Imagine if a spaceship landed on the Carrow Road pitch. The doors open and a tall spindly figure makes his way down the ramp. As the smoke clears, you realise it’s not actually Peter Crouch but an alien visitor.
(Granted it’s unlikely but it’s still more believable than the events of last Saturday)
“Take me to your leader” it says.
Looking round at the players on the pitch, who would you point him towards?
Russell Martin perhaps?
He’s the captain, the skipper, El Capitano, and he has an armband with a little ‘C’ on it to prove it.
But is he a leader? And what exactly is the role of the captain both on and off the field?
Michael Atherton was interviewed recently about the demands of captaining the England Cricket team. He highlighted the number of decisions that are required during a day’s play as well as the challenge of maintaining your own form whilst getting the best from your team mates.
The role of the football captain is perhaps less significant. There are no field placements to make, no decisions on when to change bowers and if you lose the toss it rarely has any influence on the result.
In essence, it’s a case of sticking on the armband, leading the boys out the dressing room and grabbing the mascot’s hand.
(Then again, in these days of corporate packages most players are accompanied by a child whose parents have stumped up the cash for a special match-day experience. There are so many mascots on the pitch before kick-off it looks like a Wes Hoolahan tribute act has turned up).
As captain you shake hands with the referee, call heads or tails, get the boys in a huddle and shout inspirational things like “we’re not gonna let this slip” (copyright Steven Gerrard).
Job done perhaps, until after the match when you face the media to let them know that you and the boys are feeling either ‘over the moon’ or ‘sick as a parrot’.
Of course the crucial bit is what happens in between the first and final whistle and the influence that you, as the captain, have had on the game.
Now before I go on, the point of this piece is not to put the boot in on Russell Martin. If you’re looking for that, Twitter is the place to be.
Russ has been a fantastic servant to the club. He’s articulate and likeable. He has provided an effective link between the players and coaching staff. He’s a great ambassador for the club and, let’s not forget, a pretty decent footballer too.
Nobody can have begrudged Russ’s moment when he led the boys up the Wembley steps following our play-off triumph?
But what we need on the pitch are leaders – the sort of player whose very presence galvanises the rest of the team. A player who can lift his team-mates in the face of disappointment; a player who can turn a game through his individual brilliance or through sheer power of will.
Players like Steven Gerrard or John Terry, players who in their prime were unquestionably the first names on their respective team sheets.
The sort of player that Norwich City has missed for quite a while.
Perhaps the last genuine leader we had was Grant Holt. A captain, a goal scorer, multiple Barry Butler Award winner and most importantly a talisman.
Holty really was the main man. He even grew the mightiest moustache during City’s ‘Movember’ efforts. During City’s rise through the league, the ‘C’ on Holt’s arm could, and should, have been replaced with a big red ‘S’ on his chest.
As with Stevie G and JT, Holt’s influence waned as the years caught up with him and his contribution was in doubt. Once people start to question his inclusion in the starting eleven, it becomes ever more difficult to exert an influence over the team.
So it is with Russell Martin. The debate over whether he is a right-back or centre-back has become replaced with whether he should feature at all. The ability to get the best from those around him now replaced by a need to demonstrate that he’s worthy of his place and is not the weakest link.
We have some fine players but who is an automatic choice? Who is guaranteed to play week in, week out? Who has the necessary character, authority, influence and mindset needed to lead the team? To lift them after they concede a goal?
Heading into the transfer window, all the talk was about the positions we needed to strengthen. But for me, it was less about right-backs, centre-halves or strikers and more about characters.
I wanted a leader – someone who could get a response from the talented players around him by setting an example.
Based on last Saturday – and as alluded to by my colleague, Nick Sellers – we may have found our man in Steven Naismith.
Surplus to requirements at Everton, where he was a bit-part player, he has the age, experience, quality and character to become the main man at our club. It wasn’t just the fact he scored a goal and won us a penalty, it was the manner in which he performed and marshalled those around him.
He may just prove to be a signing of the same significance of Grant Holt?
Russ can certainly, talk the talk, but can he walk the walk? And, for that matter, as you elude to, are there any others who are “automatic picks” and leader of men? If there are, the queue isn’t exactly that long at the moment.
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Very interesting.
On a fans forum (not606) that I contribute to, we had this very discussion only yesterday.
The general concensus seemed to be how can he be expected to rally / motivate / cajole his team-mates and colleagues when his own personal game is in a poor place (by his customary high standards)
The word ‘Naismith’ also cropped up during our discussion! 😉
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The irony is that it was only back in September that Martin displayed all the required qualities in a Captain’s performance at Anfield and was widely praised for it. Sadly though the errors have weighed heavy on our season and not even some serious stubble could prevent the defensive calamity of the second half.
