Who should be captain next season?

[Dan]

On 16/07/2025 at 08:30, fox_up_north said:

This conversation exposes so many issues with the squad, frankly. 

 

Days gone by you could point to 3-4 leaders. Now we have to caveat each suggestion. 

Yep - the fact Ricardo is seen as the safe bet (and would probably be my pick too) despite his availability issues.

[FosseSpark]

Big Ben Nelson

[fox_favourite]

8 minutes ago, FosseSpark said:

Big Ben Nelson

Too soon for him. I want him to concentrate on himself and his development rather than carrying the burden of being captain as well. If he stays it has to be Ricardo. Experienced, great footballer, great guy and probably well respected by his peers and young players. He also has the respect of the fans. 

 

Vice captain, I can't actually think of one.

[Saxondale]

Can’t believe people are calling for Nelson to be captain! He’s a kid and he’s made a small handful of senior appearances. 

[Finn Claw II]

Ricky P for me although that will only cover about 10 of our games as he’ll get injured! 

 

if the new manager rates Coady or Skipp then I could see it being either of them.

 

 

[LCFCJohn]

Sign Josh Brownhill and make him captain! Not sure any of our senior players are worth it. Other than Ricky P who may be off anyway and will presumably be injured for a large portion of the season.
 

He (Ricky P) is great pro and top attitude, and he’d be the best of what we have currently but given his usual availability, I tend to think we need to bring in someone, not purely to be captain of course, but the leadership side is something we need to really look at with anyone we do bring in.

[murphy]

Dunno.  Mads or Ricardo.  The interesting thing is that this thread really throws into sharp relief the dearth of suitable characters within our squad.   I'd never stopped and thought about it before. 

 

If Mads leaves and Ricardo gets injured, Marti might aswell turn his back on the squad throw the armband over his shoulder and see who catches it, like a bridal bouquet. 

[daddylonglegs]

In all seriousness it cannot be anyone other than Ricardo. The other candidates all have too much baggage associated with them: 

 

Winks - his Seagrave stance is absolutely not the mentality of a leader. 
Coady - where do you start

Mads - unlikely to be there 

Choudhury - cannot lead by example at a team trying to get promoted when you're a league one level footballer

 

Anyone other than Ricardo would be bizarre & worrying in equal measure. 

[Claridge]

On 18/07/2025 at 19:02, Saxondale said:

Can’t believe people are calling for Nelson to be captain! He’s a kid and he’s made a small handful of senior appearances. 

Saw him play for Oxford twice last season and he didn't seem to have much physicality despite being quite tall. I've a feeling its more hope than realism that most on here are raving about him for next season. Plenty of potential, but not the finished article by a long way. I realise our established centre backs are pretty poor, but Nelson as captain is ridiculous, be surprised if he even starts  

[STEVIE B]

No one stands out to be honest. 

Riccy P, if he can remain fit for enough games.

Is it that important ? It's not like cricket, where the Captain makes all the calls, whether to bat, bowl, who bowls, field positions etc.

As long as a football Captain has respect of the players, he will do.

[LCFCJohn]

20 hours ago, daddylonglegs said:

In all seriousness it cannot be anyone other than Ricardo. The other candidates all have too much baggage associated with them: 

 

Winks - his Seagrave stance is absolutely not the mentality of a leader. 
Coady - where do you start

Mads - unlikely to be there 

Choudhury - cannot lead by example at a team trying to get promoted when you're a league one level footballer

 

Anyone other than Ricardo would be bizarre & worrying in equal measure. 

I wouldn’t give it to Choudhury because I don’t think he’s the best example with some of the stuff he has done off the field but your reasoning is not true. He is a solid/good Championship player. He was a very strong performer for Sheffield United who were very much a team looking to get promoted. 

[Wortho]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

I wouldn’t give it to Choudhury because I don’t think he’s the best example with some of the stuff he has done off the field but your reasoning is not true. He is a solid/good Championship player. He was a very strong performer for Sheffield United who were very much a team looking to get promoted. 

I did see Hamza against qpr last season and he looked poor. He got hooked in the second half to save him from getting red carded. Looked the worst player on the pitch.

[daddylonglegs]

2 hours ago, LCFCJohn said:

I wouldn’t give it to Choudhury because I don’t think he’s the best example with some of the stuff he has done off the field but your reasoning is not true. He is a solid/good Championship player. He was a very strong performer for Sheffield United who were very much a team looking to get promoted. 

I think we've seen enough from him to know that this is simply not true. 

[LCFCJohn]

2 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

I think we've seen enough from him to know that this is simply not true. 

