Captaincy…

New manager, new United, complete revamp, a new captain is needed.
Let De Gea be the captain through training and pre-season, with the understanding that a new
captain will be named at the start of the season.
Let the new manager see all of the players in training and early games and make up his mind who stands out.

I personally would not take Bruno or Fred as they tend to get out of control if things get hairy and don't need
cards with them arguing with the referee.
De Gea before CR as De Gea should be playing in almost all the games and can see the entire field from where he is at.

Lets just see who comes foreword with their attitude, leadership, and dedication to the team during the summer months.
 
SirReginald said:
DDG is usually the one doing the interviews when you lose. He has my respect for that. I don’t see Ron or Harry doing the hard interviews.
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For all his other failings, Luke Shaw is decent at this as well. I’m not suggesting he should be captain, but he still deserves credit for it.
 
VDB ... kidding. Who is the current Captain at Ajax? Blind? I think if Ronaldo stays, it will probably be him. It was also motivate him to press as well. Further, there is no loss of face for Maguire to give the arm band to Ronaldo who is the GOAT.
 
I don't like a keeper to be captain I want my captain to be in the mix of things. So I would put my two cents on McT.
 
Blood Mage said:
Should be De Gea. He's basically been auditioning for it with his recent post match interviews.
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Yeah I’m beginning to come round to this as well.

Unsurprisingly, us fans tend to judge leadership just on what we see on the pitch during games, and De Gea’s quietness is a bit of a concern. But maybe it’s the off the pitch stuff that’s most important for a captain.
 
JB7 said:
I just don't agree, both are more likely candidates to be captain than De Gea. Maguire is by far the biggest talker and organiser on the pitch outside of Ronaldo,
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Him talking and "organizing" is absolutely irrelevant when he is largely at fault for the majority of our defensive blunders this season. He was playing a high press by himself against Liverpool.

If he's giving out wrong instructions and / or doing wrong himself then it counts for little.

That's why a silent leader is better in this instance.

JB7 said:
The issue is that he may have gone past the point of no return with his teammates and the fans with his dreadful form. Fernandes is probably our most influential player in that when we play when, he's invariably had a good game, but when we don't, it's rare that he's played well.
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Bruno has been awful for a long time, he doesn't show fight at all. He folds under any pressure.

JB7 said:
De Gea brings a lot of issues, not just the sticking to his line, his lack of communication causes major problems defensively, as does his inability to distribute the ball. Making him captain would be ridiculous as he's a player that should be moved on sooner rather than later, regardless of whether or not he was a good leader - which he pretty clearly isn't. I'd be astonished if Ten Hag persists with him for longer than 12 months, let alone makes him captain.
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De Gea is the least of our worries right now, I was all for selling him a year or so back. He's not the keeper he once was but we can negate his issues with a solid midfield and back line and again after Ronaldo he is the most experienced player at the club and won leagues and played internationally at the highest level.
 
I think Maguire needs to be relieved of the captaincy but there’s no clear standout alternative. I’d probably be looking at Bruno and having a conversation to see where his head is at, he was captain at Sporting and acted like a leader when he joined United but this past season has become too emotional and moany. If he was willing to cut that out I would give it to him. He’s respected by the English and Spanish/Portuguese lads and it was interesting that Rangnick said Bruno was the one who stood up and spoke in the dressing room after Liverpool.

Whoever it is there needs to more character and leaders throughout the group. Look at Liverpool with Van Dijk, Henderson, Milner, Robertson, Alisson and even a younger player like Trent growing into one.
 
Jeez when you look at it it’s really slim pickings. I think we make Ronaldo captain for next season and really make a great midfielder with leadership qualities our number one signing this summer so he can take over the following season.
 
Our main problem isn't that Maguire is the captain. The bigger problem is that we don't really have many players who are captain material. The actual armband is simply symbolic it doesn't really matter who's wearing it.
 
Keefy18 said:
Him talking and "organizing" is absolutely irrelevant when he is largely at fault for the majority of our defensive blunders this season. He was playing a high press by himself against Liverpool.

