Manchester United begin search for new club captain
Few clubs can boast a list of captains quite as revered as Manchester United’s.
From Bobby Charlton in the late 1960s, to Eric Cantona in the 1990s, via Captain Marvel Bryan Robson throughout the 1980s, the Red Devils have consistently appointed talented leaders who wear the armband with pride.
Gary Neville is still technically club captain, after taking over from the talismanic Roy Keane in 2005, but with the full-back’s career now in its final stages, manager Sir Alex Ferguson is looking to hand the baton over to someone else in the squad.
In the opening weeks of the current season, Serbian centre-back Nemanja Vidić has been assigned the duty of leading the team out, despite suggestions that he was keen to leave Old Trafford this summer.
But after a series of influential displays it now appears that the 28-year-old is now in pole position to take over from Neville, even though Rio Ferdinand had worn the captain’s armband on a regular basis last season before suffering a serious back injury.
The 31-year-old is also in danger of losing the England captaincy after missing the 2010 World Cup finals and the opening qualifiers for the 2012 European Championships. Ferdinand deputised perfectly well as United captain in Neville’s absence, but after Ferguson’s admission that he’s looking “for someone who is going to be playing consistently every week” it seems unlikely that the central-defender will retain the captaincy.
Whereas there have been no such long-term injury concerns with Vidić, who if appointed to take charge of team proceedings on the pitch, would be a shrewd choice in the mould of former club captain Steve Bruce – providing the Serbia international believes his future lies with Manchester United, and not at the Bernabeu or the San Siro.
Ferdinand is expected to make his first appearance of the season this evening against Rangers in the Champions League, and if Ferguson decides to leave the captain’s armband with Vidić, this would be the tell-tale sign confirming that Ferdinand has fallen down the pecking order.
With veteran duo Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs still producing mesmeric performances on a near-weekly basis, one or two questions might be asked over whether either of these two club legends should be handed the coveted captaincy ahead of Vidić, who only joined the club four years ago.
However, both players, despite their various qualities, haven’t got too many seasons left. And Ferguson knows that it could be three years time, it could be two, or it could even be the end of the current campaign that one - or both of them - decides to call time on their playing careers.
Meanwhile, one player who has long been touted as a potential captain at Manchester United is star striker Wayne Rooney. The England international is a natural leader on the pitch and possesses all the key attributes to become a future captain.
However, after lurid allegations emerged from various tabloid newspapers last week, there were reports that Ferguson has scrapped plans to ever hand Rooney the captaincy.
At 24, though, he’s still relatively young. And if he can prove over the forthcoming seasons that he’s not just a leader on the pitch, but a role-model off it too, then Rooney is still likely to end up with the armband at some point in the future.
In the meantime, it’s a two-way battle between Vidić and Ferdinand for club captaincy.
The towering centre-backs have managed to strike up a tremendous partnership over the past few years, and will now need to ensure that the issue of the armband doesn’t prove divisive.
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