O'Nien
Been thinking about this a whole lot recently - especially with the patchy form and fitness of Hayes and Blooms.
O'Nien is absolutely captain material. The dressing-down he gave the bottler Jakubiak a few games ago put this in my mind - he's the perfect embodiment of GA's style on the pitch: technical flair mixed with hard, dedicated graft and he's a bit of a niggly b*gger too.
Also, and I hate to bandy the word 'passion' about, but Luke has so much of it - you could see that at the end of the last match as he ran over to the fans to ask if we'd made the play-offs.
Unless there was an injury that I don't know about, I couldn't believe he didn't start at the weekend considering his brace in the last home match - and it was evident this was a mistake when he came on and immediately forced the corner we scored from.
He's young and needs to be tied down to a long contract - and if Hayes and Blooms can't start every game, and there's no reason why they're entitled to anyway, O'Nien is much better captain material than JJ.
Comments
I'd have luke over jj, but I'd probably have bayo over luke
Always smiling as well.
Won that corner and jogs away laughing/smiling, while seemingly celebrating to the terrace.
Captaincy and leadership does not begin and end on the pitch. Much as Luke is an infectious character on the pitch and comes across as a decent guy off it when you put in a dressing room with some pretty senior guys how can he drive a message across.
Bloomfield has pretty much delivered every game he has played this season and barring injury would have been a real contender for player of the season for me. He clearly leads. Where Hayes has struggled this season for form his credibility as captain has to be impacted in the dressing room but who knows.
Bayo captain for me
I have to agree with @Aok84 Bayo would be the perfect leader. I fear when we see the boy Luke tearing towards someone looking like a booking waiting to happen we might regret giving him the captaincy!
Does it really make much practical difference?
Sometimes there is little point making the obvious leaders captain. They will do what they do anyway. The ones you want to look at are those who might benefit from a little bit of responsibility or someone who is a little bit of a live wire.
Not really sure who fits that description at Wycombe at the moment. O'Nein possibly
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub without wanting to divulge too much about his dressing room influence, I've heard that Hayes has a huge responsibility on much backstage.
I'd like to see the shackles taken off O Nien a little, and get him back attacking a bit more.
He scored 2 the other game, and it was a reminder of, hang on, he was doing a lot more attacking and getting near the goal previously.
I wouldn't want to put the captaincy burden on him right now. Much more likely a Bayo, JJ, even Stewart before him.
For Stewart it'd be a great story from the shenanighans a few seasons back to that
@prufrock_91 I've no doubt that Hayes is being groomed for a coaching role at the club. He is articulate, confident and experienced. Definitely in the GA mould. I personally also think that he will regain form next season if he is free of injuries and be a real asset to the team. Life in the old dog as they say
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub , I like the positivity there. I'm fairly worried he's looked fairly shot away for the majority of 18months now.
There's been a few peaks, like the Tottenham goals, but when you think he was probably THE key player a couple of years ago and if he missed a game you worried, now it's almost like a "oh yeah" when realising he's not playing.
With Bayo, Paris, Kashket a real quality front line, with others supporting, he's got it all to do just to start when fit now.
I could see him being upgraded to player/coach over the summer
Actually it really can. When Hayes was at his prime with us, orchestrating the players, conducting the ref he definitely lifted the team
I keep seeing references to Hayes as player-coach. Is there any substance to this? Is he taking his badges? Has he given any indication that he wants a career in coaching? I'm not sure we have a vacancy anyway, unless Dobbo decides to leave and if that were to happen then I think we have a whole different set of issues...
If I saw anyone with the potential for that role it would be Blooms, and he's written about the coaching courses he's been on so we know it's in his possible plans.
Nothing to stop Hayes or others doing exactly that whether or not he happens to be wearing an armband and tossing a coin before the game.
that's not quite correct Dev, strictly speaking it's only really the captain who is supposed to speak to the referee for clarification on decisions. It is also the captain that the ref will sometimes call over when speaking to another player. So it does matter who is wearing the armband in that respect
Been mooted many times but not sure the "only captain can query decisions" rule has ever been brought in, has it.
I guess you are right in the other example but surely very rare - couple of times per season?
FIFA is currently discussing limiting discussions with referees to captains only in line with rugby. Not law yet.
I wonder if Tommy Doherty knew that rule. Shame it wasn't Doherty that young Mr Stokes had an altercation with. That would have been an interesting conversation.
@Wig_and_Pen , i think it's pure conjecture based on all the "great work behind the scenes" type comments from all comers, mixed in with a sad realisation he can't stay fit enough to be a force on the pitch.
Seems a natural progression
I agree.
Rightly or wrongly, in football the captain can be - and often is - the 'manager on the pitch' and plenty of players need someone out there to look to for guidance. I know that it shouldn't matter and that a good, experienced professional should be able to bring these qualities without the armband, but the clear chain of command (so to speak) can make a difference.
Paul Hayes is an excellent captain. Has all the qualities to do the job to a high standard.
Sadly he needs to work out if he can still play at a high enough level to get in the team. I hope he can but also hope he is realistic in his goals and doesn't steal a wage.
@Wig_and_Pen @Malone There's also the fact that Gareth Ainsworth was trying to bring back Steven Craig as a part-time striker, part-time coach a couple of seasons ago when we were really struggling to score. There hasn't been such a need for a striking coach this year but if the goals drop off again next season, maybe Hayes would be keen to step into the breach.
Back to the original post, I remember advocating for O'Nien to be made captain at the start of last year in order to get him to sign a new contract and because, at that time, I hoped the club would release Hayes last summer. I'm not sure there's such a pressing need to make him captain now, however. This season has been one of treading water for Luke and next year he needs to concentrate entirely on himself, fulfilling his potential and becoming the absolute lynchpin of the Wycombe team. I think being a captain might distract him. I would also fear for a similar situation to Stuart Lewis - feeling the need to prove himself early on, going in for a crunching tackle (at Wimbledon, as I recall), getting sent off and never quite recovering the authority once he returned from suspension.
@aloysius Not sure it's been one of treading water - he was injured for the start, came back in and I believe, alongside Kashket's flourishing, was the reason for the upturn in our form.
Also, back to Hayes - although he's not been at his best, the vilification he gets from the terraces is ludicrous.
@prufrock_91 Not sure I've heard any such vilification on the terraces.
Hayes can score and is an excellent motivator once he gets on the pitch...he just hasn't been able to do much of either this term. I haven't heard any of @prufrock_91 's vilification either...
In fairness, you can barely hear the terrace unless you're in the terrace!
Hayes feels like a lower league version of Rooney at United. We know how quality he was, so it's hard to see the current semi fit very clearly well off his best version.
Though the hope he might get fit and get back to his best is very admiral, it's incredibly unlikely. He just seems to have absolutely lost all the pace he had and seems semi immobile. Especially when you compare to the supposedly more limited Thompson, who at 4 years older put much younger players to shame for his fitness.
Hayes is definitely somewhere in the process of doing his coaching badges. Was speaking to an ex-lower league pro a while ago who was on the course and asked him what current players were on it with him. Hayes was one of the names he mentioned.
Not quite out of the Richie books of inside knowledge, but a lot more accurate I believe.
@Malone I can hear the terrace quite clearly in the Beechdean, just cannot remember any of their venom being directed at Hayes in particular this season.
He barely trod the sod.