Some have flourished by comparison, Colin Hendry was a natural leader, and raised his game as captain. I even think David Beckham improved given the responsibility of England’s captaincy. Though that hasn’t exactly been the case in Los Angeles.

Thanks for your comments. I think given the physical presence of the three centre-backs Celtic used for most of last season, the number of goals conceded from set-pieces was alarming. They never appeared happy marking space, rather than a specific player.

While losing the captaincy may initially be a blow, I think it would allow McManus to concentrate on being the type of player he was when he first broke into the side.

Also interesting point about others who have struggled with being a captain. I can’t think of any straight off but would be interested to see if anyone can provide some examples.

Also interesting you mention the captaincy as a burden – I guess some players worry about the rest of their team and lose their own game – of course it also brings out the best in some players too.

Would be interesting to see something further on this revolving around the impact of captaincy on players – can anyone think of any players who have had similar misfortunes of captaining a team? There must be some obvious ones……