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Just wanted to open a discussion about our current captaincy issue and how significant it is to our current position. 

I think most people were confused and definitely apprehensive when Britt was named captain at the start of the season. The rumour was that it was a way of giving him added responsibility which would in turn hopefully lead to an upturn in form or even him signing a new contract. Obviously none of this has worked out, whatever the initial thinking behind it was. 

Last night's conversation after the match regarding our apparent mental fragility got me to thinking - how much of this is down to not having a proper captain to lead the team on the pitch. Would we have fallen apart like we did last night after the first goal if prime leadbitter was out there? Would we be consistently struggling against weaker teams if Southgate was organising the team from the back?

So just a couple of questions to start the discussion -

How important do you think a captain is to the side both on and off the pitch?

Do you think a different decision at the start of the season would leave us in a better position now?

Would you change captains in the middle of the season right now or do you think that could lead to dressing room division?

Who would you like to see take over if you would?

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That's not really what he said though, at all. Reminder of the comments -   “It’s something we’ve been thinking about as a squad, and we’ve just come to this decision,” said Assombalonga, wh

Your second paragraph conflicts with your first one surely? It's not about increasing his value per se, more a case of maximising it or polishing a turd in common parlance. Britt isn't and never

Plays well with a man alongside him. We seen that for a couple of months under Woodgate when he played alongside Fletcher and they scored that quality goal against Millwall. But other than that we hav

Are we sure this isn't related to another thread? 🤪

How important do you think a captain is to the side both on and off the pitch?

I think a lot of people in football suggest the captaincy role is more important off the pitch than on it but I think we've seen a couple of examples, the ones you mentioned, as to how important they can be on it too. Perhaps on the pitch it's more about leaders as opposed to a single captain, though. Think about the Boro team with Southgate and we also had the likes of Boateng, Hasselbaink, Pogatetz etc. Under Karanka, we had Leadbitter but we also had Gibbo, Ayala, Friend, Clayton, a lot of people who can carry the load of keeping the rest of the team going.

Do you think a different decision at the start of the season would leave us in a better position now?

I'm not overly convinced. Britt's captaincy hasn't kept him in the team all season as it might have done, the only other options we really had were Hall who has been injured all season and can't get into the team and Howson who may as well just be the captain now. Part of this just comes back to what I said before though, it's about leaders and when there aren't that many options on the pitch, the captain maybe doesn't make as much difference.

Would you change captains in the middle of the season right now or do you think that could lead to dressing room division?

I think it could only cause problems and again, nobody is treading on anybody else's toes on the pitch in terms of leadership.

Who would you like to see take over if you would?

It's difficult to say. Howson might be good behind the scenes but from others that seems to be more a 'lead by example' kind of leadership, which is good but maybe not all you want from a captain. My outside choice would be Marc Bola though. People might attribute his turnaround to Warnock but I think he deserves huge credit for the part he's played in determining his own future and that ability to take responsibility of his own life and future could be extended to the rest of the team. Maybe not yet but in future, who knows.

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14 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

Just wanted to open a discussion about our current captaincy issue and how significant it is to our current position. 

I think most people were confused and definitely apprehensive when Britt was named captain at the start of the season. The rumour was that it was a way of giving him added responsibility which would in turn hopefully lead to an upturn in form or even him signing a new contract. Obviously none of this has worked out, whatever the initial thinking behind it was. 

Last night's conversation after the match regarding our apparent mental fragility got me to thinking - how much of this is down to not having a proper captain to lead the team on the pitch. Would we have fallen apart like we did last night after the first goal if prime leadbitter was out there? Would we be consistently struggling against weaker teams if Southgate was organising the team from the back?

So just a couple of questions to start the discussion -

How important do you think a captain is to the side both on and off the pitch?

Do you think a different decision at the start of the season would leave us in a better position now?

Would you change captains in the middle of the season right now or do you think that could lead to dressing room division?

Who would you like to see take over if you would?

Britt hasn’t been playing much, so in effect we don’t have a permanent captain. I can’t think of anyone in the current starting 11 that should get the armband, no one seems to have the personality, charisma required, or perform consistently enough to be in the team every week. 
If he can get fit, I guess Hall would be the best bet, but other than that we are left with an out of form Howson or a flakey McNair. 

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24 minutes ago, BoroSmoggie said:

Britt is the last person who id give the captaincy too. Hate the way he plays and shows no passion at all. When was the last time he went in to a 50/50? 

Not disagreeing with the general point but don't know why captains are expected to go into 50/50s. Britt's game has never been about roughing up defenders, really.

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This subject crops up so much, clearly Britt was given it for a reason that has failed, perhaps Fletcher will be considered for the same reason....who knows?

Paddy is possibly the best choice with Howson but no-one else springs to mind!

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The bottom line is we don't have one!

We don't have that chest beating warrior to galvanise his brothers in arms in battle let alone deal with off the pitch issues. I don't really think Howson has that kind of temperament and nobody here would be remotely suggesting him it if it wasn't a combination of his age and the dearth of any suitable candidates within the squad. 

Wilson illustrated it perfectly above:

"the Boro team with Southgate and we also had the likes of Boateng, Hasselbaink, Pogatetz etc. Under Karanka, we had Leadbitter but we also had Gibbo, Ayala, Friend, Clayton"

We are struggling to find one alpha male let alone having three or four in the side all pulling together. It's like playtime with seven year olds without a milk monitor let alone a dinner lady.

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44 minutes ago, wilsoncgp said:

Not disagreeing with the general point but don't know why captains are expected to go into 50/50s. Britt's game has never been about roughing up defenders, really.

Not necessarily saying this is what captains have to do, but I’d expect them to show a bit of passion and lead by example, closing down and setting the intensity for the other 10 players. Also needs to be shouting at players when they aren’t pulling there weight, and motivate them. Again he doesn’t do this. All he seems to do is moan when the ball doesn’t get played to him when he’s 10 yards offside. 
 

Leadbitter was the perfect captain. Passion, led by example, set high standards, and also had bottle when the team needed him, penalties etc. Was a great player aswell in them two seasons with Aitor. 

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I'm not sure how much difference it would have made last night, it would be great to have a John Terry/ Roy Keane type figure but I'm not sure many of those players exist anymore. 

I don't think it was a case of heads going down last night, we just defended awfully. 

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1 hour ago, wilsoncgp said:

Under Karanka, we had Leadbitter but we also had Gibbo, Ayala, Friend, Clayton, a lot of people who can carry the load of keeping the rest of the team going.

 

Yeah this 100%. We also had the likes of Whitehead and Nugent, who although weren’t the best players in the team, they knew what to do and again led by example. They knew what to do in relationship to simple game management, and how to control a game after going 1-0 up. Obviously it comes with experience, so we can’t exactly blame the players we have now as they are a young squad.

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I’m not that keen on having a striker as captain, they’re not in the best position to read the game or influence it if things are going badly, the same applies to Goalkeepers as captain. I’d rather a midfielder or a defender which narrows the field even more. 

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I'd give it to Bola, has the right attitude, puts in the effort and is consistent. Think the closest to a Leadbitter type captain we have is Morsy, but he's maybe on the slightly too mad side and needs to find a patch of consistently good performances.

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