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| Captaincy | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 16 2011, 10:26 PM (194 Views) | |
| EL.I.AM LEGEND | Sep 16 2011, 10:26 PM Post #1 |
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In todays game, is the role of Captain important. These days they seem to be picked as a symbolic gesture to promote loyalty or discipline or just encourage players to have a good game. For example is Joey Barton, the thuggish horrible psychopath, the kind of person you immediately make captain upon arrival at a club? Not really, Warnock did it because he figured it'd make Barton less likely to get himself sent off. Similarly Rovers have been doing it with Samba for over a year to keep his mind on the job amid transfer speculation. |
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| Papa_Lazarou | Sep 16 2011, 10:30 PM Post #2 |
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Randolph
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It doesn't come with the same responsibility that it used to. You used to be club captain and ambassador roled into one. These days it's really just a symbol for the players on the field. You tend to find a mixture of captains spread between the best player or the most loyal/longest serving player. It can also be used to give a player a boost at times tbh, or even to curb a player's recklessness like in the case of Barton. I think making him captain will probably lead him to be less reckless on the field as I think he takes the position seriously. |
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| Deleted User | Sep 16 2011, 10:35 PM Post #3 |
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Deleted User
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In Barton's defence, he has shown signs of turning over a new leaf. He's guilty of making some poor decisions previously, but a psychopath? Bit extreme. Overall the captain is a token role in football. It's a cliché but you need captains all over the pitch. |
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| EL.I.AM LEGEND | Sep 16 2011, 10:40 PM Post #4 |
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yeh psycho is a bit extreme. Just trying to emphasise a point ![]() |
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| Wee Eck | Sep 17 2011, 08:42 AM Post #5 |
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Token Jock
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I think at the very top level its less important but in lower leagues I believe it serves more importance. |
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| talkingsense® | Sep 21 2011, 09:35 AM Post #6 |
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football fundamentalist
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A captain should be the most natural leader, so talent and seniority help that but character type is probably the most important element. He needs a will to win, to be communicative (not just lead by example) to encourage/inspire the others and preferably he needs to be able to keep his head in emotionally charged cicumstances (hence why age helps again). That said those are desirable characteristics in any player hence why the best teams have many leaders on the field. In football though the role is less important than say rugby or cricket where you're really directing traffic, so to speak, during the game and in cricket the captain even shares the responsibility of picking the team. In comparison with some other sports a football captain is more of a figure head role but they have enough influence to be beneficial to the whole eg Roy Keane or occasionally detrimental eg William Gallas. Which gets back to the point that what Arsenal have lacked for some time is a real leader on the pitch, they haven't been spoilt for choice for captains in recent years. |
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| mercedes | Sep 21 2011, 10:56 AM Post #7 |
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Old Hag
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i think what a captain stands for nowadays is different to what it was a while ago. Aside from the points already mentioned about most loyal/longest serving player etc i also think at times its the biggest "celebrity". I know a lot of people (incl city fans) thought it was a bit odd when Tevez was made captain when he barely spoke any english. This isnt a personal dig at city or tevez by the way, just the one that sticks out in my mind the most. He was pretty much a celebrity in the football world and i think most of us can agree that good communication is one of the main attributes a captain needs. I did think his was given captaincy partially due to being such a big key player for the club above all else. It might also be worth mentioning that the role of captain seems different in the sense that he isn't always the only one who goes up to the ref to sort out problems and issues. before the FA attempted to reinforce that the captain should only surround the ref the ref would always get a small audience of players complaining. It's still that way now to be honest. |
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| Black Cat Nat | Sep 21 2011, 12:07 PM Post #8 |
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Unwashed Pimple
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A captain in professional football is different to most other sports like say cricket where the captain is in effect the manager making tactical moves and the captain in rugby has more responsibility to keep his players in line. As many have said in here it is in football more a symbolic thing. |
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yeh psycho is a bit extreme. Just trying to emphasise a point 



5:37 PM Jul 13