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You might joke the captain’s armband has been passed around the pitch more often than the ball this season for Wanderers – but does it really matter?
Emile Heskey became the ninth different player to act as skipper when he took on the role late in the second half at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.
At Nottingham Forest last weekend, the fact 19-year-old Zach Clough picked up the armband when Matt Mills discarded it on his way off the pitch following his red card appeared to mirror the disarray Wanderers had been showing on the pitch.
But is the job of captain a purely symbolic function in football? Or does the fact Neil Lennon has failed to find one single candidate reflect the shortfalls of his squad?
Certainly the manager has been reluctant to publicly endorse one particular player.
Mills is expected to come back into the team tomorrow against Brighton, and will also pen the programme column recently vacated by Blackburn Rovers-bound Jay Spearing.
But the defender’s hold on the captaincy does not look like a tight one, perhaps because of form issues, or more likely contractual ones.
When asked if Mills would carry on as captain after Spearing’s departure to Ewood Park last month, the manager’s response was a rather underwhelming “there’s no reason to change it”.
Yet change seems to be the order of the day for Wanderers this season – with Adam Bogdan, David Wheater, Neil Danns and Eidur Gudjohnsen among those who have also started games as skipper.
There was no real reason to analyse why that was the case as results went well in the months after Lennon’s arrival, yet recently a few fans have pointed towards the lack of a regular leader, a figurehead on the pitch, as one reason for the slide in results since January.
Injuries have undoubtedly been an issue but so has inconsistency.
Unlike cricket, where the captain is charged with making serious tactical decisions, the role of captain in football looks rather nominal. But, particularly in difficult times, the spokesman for the dressing room plays a big role behind the scenes, along with one in front of the microphones and TV cameras.
Kevin Davies – holder of the position between 2009 and 2013 – was the man to front up the crushing 5-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Stoke City, leaving fans in no doubt as to his team-mate’s anguish.
Likewise, Zat Knight spoke candidly of the club’s struggles after relegation when he was appointed Dougie Freedman’s lieutenant, and was a similarly influential presence behind the scenes.
Lennon’s reluctance to cement one particular man in the post could be an effort to make the whole group take responsibility for climbing the table, but may also be because the right man has not yet stepped forward.
An in-form Mills would be a fitting figurehead for the club but with his future still up in the air, we may have to wait until the summer to see if he genuinely is the man to take the club forward.
Until then, fans may be left asking: Will the real captain of Bolton Wanderers please stand up?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Emile Heskey became the ninth different player to act as skipper when he took on the role late in the second half at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.
At Nottingham Forest last weekend, the fact 19-year-old Zach Clough picked up the armband when Matt Mills discarded it on his way off the pitch following his red card appeared to mirror the disarray Wanderers had been showing on the pitch.
But is the job of captain a purely symbolic function in football? Or does the fact Neil Lennon has failed to find one single candidate reflect the shortfalls of his squad?
Certainly the manager has been reluctant to publicly endorse one particular player.
Mills is expected to come back into the team tomorrow against Brighton, and will also pen the programme column recently vacated by Blackburn Rovers-bound Jay Spearing.
But the defender’s hold on the captaincy does not look like a tight one, perhaps because of form issues, or more likely contractual ones.
When asked if Mills would carry on as captain after Spearing’s departure to Ewood Park last month, the manager’s response was a rather underwhelming “there’s no reason to change it”.
Yet change seems to be the order of the day for Wanderers this season – with Adam Bogdan, David Wheater, Neil Danns and Eidur Gudjohnsen among those who have also started games as skipper.
There was no real reason to analyse why that was the case as results went well in the months after Lennon’s arrival, yet recently a few fans have pointed towards the lack of a regular leader, a figurehead on the pitch, as one reason for the slide in results since January.
Injuries have undoubtedly been an issue but so has inconsistency.
Unlike cricket, where the captain is charged with making serious tactical decisions, the role of captain in football looks rather nominal. But, particularly in difficult times, the spokesman for the dressing room plays a big role behind the scenes, along with one in front of the microphones and TV cameras.
Kevin Davies – holder of the position between 2009 and 2013 – was the man to front up the crushing 5-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Stoke City, leaving fans in no doubt as to his team-mate’s anguish.
Likewise, Zat Knight spoke candidly of the club’s struggles after relegation when he was appointed Dougie Freedman’s lieutenant, and was a similarly influential presence behind the scenes.
Lennon’s reluctance to cement one particular man in the post could be an effort to make the whole group take responsibility for climbing the table, but may also be because the right man has not yet stepped forward.
An in-form Mills would be a fitting figurehead for the club but with his future still up in the air, we may have to wait until the summer to see if he genuinely is the man to take the club forward.
Until then, fans may be left asking: Will the real captain of Bolton Wanderers please stand up?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
