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JJ

Skipper for next year?

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Instead of adding another manager to the forum list just out of interest who do people think would do a good job for us in the current squad?

It''s gone horribly wrong this year with Bassong and Martin and if anything one of the many reasons we struggled. The lack of a leader on the pitch and Mr. Media off the field haven''t worked.

I''m just struggling to see a leader on the pitch at the moment, the influence Holty and people alike have had. Could it be someone needs to be brought in or someone steps up to the plate and where''s the badge with pride?

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An excellent question, I would imagine it might well be Martin, but that depends on who the new manager is, and what players we bring in/get rid of.

It also reminded me of the number of leaders we had all over the park in our last Championship season- Holt, Crofts (captain at Brighton), Ward (captain at Coventry), Martin (occasional captain at Peterboro, later our club captain), and Drury (one of our former captains). Add to that Wessi, who often took the armband when Holt was absent, and Ruddy in goal, then we had a team full of leaders that season. Perhaps that''s part of the reason for our failure this season- not enough players willing to stand up and be counted when the going got tough.

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We are hardly limited for options as cusdp says, + there''s Johnson and Olsson as a possibles. There''ll also be any number of comings and goings with new guys up to it.

It is hardly the most important thing to worry about right now, a week after the season end and when we are looking for a manager.

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None of the above mentioned are what I would call stand out options. Snodgrass is maybe the exception. I stand by what I stated originally.

The lack of decent leadership on the pitch was evident last season.

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It depends what you expectfrom a leader. If it is the respect of the the rest of the squad for his ability to lead by his professional approach, consistency and ability to understand human nature and therefore get in to the universe of the other squad members to get the best out of them, then there is only one choice in my opinion and that is Russ Martin.

I''m as certain as I can be that had CH made him captain last season, then we would still be in the PL

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Ray, I know you love to heap praise on Russ Martin for every little thing you can but come on, saying we''d still be in the Prem if he was wearing a bit of fabric around his arm on match days is ridiculous.

 

He''s obviously well liked, he seems to be a good guy to have around the place but he''s an average (at best) player at Premier League level and he''s not  going to perform miracles just because he''s got the armband on.

 

I''m sure you''ll come back and find even more reasons why you think Russell is a hero but maybe we''d have stood a better chance of staying up if he wasn''t in the team because he was poor in so, so many games.

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GJP,

I heap praise on RM for the big things and you saying ''just because he was wearing a bit of fabric around his arm'' tells me a great deal about your understanding and knowledgeof the situation.

Trust me on this, as I possibly know far more about the workings of the club and what goes on within it than you, Why do you think NA made him captain and effectively dropped Seb out of the squad?

Are you telling me that you know more about the individuals concerned than he does?

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An excellent question, I would imagine it might well be Martin, but that depends on who the new manager is, and what players we bring in/get rid of.

It also reminded me of the number of leaders we had all over the park in our last Championship season- Holt, Crofts (captain at Brighton), Ward (captain at Coventry), Martin (occasional captain at Peterboro, later our club captain), and Drury (one of our former captains). Add to that Wessi, who often took the armband when Holt was absent, and Ruddy in goal, then we had a team full of leaders that season. Perhaps that''s part of the reason for our failure this season- not enough players willing to stand up and be counted when the going got tough.
Howson and Bennett (R) were both captains at their former clubsI don''t think there was too much of not ''standing up and being counted'' more a lack of believe in the way they were being asked to playWe may well have to wait until all incoming players are known before we know who is captain, but it needs to be one player on and off the field

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[quote user="Ray"]GJP, I heap praise on RM for the big things and you saying ''just because he was wearing a bit of fabric around his arm'' tells me a great deal about your understanding and knowledgeof the situation. Trust me on this, as I possibly know far more about the workings of the club and what goes on within it than you, Why do you think NA made him captain and effectively dropped Seb out of the squad? Are you telling me that you know more about the individuals concerned than he does?[/quote]

You heap praise on him for everything.

 

"Possibly" you know more but "possibly" you''re not the only one who knows some stuff.