Morale must have taken a big blow and with Spurs girding their loins for Norfolk, we have to hope that Klose plugs the holes (with Bennett preferably) and Naismith continues to inspire on and off pitch.
You need some luck too. I wouldn’t say Liverpool are being well led on the pitch but boy have they got away with it on Saturday and last night.
Holty was just a case of right time, right place, right man. It was an aligning of the stars which doesn’t come about often at a club. He can’t even get a game now.
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Was he made captain in the absence of any standout contenders? If you’re not sure of who to choose for that job, a centre-half is probably your best bet; and Bassong doesn’t really fit that mould.
Making him a scapegoat for Saturday would be to miss the point. He was certainly at fault for one of the goals, but four others were conceded by the team as a whole. The defence had been changed yet again and the two midfield players were an odd choice given that they were probably the least defensively minded pairing we could’ve had from the available players. Would Olsson have lagged behind the rest of the back-line and played Firmino onside for the first goal? I doubt it. (I didn’t hear of any injury worries ahead of the game so I have no idea why Tettey and Bennett weren’t even on the bench. Does anyone know?).
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I agree with you about Naismith; got involved wherever he could and tried to get others into position. Russell Martin should never play CB again, he’s never been good enough. He’s ok at RB but I think he should be eased out of the picture without the vitriolic stuff that is going on.
I think it’s time to bring back Ruddy; Declan doesn’t have the size and presence of Ruddy nor his exceptional one on one ability. Perhaps having been out of the firing line for a while will have refreshed him in the way Joe Hart improved after being dropped last season.
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To my mind Russ has never really convinced as a centre half but remains a very good right back,although Ivo Pinto looked better on first impressions so I agree that Russ’s time as first choice does seem to be coming to an end. Like all Norwich fans I have much fondness for him as a player and he still is a great servant for the club and more to come yet.
Nevertheless I also agree we lack that vocal, driving on captain that all the best are, Steven Naismith hinted at it and he’s right. Let’s hope he can be a driving factor to improve things. Clearly we are going to be close to the drop this year, we struggle defensively but the fact we are capable of scoring goals always gives cause for hope. At the minute I worry but I also know Norwich really aren’t that far off getting some good results. Everything crossed for those 40 points!
OTBC
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Re Ben K #4
Tettey was suffering from a sickness bug from the previous evening and AN thought Russ Martin could do a ‘better job’ of keeping Firminio quiet, as he’s not a big lump like Benteke.
So, one was enforced, the other (with hindsight) just poor judgement.
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Couldn’t agree more over the need for strong leadership. Naismith is a great person of the field from every point of view, but could he be a little fiery on the field, or does this matter?
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Ben K (4): Tettey called in with a stomach bug on Saturday morning. Had he played as planned, we probably wouldn’t have been as fluid going forward – but for sure we’d have been more solid in defence.
Russ deserves all the considered assessment and respect that he’s getting from writers like Steve (though sadly not on Twitter). He may not have played his last game for City, but I’d be amazed if he features against Spurs.
Naismith is an obvious candidate for captain; his potential influence on others was undoubtedly a factor in our targeting him. However, I’ll trust the outcome of his discussions with Alex Neil about his best role.
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Good piece Steve. I’ve been making the same point about on-field leadership, to no one in particular, since Holty left. We suffered from the same issue after Nigel Worthington jettisoned Iwan & Malky in 2004 and it cost us dearly then.
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Not sure the role of CAPTAIN is that important. I’m sure Russell Martin is respected by his team mates. Leaders on the pitch are what’s required and there are usually more than one in any good team. Holty of course but also Martin and Bradley Johnson. May be in selling Johnson we lost something too? England had Bobby Moore but Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles also had plenty to say. Roy Keene had Gary Neville, Schmeichel,Beckham etc.
Naismith will bring out the character in others which will help and maybe in time he will be skipper but Saturday was more about missing Tettey & O’Neil than Rudd, Brady & Martin’s errors.Liverpool were lucky. OTBC
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Mulumbu is captain of his country so must possess some of the required qualities. Makes his Lafferty-esque omission from the team seem even more curious.
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You’ve hit the nail on the head there, Steve.
Steven Naismith’s comments about communication essentially confirm that the organisation/leadership was lacking and played a part in our downfall on Saturday.
You were also bang on about the likes of Holt, Gerrard and Terry dragging their teams through to victory – we clearly don’t have that. With all due respect to Martin, we have a captain who is out of his depth, playing, in many people’s opinion, out of position and has cost the team goals with individual errors. A perfect club captain, but an inspirational leader, he is not.
A dominating centre back or a midfielder who can pull the strings, boss a game and organise the team would be invaluable for us.
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