
Get to know them: Episode 1

Middlesbrough FC are proud to announce the new series of Get To Know Them, which will be releassed every month on the club website. This will include interviews and details on the player's career to date. Episode 1 is now here, and we are looking at none other than last season's player of the year, Faris Haroun, pictured below in the 3-1 loss to Chelsea, in which he scored.
http://binaryapi.ap.org/d75f0151afc14611ae37e3eb8e0ee4da/512x.jpg

Our Belgaian midfielder Faris started his career with Racing White Daring Molenbeek in 2002, but the club soon dissolved and he was left to join RWDM 2003, the club that fans had created. However, he was soon off to RSD Jette and then Racing Club Genk, one of the biggest clubs in Belgium. He stayed there for 5 years, making 104 appearances and scoring 16 league goals. He was
soon moving across the country to AC Beerschot, a club that had produced many top Belgian footballers such as Thomas Vermaelen, Tom De Mul, Jan Vertonghen, Jelle Van Damme, Moussa Dembéle and Toby Alderweireld. He played 91 games for Beerschot but his contract was not renewed at the end of his third season. However, he was not without a club as Tony Mowbray handed him a 3-year contract after a successful trial, and Haroun was a Middlesbrough player. So far he has made 73 league appearances and scored 16 times, getting his highest tally of 12 in last season's title winning campaign, ending it as top scorer. We now have an interview with him about his career to date.
Get To Know Them: Hello Faris, this is the first edition of Get To Know Them, where Middlesbrough fans can well, get to know, their favourite players. Right, first question. You started your career with Racing White Daring Molenbeek, but they folded during your time there. Did you ever miss a payslip?
Faris Haroun: Haha! Err, no, because I was only a youth player at the time and I wasn't even on a full time contract, I was getting about €20 a month so they would have to be in some massive debt not to be able to pay me!
GTNT: So then you went to play for the club that was created by RWDM fans, RWDM 2003...
FH: I didn't play a game for them, but it was good, they are much better run than the original RWDM so they are doing well, they started in the bottom tier of Belgian football but they're in the second tier already, it's quite an interesting one, I believe a similar thing happened with a club in England, Wimbledon FC was it?
GTNT: AFC Wimbledon, yes. So you left, you went to Racing Genk, who have had some time in the UEFA Champions League. You played over a hundred times for them, and you left for AC Beerschot. How was it playing in the Belgian top flight for 8 years?
FH: It was really, accomplishing a goal, a dream come true. It was great playing for Genk, one of the biggest clubs in Belgium, and although I could have played in the Champions League if I had stayed, it was a good decision to move to Beerschot, they gave me more playing time and that improved my game, but it was disappointing that they did not renew my contract, as I was having good times with them.
GTNT: But it wasn't all bad, you signed on at the Riverside and now you are in the Premier League!
FH: Middlesbrough has been the best part of my life so far, the highest level I've played at and the best I've played, I can't perform to the same standards in the Premier League but we can hopefully stay at this level, it is what footballers all dream of.
GTNT: Thank you Faris
Sorry for the crap picture quality