How is it true? We have been in the Premier League for all but the one season he has played for us. He he was solid for us when asked to fulfil a role that wasn’t natural to him and the game against West Brom when we were on the rock, he saved our asses. I didn’t say he’s great or a top player, just solid/good. Making out he is out of his depth at that level is completely hyperbolic and purely more from a place of people just wanting to consistently take aim at certain players.

[LCFCJohn]

37 minutes ago, Wortho said:

I did see Hamza against qpr last season and he looked poor. He got hooked in the second half to save him from getting red carded. Looked the worst player on the pitch.

Sheffield United fans really rated him across his time with them. Not doubting you might have seen a bad performance but you can make any player sound world class or non-league if selecting individual games right?

[Grebfromgrebland]

Soumare 

[Muzzy_no7]

Gotta be Ricardo with Winks backing him up.

 

Coady had no place here.

 

Nelson too young and time will come.

 

Thomas and Justin aren’t leaders.

 

Vesty doesn’t deserve it. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

11 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

Gotta be Ricardo with Winks backing him up.

 

Coady had no place here.

 

Nelson too young and time will come.

 

Thomas and Justin aren’t leaders.

 

Vesty doesn’t deserve it. 

I agree on everything you have said and on that basis Ricardo is the only sensible option, however nothing certain that he will stay.
 

 I cannot get behind Winks being any part of the captaincy team as in my opinion his behaviour last season puts him in the same category as Coady and Vestergaard. 
 

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we move a couple on and then we bring in one or two players who have a profile of being a leader and coming in as Captain. 

[Pita]

On 16/07/2025 at 17:55, daddylonglegs said:

Has to be Coady. Proper leader. Great shouter. Top podcaster. 
 

Thought he wants to leave asap

[Muzzy_no7]

9 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

I agree on everything you have said and on that basis Ricardo is the only sensible option, however nothing certain that he will stay.
 

 I cannot get behind Winks being any part of the captaincy team as in my opinion his behaviour last season puts him in the same category as Coady and Vestergaard. 
 

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we move a couple on and then we bring in one or two players who have a profile of being a leader and coming in as Captain. 

I get where everyone is coming from regarding Winks, I really do.

 

But during that Enzo season he was sublime, he and KDH were the best performers in the league. 
 

With what Winks can do, especially in a Cifuentes system, we can’t replace him and we would have to spend 12-15m+ to get someone similar in.

 

Whereas with Coady, Vesty etc…they’re replaceable very easily with the likes of Nelson, Okoli, Souttar after injury and one or two loans. 
 

Due to the circs and how important Winks could be in this system I’m willing to give him another chance this year. 

Edited 22 July 2025 by Muzzy_no7

[Fox92]

2 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

I get where everyone is coming from regarding Winks, I really do.

 

But during that Enzo season he was sublime, he and KDH were the best performers in the league. 
 

With what Winks can do, especially in a Cifuentes system, we can’t replace him and we would have to spend 12-15m+ to get someone similar in.

 

Whereas with Coady, Vesty etc…they’re replaceable very easily with the likes of Nelson, Okoli, Souttar after injury and one or two loans. 
 

Due to the circs and how important Winks could be in this system I’m willing to give him another chance this year. 

Winks wasn't sublime, he had a solid first half of the season. Last season he acted like a knob and for that reason alone shouldn't be in contention for captaincy. 

[Muzzy_no7]

12 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Winks wasn't sublime, he had a solid first half of the season. Last season he acted like a knob and for that reason alone shouldn't be in contention for captaincy. 

What was he then if he wasn’t one of our best players that year? 

Edited 22 July 2025 by Muzzy_no7

[Fox92]

3 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

What was he then if he wasn’t one of our best players that year? 

I didn't say he wasn't one of our best players. I just don't think he was one of "the best performers in the league".

 

As I said, first half of the season yes I could get behind the "sublime" calls but not over the course of the whole season.

[Muzzy_no7]

6 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

I didn't say he wasn't one of our best players. I just don't think he was one of "the best performers in the league".

 

As I said, first half of the season yes I could get behind the "sublime" calls but not over the course of the whole season.

Ok. I think he was class and without him and/or Ricardo we would not have been able to play like that.

 

The final 12 games-ish of the season where we bottled breaking the record, for me, was down to Enzo being way too stubborn and a mentality issue in the squad that is likely still there with Faes and Soumare etc still being here. 

[MaidstoneFox]

If it's someone who will mostly play then I'd go for JJ. Captain's don't have to be transformative and he speaks well with respect for everyone. Most of the rest are too young or commitment issues to the club.