Gabby named as captain

[villanic]

Poor decision in my opinion and a populist one, let's get them off my back by naming Gabby skipper.
Better candidates are Collins or Cuellar, or in fact anyone with an ounce of leadership qualities, which Gabby does not posess.

Collins doesn’t strike me as captain material and there are rumors he is off in the summer. Cuellar could do the job but again might be going at end of season.

I’m not saying Gabby is the best choice but I think he’ll be here next season and I think it’s a potential long term appointment because there is a good chance Stan won’t be back next season if at all.

[frank black]

Shows the calibre of our squad if Gabby is the best option after Petrov. That's one priority for next season IMO, a leader on the pitch.  Oh and a manager off it.

[JUAN PABLO]

Im amazed Heskey didnt get it

Why? It's not like he's a regular starter is it.

because the manager and all players look up to him.

[Fin Feds Dad]

This season can't end quick enough.

[ozzjim]

Poor decision in my opinion and a populist one, let's get them off my back by naming Gabby skipper.
Better candidates are Collins or Cuellar, or in fact anyone with an ounce of leadership qualities, which Gabby does not posess.

Collins doesn’t strike me as captain material and there are rumors he is off in the summer. Cuellar could do the job but again might be going at end of season.

I’m not saying Gabby is the best choice but I think he’ll be here next season and I think it’s a potential long term appointment because there is a good chance Stan won’t be back next season if at all.

I agree it will be long term under McLeish, but I think it is a dangerous appointment long term. Short term, I would have gone for Collins till the end of the season as he was essentially doing the job at the weekend, Gabby was non existent and just does not give me confidence in him as a leader. I don't like forwards as captains anyway, defenders are always my choice but there you go. Lets hope he can lead us out of trouble. Long term, I am not even sure if he fits into the team effectively, let alone supposedly being a legend. The manager knows fans just blindly think he is Villa therefore some kind of demi god.

[JUAN PABLO]

Its a McLeish , trying to get the fans on his side to me , with Gabby being a Villa fan . It should have been Collins.

[Ron Manager]

I think Given would have probably made a decent skipper.

Misread that as decent keeper.

Which I thought he was untill this season. Overated by the Geordie obsessed media, we should have known really as they were never famous for their defending. Probably one of the worst goalies we've had at dealing with crosses since Burridge. In the current atmosphere of 'blame it all on McLeish' he's got away with a few in recent weeks. 2 at Arsenal and another two corners on Saturday.

[SheffieldVillain]

Sorry but I can't believe anyone would suggest Collins (or Dunne for that matter) as captain of our great club. These are people whose idea of leadership and setting examples to the younger players was to get pissed and allegedly attack one of the coaches, one of our greatest players. They shouldn't even still be at the club let alone be captain.

It shows exactly what our problem is when you have to pick a captain out of a pool of senior players consisting of Collins, Warnock, Cuellar (nothing against him but probably off in the summer), Ireland, Heskey and Gabby (again nothing against him but a leader of men? Never).

[Ron Manager]

I was wondering when Draculas name would crop up. Budgie too was a great shot stopper but lacked confidence in controlling his area. However we knew what to expect with Shay as hes always been like that but his general goalkeeping for us has been excellent until the last few games.

Bosnich was first rate at crosses and intimidating the opposition.People tend to remember him for flattening Herr Klinsman in the area. He also sent God flying in the same incident.  Scared of nobody Bosnich but weak at goal kicking.

[Ian.]

Good call.

[Dave]

Best option really. I'm fully in favour for the principle of just giving it to the longest-serving player anyway.

If there's somebody who is great at geeing other people along then they don't need a bit of elastic to get on with it.

[paul_e]

I'd have gone for Ciaran Clark if he was fit.  Yes he's young but he's one of the few players in the squad who is very vocal.  I think he'd have been a better player for it as well as he comes across as the kind of player who likes to be a big part of things and have a say in what's going on.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Gabby is dangerously out of form and lacking in confidence imo, He does not need to concentrate on motivating everyone else. Bad move, Given or Collins for me

[Pete3206]

Yeah. give it to Collins. He's built like a brick shit house, moans at the ref and fouls a lot. It's makes perfect sense.

In the real world, Collins is bloody lucky to be a Villa player after last season's antics.

[Monty]

Yeah. give it to Collins. He's built like a brick shit house, moans at the ref and fouls a lot. It's makes perfect sense.

In the real world, Collins is bloody lucky to be a Villa player after last season's antics.

And he's a bit rubbish anyway, is James 'Magners in the socks' Collins. At least Gabby's just in bad form - Collins just isn't a very good player.