The Leadership Group

Gone are the days where we had the captains of England, Cech Republic, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Germany, Gone are the days where We could fill a Starting XI with leaders.

Since about 2010, we've slowly been losing our leaders, Ballack, Carvalho, Deco, Ferreira, Essien, Drogba, Cole, Lampard and Cech have all departed during the last 5 years.

That leaves two stand out leaders left, Our beloved Captain and our favourite Serbian Bear.

Recent additions of Fabregas and Falcao have captaincy experience but when push comes to shove, will they be handed the armband? I am not so sure. The other obvious option is Gary Cahill, but beyond these 5 players, we lack obvious leaders. Eden Hazard was recently given the captain's armband for Belgium, however, I am unsure of his actual leadership qualities as opposed to his star power.

This brings me to the points of this thread:

First, who do you see as our leadership group for the upcoming season? Who will be our vice Captain, Ivanovic or Cahill?

Secondly, Who do you think will be the next Captain and Vice Captain? I can't see Terry leaving before June 2017 and by that time, Ivanovic will be 33 and Cahill will be 31 so will they take up the armband? Or will someone younger take it just like Terry did?

Lastly, does anyone else think Schweinsteiger would have been a perfect purchase for us? Someone in the mold of Ballack, German CM who is nearing the end of his career and has great leadership qualities. Sounds like the perfect 3rd choice CM, to me.

El Gunner wrote:Honestly won't be surprised if Hazard gets it after John Terry. Just look how the star players usually get captaincy these days. Messi - Argentina. Neymar - Brazil. Suarez also used to get the nod at Liverpool when Gerrard was out.

Whether I'm in favour of star players taking on the responsibility of captaincy or not, is a story for another day.

I completely understand where you are coming from but I am unsure it will happen at club level.

I would like it to go to the most worthy recipient as opposed to the biggest name. However, if Hazard proves to be a worthy leader, I'd be more than happy for him to have it.

"Eden is coming with big status now and was voted one of the top ten players in Europe last year. In my opinion he should be in the top three not in the top ten. Let's see what is going to happen but we have these people. But let's say John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic are our captains and the others are ready to come."

"On the pitch Eden leads. He is not afraid to take responsibility. He is not afraid to get the team in a dark situation and bring blue sky again for the team.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/594015/Chelsea-Jose-Mourinho-Eden-Hazard-Arsenal-Man-Utd-warning

Sounds like we want to make Hazard our eventual captain...

Jose wrote:And after that we have people that come behind. Cahill, lots of years at Chelsea, also vice-captain in the England national team. Good personality, good example. Mikel is, after John, the guy with most years of Chelsea. I think Fabregas has personality for a captain too. Eden is coming with big status now [...] but let's say John and Branislav are our captains and the others are ready to come."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jose-mourinho-qa-full-transcript-6150491

By the sounds of that, our leadship group is as follows:
Terry > Ivanovic > Cahill > Mikel > Fabregas > Hazard

So that answers my first question.

The second question is somewhat harder to answer, from that list. The long term successor to Terry must be one of Cahill, Hazard or Fabregas.

Hazard


We're a step or two away from renaming the club after him.

Well, Messi has a lot of control within Barca and things are going well for them.

On the other Hand, Rooney is in a somewhat similar situation

It does look like we're going down the same path with Hazard, though.

I do wonder how much of it is borne out of a genuine belief he's capable of or qualified for this kind of responsibility, and how much of it is being fueled by a desire to try to butter him up as much as possible hoping he'll stay in the event he's being wooed sometime in the future by someone better.

Probably both.

Do you see him as our eventual captain?

Obviously not. I mean, can you really see him as captain material?

Well, his captain material has not ever been on show. He has captained Belgium and if Jose thinks he can also be a leader, perhaps he has some leadership qualities.

Also, do we really have a better option, long term?

I stand by my long-held, oft-expressed belief that our next long-term captain should be an Englishman. Preferably with ties to the club, like JT, but not as a necessity I suppose. Obviously there are no real candidates in either of those columns at the moment (don't see Cahill as much of a leader), but in a year or two who knows.

None of our youth captains seem to have any future at the club, perhaps Colket, if he can make some drastic strides forward but all of our high potential youngsters don't seem to be much of leaders.

I also think that this day in age, it's impossible to exclude a captain-elect due to their nationality.

Was Stones ever a captain at any level?

Roberto Martinez wrote:'He [Stones] is a leader. He is born with that quality. He has real high standards in everything he does and for a young man he has always got the right approach on a daily basis.
'In my eyes he is a potential captain and leader, someone very close to Phil Jagielka and Gareth Barry.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2780499/John-Stones-natural-leader-future-Everton-captain-claims-Roberto-Martinez.html

I suppose that could be a possibility.

I knew it


Shedstradamus returns

Well Jose has talked about Zouma's leadership abilities so it may not mean much, but it is promising.

Interesting also.

I could see it going to one of the three (Hazard, Zouma or Stones) providing we sign Stones and Zouma and Stones eventually become starters.

Ivanovic wrote:"I am really so happy. I am very proud of that, to be the vice-captain of this team. This is something extra for me, more responsibility, and I will try to do it well for the team."

"I am doing what I was doing before, trying to do my best. I will try to do that in the future as well but basically not a lot of things change. John Terry is the real captain and leader."

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/07/ivanovic--happy-and-proud.html