McClaren's Candidates To Be Newcastle Captain Assessed

Who is Shteve going to select as his skipper going forward?

Steve McClaren wants every single member of his Newcastle United side to be a "captain" - however, clearly there will only be one Magpies player who walks on to the field with the skipper's armband come kick-off on Sunday, but who? Fabricio Coloccini has been struggling with an Achilles problem and sat out the Magpies€™ 1-0 loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, meaning he has yet to play a single minute of pre-season football. The Argentine has been the subject of reported interest from Greek side Olympiacos, as well as a with a reunion with his former Newcastle boss Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace in recent weeks. Even if he stays though, McClaren needs a new skipper in the short term - as well as going forward. When asked after the Borussia defeat whether he had decided on his Newcastle captain going forward, McClaren told the Shields Gazette:

"No. I've been asked before every game, but you know what - it's not that I don't care, but they should all be captains. "We have a senior group of players and what I€™ve done is passed it around the senior group. Coloccini is the club captain. Will he play next week? We don't know. "Will he be captain next week? We don't know. Let's first get him on the training field, let's get him playing and see if he can start."
With McClaren still keeping his skipper cards close to his chest ahead of the Premier League opener with Southampton on Sunday, WhatCulture.com/NUFC assesses the candidacies of Newcastle's potential skippers for the 2015-16 season...

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Contributor

NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.