Shout of encouragement for thug (4)
I believe the answer is:
goon
'for thug' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'shout of encouragement' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'gon' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for goon that I've seen before include "person making fool of himself" , "Foolish person - thug (US)" , "He's very stupid" , "Stupid person" , "SPIKE] ?" .)