If he's giving out wrong instructions and / or doing wrong himself then it counts for little.

That's why a silent leader is better in this instance.



Bruno has been awful for a long time, he doesn't show fight at all. He folds under any pressure.



De Gea is the least of our worries right now, I was all for selling him a year or so back. He's not the keeper he once was but we can negate his issues with a solid midfield and back line and again after Ronaldo he is the most experienced player at the club and won leagues and played internationally at the highest level.
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He's having a dreadful season, no ones disputing although there are many things you could point at ahead of Liverpool's first the other night, if he doesn't go to the ball then who does? Is he supposed to just let them have a free reign in that position? Surely the bigger issue is Dalot not dropping into line with the other defenders rather than one of the five going to the ball? A silent leader is better in literally no instances ever, by the way.

And nobody is negating De Gea's issues. There is a reason no other big club would touch him with a barge pole. While he is in the team we will still defend poorly, and it will only be exacerbated by playing a high line under Ten Hag as teams playing with a high line expect their goalkeeper to deal with balls into the box and sweep behind the defence - both of which are skills De Gea is the worst goalkeeper in the league at. By the way, he hasn't won "leagues", he's won "a league" and we conceded 43 goals in that season. Regarding his international career, given how Spain performed before he was their #1, while he was their #1 and since he's been dropped, do you really want to go into that or shall we just agree that he was finally dropped after they realised it was impossible to play their style of football with him in goal?
 
JB7 said:
He's having a dreadful season, no ones disputing although there are many things you could point at ahead of Liverpool's first the other night, if he doesn't go to the ball then who does? Is he supposed to just let them have a free reign in that position? Surely the bigger issue is Dalot not dropping into line with the other defenders rather than one of the five going to the ball? A silent leader is better in literally no instances ever, by the way.

And nobody is negating De Gea's issues. There is a reason no other big club would touch him with a barge pole. While he is in the team we will still defend poorly, and it will only be exacerbated by playing a high line under Ten Hag as teams playing with a high line expect their goalkeeper to deal with balls into the box and sweep behind the defence - both of which are skills De Gea is the worst goalkeeper in the league at. By the way, he hasn't won "leagues", he's won "a league" and we conceded 43 goals in that season. Regarding his international career, given how Spain performed before he was their #1, while he was their #1 and since he's been dropped, do you really want to go into that or shall we just agree that he was finally dropped after they realised it was impossible to play their style of football with him in goal?
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We can agree to disagree so, some of footballs greatest captains were relatively quiet players like Bobby Charlton, Casillas, Beckenbauer, Deschamps etc etc. They certainly weren't in the mold of a Puyol, Keane, Veira, Terry.

For the most part they simply led by example, they let their actions speak for them. They showed steely nerve, commitment and hard work over crying n bitching when things get tough!
 
The short answer is - none of them. We have a squad of insecure, entitled losers without an iota of leadership amongst them.

Ronaldo and De Gea are the best options, but the former won't be here much longer (if he's even here next season that is) and the latter will eventually be upgraded on by the new manager. Bruno needs to temper himself in games and quit the whinge act before being in contention to wearing the armband permanently.

Any of the aforementioned will do for the short term, but it looks like our next deserved captain will probably have to be a future signing.
 
My vote would go to Ronaldo, for 1 year.
Assuming that we start using a lot of youngsters and new players, they'll definitely look up to Ronaldo.

Who do I think will be the captain next season: Maguire.

Managers like Ole and Ralf have joined the club with good intentions, but have failed to make any real changes and simply kept the status quo (probably because the powers that be, have demanded that no changes be made).
When Ole joined, he said that we'd be a hardworking team who run more than other teams. This proved false.
When Ralf joined, he said that we'd play according to his principles (physical, running a lot, gegenpressing, etc). This did not happen.

I do hope that ETH does not fall into line, but based on the above, I think he will. We'll be seeing a lot more of Maguire, Rashford and McFred, none of whom are good enough to be in a team challenging for trophies.
 
