Team Captain

[MaryMillingtonsGhost]

As much as I, and I'm reasonably certain most of us on here love the bloke, Is Bowen REALLY captain material?
CPP may have proven to be somewhat of a fraud managerial wise, but was he wrong in stating that Bowen isn't really up to being team captain?
Apart from being our 'best' player, I honestly don't think he was given the armband for any other reason as we all know he'll always be the first on the teamsheet (and that includes potato salad and JWP).
Does the 'best' player necessarily make an ideal choice to captain the team?
Is it time to hand the armband over? And if so, to whom?
Am fully expecting a cսnt in the bastard.

[easthammer]

I don't think Bowen is naturally suited to being a captain. That being said I can't really think of many if any in our current squad that are, which is part of our current problem.

IMO very few can carry off the role of Captain simply by being the best player. Bobby Moore could, but most of the better Captains I have seen at West Ham weren't necessarily the best players, although of course they all had to be good players. 
Malcolm Allison 
Noel Cantwell
Billy Bonds
Alvin Martin
Kevin Nolan
Mark Noble
All natural leaders, through their force of personality, which I don't think Bowen comes close to.

So maybe Potter had a point, but if he had an alternative in mind to replace Bowen, it is hard to think who it could have been. Only Soucek and JWP have more experience of captaincy but surely not?



 

[honky cat]

I was thinking about this today. He is captain and thats it. Our best, and everyones favourite - player, scorer of our cup winning goal. its not even going to be discussed imo. The only way it changes is if jarrod himself decides he doesnt want it anymore. I think jwp got given the vice captaincy to support bowen, and now someone else needs to take this on. What we really need is a confident, vocal centre back. It should be kilman, who captained wolves - maybe nuno can get something out of him at last?

 

[claret59]

actually neil might have been captain?

[claret59]

bowen is our best player by miles and loves the captaincy, take it off him and he's embarrassed and off. we need a lucas neil or scott parker who were good examples of leaders on the field without the armband.

[Massive Attack]

My Captain for the future would be Potts but not for a while.

[Alfs]

I know he's young and new to the team, and has put in mixed performances, but I noticed Magassa being very vocal and doing a lot of pointing when we were defending, so maybe not yet, but one for the future maybe.

 

[Monsieur merde de cheval]

We don't have a skipper type in the squad ..which is one of our major issues imo.

The spine of the team is soft as shite.

Dawson was a  quiet individual ,but on the pitch he took no shit and had that presence about him.

We need a  more vocal Dawson type at the heart of the side .
 

[Massive Attack]

A captain doesn't have to be the most technically gifted player on the pitch, but he does need to be the most inspirational.


 

That's probably why Bowen has to keep it whilst there is very little alternative out there. He does inspire team mates with his performances when he starts playing well.

[Mike Oxsaw]

A captain doesn't have to be the most technically gifted player on the pitch, but he does need to be the most inspirational.

We were spoilt with Moore & Bonds, but them's proper captain material and what we should be looking for..

[Ron Eff]

It depends what you categorise as leadership. Clearly you can have the Kevin Nolan type who is vocal, always barking at people, or you can have the ones who lead by example, constantly turning up and dragging the team through nearly every game and who “gets” the club. Bowen does that in abundance. 

Undoubtedly it has helped us keep him. It would be majorly wanky to change captain, and a huge embarrassment to him, not to mention completely unwarranted. 

[Iron Duke]

He’s our best player, but not a leader on the pitch.

As a team, we lack leadership in general. It’s not just about the captain, you need a few leaders on the pitch.

Ideally, we would have had a leader at centre back or centre midfield. But we had already dropped £75m on two centre backs who couldn’t lead a Mexican wave, never mind a team. During the summer, we should have brought in a leader. Granit Xhaka would have been an option, but we also needed some pace and our team was already too old.

[Massive Attack]

I agree he's not captain. The problem was, and is, a lack of alternative who's a guarantee starter.

Yep, that's what it boils down too. Lack of alternatives who regularly play. And what's worse was Potter's wisdom to compound the issue further by ditching all his experienced leaders at once in the summer - Cresswell, Coufal, Antonio and Fabianski until laughably bringing him back at the last minute. 

[honky cat]

He looked very uneasy being interviewed on Sky. Maybe Nuno will be brutal here as well. 

[Eerie Decent]

I agree he's not captain. The problem was, and is, a lack of alternative who's a guarantee starter.

[Mike Oxsaw]

I think the only squad player we have to take on that role is the Kraut, but I'm old school and believe that the captain should be in defence or no further forward that defensive midfield so that he has the game in front of him most of the time and can actually lead by changing the team (style) as he sees the game unfold well before the manager intervenes.