 

Yeah, great, NA made him at captain. We got 1 point from 5 games and overall didn''t look any better than we did under Hughton (and with Bassong wearing the armband). We didn''t even get a particularly stirring performance against Arsenal, we went out with a whimper.

 

I don''t actually have a problem with Martin being captain - I said a year ago that Bassong wouldn''t have been my choice, wasn''t a good fit for me.

 

But for me it''s far too much of a stretch to say we''d be in the Premier League if he was captain. Would that have scored us another 20 goals and/or ship 20 less? Would that have prevented costly injuries to Howson, Tettey, Fer and Turner?

 

We just weren''t good enough in too many areas on the football pitch to stay up.

 

 

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"overall didn''t look any better than we did under Hughton (and with Bassong wearing the armband)."really ?that would not have been my thoughtmaybe you could tell us how many points we got against those 5 teams in the earlier gamesthe team was too hamstrung by incompetent coaching and tactics to have a captain that was going to be of any real influence

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Oh GJP.

Of course I am not the only one who knows stuff but your previous post (and your last one) leads me to believe I know more than you.

Of course we would not have scored 20 goals more or conceded 20 goals less.

Of course we were not good enough in too many areas on the football pitch to stay up. but stop for a minute to think about why.

Bassong was CH''s man, he was named Captain because he supported all CH did and look where that led us.

Do you think for one moment the 4 - 0 win against WBA last season was down to CH, there may have been a players revolt, I wonder who was instrumental, I wonder who the vast majority of the squad wanted as Captain this year and finally I wonder who may have inspired the players throughout the season to just one more win against, Hull, Cardiff x 2, etc. That is why I say had RM been Captain we may still be in the PL, not because we would have score 20 more goals, just 2 would have done.

Ability alone wins you nothing, mindset and overall attitude does, and I promise you RM is the best equipped player in the squad to get this from our players.

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Ray, I agree with some of the points you make and I believe Martin will be a good captain ( if he is chosen ) in the Championship next season. However, right back has been a real difficulty for us this past season because, quite frankly, neither Martin or Whittaker are good enough at Premiership level. If we are fortunate enough to get back to that level quickly we need to fix the areas where we were weak. No matter how good an individual may be as a leader of others that individual does not belong on the pitch if he lacks the skills required. In that case the effectiveness of his leadership skills are compromised. Although I did not agree with Hughton''s approach on the captaincy I could understand why he had the dilemma.  

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Personally I would probably pick Howson, as I believe he was the captain for Leeds. A captain with experience would always be best - why have Terry and Gerrard been the captains for England in recent years? Because they''re the regular captains for their clubs

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Yankee,

We disagree on how good RM is but I''m not going to get into that, however, the selection of SB as Captain was either done because he wanted a yes man, or he truly had no idea how to judge character and leadership skills. Perhaps highlighted by his own short comings in this area.

In my opinion the appointment of SB as Captain cost us points. Some people cannot see how this impacts squad members and their morale and ultimately their on field performance but it does, just as anyone can have a bad day at the office because of other events, so do footballers, irrespective of their income.

Even if it was not RM, it should have been someone else.

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It was no surprise that Hughton chose Bassong to be captain. Bassong had a stand out season the previous season - and was good in organising the defence - vocal and dominant in what he did.    But once made captain, that character all but disppeared.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing - we know now that he was not up to the job.  Could Hughton have known that?   Maybe, maybe not.     Whether you think you are "in the know" or are just taking a view from what you have seen, it is clear that it did not work - and that is history. 

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In theory we seem to have lots of players that should be good captains, martin howson johnson turner etc but i beleive a captain should be the leader on the pitch, since holt left our captain has basically chosen whether we kick off firs or choose ends then you dont hear anything more from him for 90 minutes

Snodgrass has his critics but we need that type, someone that will be talking to the players, kicking them up the arse if needed.Im not sure we really have that type. Snodgrass is the best option now on the pitch. Martin is great off the pitch but i dont see alot from him on it .

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LDC,

I would not be posting if my thoughts were hindsight, because that would mean what? Nothing other than I can judge a situation after it occurred, well whoopee-do!

He was a good player the season before but imo was the wrong man for the job and this cost us points, not his fault, I lay the blame firmly at the feet of the person who made the original decision..

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