Southgate: no captain at Boro

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has shockingly declared that he is considering not having a club captain. Southgate believes that having a team leader does have some complications and would prefer to have five or six leaders as opposed to one.

Southgate said: "I've looked at other sporting teams who do not have one person nominated as captain and, in some cases, it seems to have worked well.

"I think it's more important that you have five or six leaders in your squad who are the tribal elders; who lead the dressing room and set the standards of what's expected.

"We have people in our dressing room who do that, whether they wear the armband or not. We have some excellent professionals whose approach to training and what they do away from the ground is spot on. That's why people like Mark Schwarzer and Stewart Downing have achieved what they have.

"Having a club captain might make things that happen at the club away from match days less complicated. Very often, people look to the captain as an easy get-out and use him to avoid taking responsibility themselves. They assume the captain will sort everything out so they don't have to."