Captain for next season?

With Nolan going we must appoint a new skipper of course and reading today's Sun they put forward the arguments for the likely candidates. Colour coding will follow

Steven Taylor
-Local lad, would be his dream to captain the side and is of course English.
-Been injured a lot the past 2 seasons and may be judged not yet experienced enough to captain the side. Also is he a guaranteed starter?

Fabricio Coloccini
-Very experienced, speaks fluent English now and is one of the first names on the teamsheet.
-Is he a natural leader though, and is it right to have a non English captain?

Joey Barton
-Was effectively second choice under Pardew, is a natural leader and English.
-Captaincy has effected his form this season, distracting him while he shouts at the refs. Also he's only here for one more year maximum (realistically) and Pardew might avoid appointing him to keep the board happy.

I know there's others like Harper, but he might not even be starting, and its rare a GK is a captain anyway. Shola was also mentioned but I will cry the day he is our first choice captain, shouldnt be playing much this season anyway.

So who would you pick?

 

There's no clear stand out captain, and that makes it an issue - even bringing in a new player who has that experience would be dangerous as you risk putting division in the dressing room. If there is to be a new signing as captain he has to come in now or soon so he has the pre season to get to know the team.

Of who we have, I picked Taylor but on reflection mebbes Colo is the better choice (only if you're right and he truly speaks English fluently).

 

Tiote anyone

 

Thought about it, but his English wont be great IMO and I wouldnt have him as captain for another season or two. It's difficult to tell how good a leader he is really.

He's been here 3 years now, the journalist was saying his English is really good and I'll take his word as they interview players all the time of course.

 

Joey Barton has what it takes.

 

If I had to choose between Barton and God, Joey would win.

 

Coloccini i went for
Taylor isn't always going to be first choice/fit
Barton's form was terrible while captain, used it as a way of moaning more at the ref. Only will be here for one season so it's pointless as we'll be in the same situation next season!

 

I liked this typo.

I went for Coloccini, he's a well behaved pro and a fantastic, strong player who is guaranteed a lot of games. People will point to Barton as he played such a big role in the team spirit of the last few seasons but I think he's better off concentrating on his play as he put in a couple of poor performances when he had the ability to moan at the ref all he wanted.

 

Before i start this, i don't want this conversation to turn into a heated bitch fight.

In my opinion -

Coloccini isn't vocal enough to be captain, and he isn't powerful enough either. He's a brilliant player, and was one of our most vital players last season, but we need one that can rally the troops and get them to fight on, and Coloccini just doesn't seem to be that much of a leader to me. Technical wise he's an influential player on the pitch, but not vocally. I'm pretty sure the last time he was captain, we only managed to scrape a point vs Wigan, and could have been 3-0 down at half time very easily.

We never won a game without Barton on the team last season, which shows the impact he has the on the team. It's true he can run his mouth too much at times, but he does connect with all the players and the fans. He has strength, passion, technical ability, and a massive presence in nearly every game. He has the right type of attitude to rally the troops and push us on for the win. Barton was **** as captain vs Villa, but brilliant against Spurs away, even though we lost. Those closest to him said he was a natural leader.

I would say Barton captain, Coloccini vice captain. I would give Steven Taylor the vice captain band, but we never know when he'll be fit to play. I think he's over his bad patch now, but we never know.

Barton captain, Colo vice captain, Taylor captain if both are unable to play.

 

For me, it has to be Colo. Taylor will be perfect in a couple of years when he has developed more (if he does), and there's little point picking Barton only for him to move on in a year and lose form because captaincy distracts him. If he hadnt let it get to his head it would have been a more difficult decision but for me Colo has it all. Experience, leadership, English speaking, plays an appropriate position etc and look how much it meant to him when he captained us against Wigan and scored the equaliser, the passions there as well.

 

Saylor

 

I picked Colo

 

Jimmy Bullard.

 

Saylor - injury prone
Colo - experienced but im not sure he is the right man for the job
Barton - Will be gone soon enough

So, that leaves Harps for me

 

Will he be starting though? For me, the #1 shirt is Krul's to lose.

 

i'm sure i read the other day that pardew is earmarking colo for the capt will see if i can dig out the interview (think it's when colo was linked with a transfer he came out and said something along the lines that why would he sell his skipper) will post it up if i can find it

 

Aye, I remember that because Pards wants to build his defence round Colo

 

Taylor or Colo for me.

 

If he said this it has to be one of my favourite quotes from him....didn't we just sell Nolan?

 

Jonas!