New Captain

[Rover 2 U]

Now that Kenny has retired, who do you think should be made the new captain?

Duff?
Keane?
Given?
Kilbane?

I can't see a natural choice, so although I hate to see keepers as captains, my vote goes to Shay!

[finlma]

Shay is the only choice.

Kilbane should be dropped like a hot cake.
Duff is too quiet.
Robbie Keane is no leader - he needs to rethink his attitude to the game.

[Kingdom]

I don't see any alternative to Shay Given. There is no outfield player who you would feel will 100% confident handing the captaincy to. Some managers don't like the keeper to be captain as they are too far removed from the general play. I agree generally.

If I was to pick one at the moment, it would be Richard Dunne.

[Cosmo]

[QUOTE=finlma]
Duff is too quiet.
QUOTE]

Since moving to chelsea duff has really come on in that regard. Given would be the obvious choice but as above i dont like seeing goalies as captain. Id go with duff myself

[Peadar]

Shay Given deserves it by a country mile.

Matt Holland, Graham Kavanagh, Richard Dunne and Kevin Kilbane have all been captains at club level but none are up to the Ireland job.

If Roy Keane sticks around for a while longer then he should be reinstated though.

[Rover 2 U]

If I was to pick one at the moment, it would be Richard Dunne.

Somebody else mentioned Dunne to me as well. Is he captain at City?
Might not be a bad choice.

[pete]

Not great to have keepers as captains but Given is the only mature candidate. Dunne needs to concentrate on his own game & Duff will have lot to do on his own game to worry about captaincy.

[brine3]

Given, obviously.

With Andy O'Brien as another candidate maybe.

[zerocoolie]

I'd go for Given, but as said above generally goalies are not central enough to give the verbal slaps needed sometimes.

Richie Dunne would be my second choice, as I think he'll become a class centreback soon.

[Kingdom]

Duff as captain Robbie Keane as captain Kilbane as captain?????????

Jaysus Christ, people ahve just been going on about Cunningham not being effective as captain, what the fcuk do people think Duff and Keane are going to do?

Give it to Dunne or Given.

[mchurl]

I'd go for Given, but as said above generally goalies are not central enough to give the verbal slaps needed sometimes.
.

i agree totally

[Donal81]

I don't really think that a goalkeeper can play a real captain's role so I'd give it to Richard Dunne. That's not taking anything from Given, I was really, really impressed with him last night and the players out there let him down as much as they did Kerr.

[eirebhoy]

Schmeichel, Yashin, Zoff, Kahn, Sepp Maier, etc. were captain for their country. Given deserves it and will hopefully get it.

[Kingdom]

Schmeichel, Yashin, Zoff, Kahn, Sepp Maier, etc. were captain for their country. Given deserves it and will hopefully get it.
Eirebhoy, those list of players you mentioned have all been part of great teams made up with leaders all around the pitch. I think this Irish team will need its captain out the field. Richard Dunne for me.

[BrayZil]

The only person that deserves to be captain is Shay. I think he'd do a good job.

[concanta]

Think it shoudl be shay but take on board what they say bout outfield players

I would not be surprised if roy keane did NOT retire yet
HE is nothing like him old self but he still can put in a performance

only time will tell

[as_i_say]

yknow gary breen is still around...i think with cunningham gone now, breen will have to be considered again. week in week out premiership player. never lets ireland down and is vocal on the pitch.

yeah richie dunne wouldnt be a bad option. kilbane should not be let near an irish team again till he has club form back-total confidence player.

[4tothefloor]

Roy Keane will probably still be around. He intends to leave the Scum so he can get another 2 yrs playing time elsewhere, probably at Celtic. If he's playing at Celtic, the SPL won't take too much out of him so it would be no surprise to see him soldier on with Ireland. As it stands Keane or Given are the only real candidates. Duff, Robbie Keane :rolleyes: , Dunne etc are either not mature enough or not vocal enough IMO

[GK for the Town]

so far there has been 3 centre halfs mentioned as captain, Dunne, O'Brien & Breen. I cant see Ireland playing with 3 Centre halfs and surely the captain will have to be an automatic first choice in the starting line up.
Dunne would personally be my choice as my defence would have him and another. He will improve even more as a player getting the experience he is getting and has got already. Playing in a world cup would of brought him on tremendously.

[oconghc2]

o shea!! :p
might wake him up!

nah seriously - only shay desrves it - one consistent performer at top level, has kept us in games and has won games for us by himself nearly.

The only decent player last night who stayed out on pitch and clapped the irish fans. I dont agree that the captain needs to be outfield - shay sees the whole game on front of him and can influence others around him.

Ideally it would be a midfield player but none of them desrve it.

[Shelsman]

Shay Given for me. No other player is a cert to start the game. Robbie Keane is a whinger. Even if Roy Keane did play on he wouldn't play every game but might consider him for the games he does play -will he be any good as a player though, it's very near the end of his playing days now.