I can't see a captain in any of the individuals we've currently got outside of maybe Ronaldo, who'll likely be off in the summer.
I don't see Bruno as captain material and I especially don't see it in DDG.
 
I think Harry will give up the armband at the end of the season, rather than have it taken off him. Then DDG or Ronaldo as captain next season.
 
Nero said:
Maguire will start and will be captain, whether we like it or not.
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So depressing. He will start the season I’m sure, though they will pedal the ‘want him to focus on his main job’ and give the armband to someone else
 
I was reading an article, can’t remember where, but the gist of it is that captaincy is now overrated and United put a major burden on it. It pointed to City who have no regular captain since Kompany left, and Liverpool whose regular captain Henderson is no longer a guaranteed starter, and their main leader is VVD.

maybe that’s what United should do. Not place a huge importance on it at this moment because we don’t have a stand out leader. Share it around between Varane, Ronaldo, De Gea, dare I say Fred… then the media stop making a big deal about it. If one day we get a player who really deserves he’ll become the most regular captain.
 
He might buy a captain from another club and make him our captain, or another who may not be captain already, but has shown leadership qualities. I wouldnt have any issue with that as its unsure what Ronaldo will do between now and August and making him captain for a season seems a bit pointless. Who do you make captain the next season after
 
Goalkeeper isn't a great position to have a captain. They need to talk to the refs too much and it is better to keep the goalkeeper in goal.
 
Ralf even suggesting that is real bad for Maguire IMO. Don't think he would suggest it if the squad was on board with him being captain.
 
Rolaholic said:
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That's not what Ralf said...just another Tweet mixing words from a press conference to suit someone's narrative.

Question: If Erik (ten Hag) asks you about the captaincy and he asks you in your role as consultant, should Harry Maguire be the captain, would you recommend that, Ralf? What would you say to him, knowing Harry, having been here, five or six months?

Answer (Rangnick): That's how I did it, I know that not a lot of head coaches do it that way (having the players vote, with four or five players having the most votes and alternating captaincy when necessary, but the top vote getter is captain of the team).

Comment: Guardiola does it at City

Response (Rangnick): Yeah, so that's what I would do if I was still the manager next season, but I'm not, so that is something for Erik to decide.
 
edcunited1878 said:
That's not what Ralf said...just another Tweet mixing words from a press conference to suit someone's narrative.

Question: If Erik (ten Hag) asks you about the captaincy and he asks you in your role as consultant, should Harry Maguire be the captain, would you recommend that, Ralf? What would you say to him, knowing Harry, having been here, five or six months?

Answer (Rangnick): That's how I did it, I know that not a lot of head coaches do it that way (having the players vote, with four or five players having the most votes and alternating captaincy when necessary, but the top vote getter is captain of the team).

Comment: Guardiola does it at City

Response (Rangnick): Yeah, so that's what I would do if I was still the manager next season, but I'm not, so that is something for Erik to decide.
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Absolutely, the bolded part is the key. I have just listened to the press conference, and this is the correct context.
Rangnick is definitely not an idiot and seems to make a lot of reference to his job as an advisor, at his old clubs, not as a “Head Coach” as they call the manager in Germany. This decision is entirely Ten Hag’s to make.
 
Rozay said:
If not Harold, then who?

I can’t see any senior players that will not have question marks over them next season, none of them are guaranteed regulars. I also doubt we’d sign someone and make them captain immediately.

I don’t see De Gea as a captain, although he’d be an easy choice, but there has also been a lot of conversation about his own standing next season. Only option I can see is Luke Shaw perhaps, who has been terrible this season, although was one of the best full backs in the world last season and will probably be first choice every week next hear if he can find some form. Either him on Bruno, who I personally don’t want to see as a regular next season, although he probably will be.

Slim pickings ultimately if you want to avoid passing the armband round from week to week.
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Inevitably, it will be Ronaldo if he stays.

Bruno will take it after that.
 
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