Following the leader

An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. (Arab proverb)

One of the lads on the sports desk had a bit of a chuckle to himself the other day when reading a piece sent in by one of his more self important cricket reporters on a local league match.

The correspondent grandly described how the vice-captain bravely took on the captain’s armband when his captain was unavailable and led the side heroically in his stead.

The laughter – and it took me a while to get it – was of course because there is no such thing as a captain’s armband in cricket and there never has been.

I actually had a double take when I realised this. Are you sure that in the sport where the role of captaincy entails more extra responsibility, certainly on our shores at least, it is right that these leaders among men have no visible marker to alert the uninitiated spectator to their special status?

It will probably be introduced to Twenty20 before long, as the latest modernising gimmick along with titanium bats and night vision goggles.

But the likes of Lloyd, Chappell, Waugh and Fleming went about their day jobs with no ostentatious show of their superiority to their troops.

In rugby too the concept of the captain’s armband hasn’t really caught on.

I think back to Martin Johnson and I am convinced he wore an armband, or possibly a cape… something at least to signify his indisputable status as ruler of the England team that claimed the Webb Ellis Trophy in 2003.

But Johnno and his ilk simply relied on an overbearing presence and the undying loyalty of his men, who looked immediately in his direction when they were in need of inspiration.

Contrast all this to football, is it me or are captain’s armbands getting something of a Sex in the City makeover in modern times.

Gone are the days of a discreet black and white band, enter the garish bright green of Steven Gerrard or the Catalan colours adorned by Carles Puyol of Barcelona, that seems to take up half his arm.

Is it ego or is it the fact that in football the players need something more to mark out the special status of captain?

Tomorrow England’s armband will definitely be worn by John Terry, a timely pick me up from ‘that kick’ in Moscow.

But when, or if, Terry dons the national armband again is anyone’s guess as Fabio Capello seems to be playing out his own version of The Apprentice to decide who to cast in the role of full time captain.

Each round the designated team leader gets to lead out a bunch of self-serving, backstabbing individuals who all essentially want to be seen as better than the rest, and it is the leader who carries the can for the failure of the team to function as a unit in the task.

I understand the weak-kneed, star-struck bosses at Soho Square invited Capello in on the condition he did things his way, but the man has to have respect for the traditions of the English game.

The position of captaincy isn’t just a armband you wear for 90 minutes and swap around as and when it suits.

It is a full-time job that is the ultimate ambition of every English player and one they carry with them from when they lead the team out in the international arena to when they turn out for their club away at Sunderland on a Tuesday night.

It is a source of an immense pride for fans of a club to ‘own’ the current England captain.
And it has to be this way, simply because the captain defines the team. Look at all the great teams of the past and the importance of the leader.

Again, to go back to the rugby, of all the reasons proffered for England’s decline post-2003, surely one of the key points is that the team lost their totem pole, their general, and since Johnson’s departure, for a variety of reasons, noone has been able to retain the role for any period of time.

It does not take a brilliant political analyst to realise that authority is the key to any leadership and any rivals to that leadership simply serve to undermine that authority (Gordon Brown and David Miliband anyone?).

The idea of ‘eleven captains’ is one of those gratingly hackneyed cliches that I just don’t buy.
Every team, every group needs those who lead and those who serve and they need that one broad-shouldered figure who is the symbol of leadership, the heartbeat of the team who the followers turn to in the hour of need.

Personally, I would go for a roaring John Terry over a scowling Rio Ferdinand or Steven Gerrard, possibly one of the greatest enigmas of our generation on the international stage.
But the point is whoever Capello backs now is going to be forever seen as a rival by the others, not a superior.

Perhaps he should stick with the notion of a team of captains and simply wear the armband himself on the touchline.