[tetsujin1979]

Dunne has captained Man City this season while Distin was still recovering from injury

[Armando]

Zinedine Zidane is Frances captain and the guy is virtually a mute on the pitch. He is their best player and that's why he gets it no questions asked - it was handed straight back to him when he came back into the fold and no one batted an eyelid. The logical thing would have been Roy Keane to take it back but either he refused it or wasn't offered it, I'm not sure. Either way it was stupid for him not to be captain for this campaign but we Irish do have some very strange logic on matters like these:rolleyes:

If Roys not around It's Shays 100%. He is the best goalkeeper we've ever had and it is a travesty that he will not be at the World Cup. He will be hurting most this afternoon because there is nothing more he could have done, and that is the worst feeling of all - failure despite complete effort. He has been let down. I was right behind Givens goal at the final whistle and not one player or member of Staff came to console him at the end after all he'd done(maybe a wise decision because he looked really ****ed - like a man betrayed). He was left stewing for a couple of minutes before he headed down the tunnel after the rest of them, where hopefully he put a few of them in their place.

[onenilgameover]

Shay without a doubt....

[raytown red]

damain duff would be a rubbish captain almost as bad as how he played against france my shout would be for gammy kavanagh if he gets a proper chance in the starting line up he might do seen as kerr could be gone

[thejollyrodger]

Now that Kenny has retired, who do you think should be made the new captain?

Duff?
Keane?
Given?
Kilbane?

I can't see a natural choice, so although I hate to see keepers as captains, my vote goes to Shay!

:D None of those fellas could lead in the scouts

[elroy]

Has to be shay,
it was bad enough last night that they played so bad. But after the support we gave them the only player to stay out and applaud us was him.
I suppose in truth he was the only player who can hold his head high after the last two performances.

[Saint Tom]

Shay with Dunne as a possible successor would be my choice.

any talk of roy keane is pie in the sky

[Adrianovic]

All the candidates have flaws, but Shay's only flaw is that he plays in goal and therefore I'd give it to him ahead of the others.

I don't think I can remember a time where I've though Shay Given could have done better for Ireland. He must be worth 2 or 3 goals per qualifying campaign compared to another keeper.

Ade

[Countyman]

Shay would be a great captain but if it has to be an outfield player I'd go with Richard Dunne.
I think he is going to be immense for us for us in the next 6 years.

Go Honey Monster!!!!

[Metrostars]

All this stuff about it been a negative having a goalkeeper as a captain, it didnt stop Dino zoff lifting the World Cup or Peter Schmichel winning the Champions League.

[brine3]

Just thought I'd mention that last time Italy won the World Cup they were captained by a goalkeepr.

[Pauro 76]

Given for the job no question, with Richie Dunne as vice-captain.

[thejollyrodger]

it just highlights the fact that we have no proper leaders anymore.

Given since he is the only 1/2 competent player on the pitch (and worryinlgy our best players is the keeper :D:D:D)

[Clifford]

Big Richard for me, his form for the last 18 months at City has been outstanding. Leads by example and without being a shouter will gain the respect of every player with his displays like last Weds. I subscribe to the theory that keepers have enough on their plate keeping the back 4 in order and most of them are a bit mad. For every Zoff/Red nose there are 500 who can't do it.

[Closed Account 2]

I think the captain has to be an outfield player, and ideally a midfielder. Shay is a great player, but if the match is going against us could he, as a keeper, gee up our strikers ?

My vote would go to Roy Keane or Kav, we need a player in the center of the park who'll give the lads a verbal lashing if theyre not up for the game.

[eirebhoy]

tbh you don't have to be wearing an armband to build up your teammates.

[Superhoops]

My vote would go to Roy Keane or Kav, we need a player in the center of the park who'll give the lads a verbal lashing if theyre not up for the game.
Didnt know there was such a thing as a non-playing captain!

As many have mentioned there are really only two candidates, Given and Dunne. My choice would be Richard Dunne, the most improved Irish player over the last 18 months and likely to be a permanent fixture in the Ireland team for the next few years (injuries apart).

A dark horse could be Alan Quinn, who now must have an opportunity to get a run into the team. He is playing well with Sheffield United, RMK is gone, Kav is not good enough and as for JOS in central midfield!!!!:eek: .

Time to look to the future.

[EireBadBoy]

yknow gary breen is still around...i think with cunningham gone now, breen will have to be considered again. week in week out premiership player. never lets ireland down

:p Haaa,haaaaa,haaaaa! Aww. Thanks for that. That was funny.

I've not seen a worse player wear the Ireland shirt.

[Superhoops]

:I've not seen a worse player wear the Ireland shirt.Wont go back too far, but in recent years, you cannot seriously be suggesting that Gary Breen is worse than Liam Miller or Gary Docherty??

[gustavo]

id give it to given with dunne vice captain

[JimmyP]

I think Dunne has a while to go yet before he should be Ireland's captain.
Let's not forget the Cyprus game already.

I'm also not sure if it's time for a Dunne and O'Brien partnership just yet, maybe Breen can still do a job there, and if so, I can see him being considered a candidate for captain by whoever ends up managing us.

Given should be made captain even just as a reward for his performances through the last campaign - he doesn't deserve to be in a team that finished 4th out of 6.