JOEY PROUD TO WEAR THE ARMBAND IN TEAM OF LEADERS JOEY Barton admits he was ‘privileged’ to wear the captain’s armband for QPR’s return to the Premier League on Saturday, but insists there are a host of leaders on the pitch – and Clint Hill is still his skipper. With club captain Hill on the bench, Barton led the R’s out against Hull City, “It was a privilege for me, but had it been Rio (Ferdinand), Stevie Caulker or Hilly, I would have just played my normal game anyway and tried to encourage the lads in the way I always do. I don’t really need the armband to lead. “Hilly is the club captain, and he’s still my captain. Obviously the gaffer didn’t select him on Saturday, so I had the honour of leading the side out. “But I feel we’re all captains out there and it’s vital that we have a lot of leaders. We can’t rely on one or two individuals, we all have to step up as a team. “There’s a lot of leaders in the group – Rob Green’s got a wealth of experience, Steven Caulker was captain at Cardiff last season, Rio is a leader. There’s a number of players who could put the armband on. “In the past I have been guilty – certainly the last time I was captain here – of trying to do everything for everyone. Playing a sort of vice-captaincy role to Hilly last season was a great learning experience for me.” Despite an impressive performance against Steve Bruce’s side, Rangers lost out to a second-half James Chester goal, and Barton added: “We spoke in the dressing room afterwards and we said if we continue to play like that and create that many chances, we will win more games than we lose.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 11:48:25 +0000
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