbray, though, has been selective in employing the 26-year-old’s services as he has sought to blend him into the English style of play. Such an approach began to bear fruit last weekend when Haroun capped a superb display with a sublime winning goal in the 3-2 win at Cardiff.
While the player might have been puzzled by not playing as often as he would have liked, Mowbray states that should he keep up his form, that might no longer be an issue.
He said: “I think all players who are coming in from a different league – 90% of them anyway as some like (Luis) Suarez hit the ground running – find it does take time to adjust. Suarez came over from playing for a top-class side like Ajax, whereas Faris came over after playing with a small club in Belgium and he needed to acclimatise to the intensity and the physicality of our league.
“I think we’re all relatively happy with Faris. There have been times where I’ve left him out of the team and he’s found that a bit difficult to take because he was used to playing every week with the club he’s joined us from.
“Yet this is a different league, a different club and with that comes different demands and yet he’s growing all the time. He is trying to be a better footballer and fit in with our philosophy and he works extremely hard at his game.
“Like Bart (Ogbeche), he’s another one who spends his time after training working with the coaches on aspects of his game and hopefully we’re seeing the fruits of that hard work now.”
Settling into the dressing-room culture has been known to be an obstacle for players from foreign pastures, but Mowbray says Haroun has had a bit of help on that score.
He added: “Having Marvin (Emnes) and (Justin) Hoyte around has helped him. I think he’s found some good friends and good pals. He’s not one of those foreigners who just sits in the corner by himself with nobody really chatting to him.
“He’s bought into the dressing room really well. He’s got a lovely personality and with Marvin he can’t stop smiling or laughing. That’s made the transition of moving to a new country easier for him.
“Having Marvin and Justin help him settle in was nothing to do with me. Players are men and they have to go to a new environment and bond really.
“You are what you are. If you’re going to be shy and quiet, be on the periphery of things and don’t buy into it, you’re going to be on your own. You naturally migrate to the personality of the people of the dressing who have similar traits to yourself.
“That is what has happened with Faris with Marvin and Justin. They like the same music and go to the same places and that’s how life is.”
Middlesbrough go into today’s game at the Riverside right in the promotion mix – a stark contrast to the situation Mowbray found the club in after his predecessor Gordon Strachan had left them hovering over the Championship’s relegation zone.
His secret for the transformation? His players simply needed a philosophy to buy into.
Mowbray continued: “Something had to change. Whatever was happening before – and I say this with total respect to Gordon, who is a fantastic coach who has achieved a lot of great things in his managerial career – wasn’t happening for the players.
“However much hard work was going in, the results were not happening and the players needed something to cling on to. They needed a different direction, which we gave them.
“That is good for us because when footballers believe in what you ask of them, generally, they blindly do it. When the results start to happen, they start to believe in you as a coach.”
