Magic magpie

In the current day of football with new younger managers playing new tactics and styles, announcing a captain and a vice captain, sometimes the captains don’t always do the role that a club or fans expect so they come under fire for it. For me players don’t always need the armband to be a club captain. This applies to our David Vaughan, he is old school and many may think he is coming to the end of his career, what with his age and how injury prone he is becoming. I think this adds to why it applies to Vaughan, while he was the PON community fan’s favourite not to mention fans outside of the PON community he was the runaway choice of captain. Some were disappointed when this didn’t happen, as Richard Duffy was given the honour to lead out the Magpies against Colchester United (and appears the frontrunner to take it full time), a job he did for the majority of last season while club captain Michael O’Connor was out injured. Although he hasn’t been given the armband I don’t think that matters, i see Vaughan as a leader of men. A phrase that is used on FIFA 18, which is normally the title goes to a mature player who may not be captain or may never have been captain but holds the qualities to gain the team’s respect on and off the pitch. Vaughan may have been a Red last season but as fans we all took to him wanting to award a former Forest player. Yes that's right a player from across the Trent, some say the enemy, but still wanted to award Vaughan one of the highest honours a player can be given to lead the team on to the pitch and through what the season may bring. I’ve seen David play in all three of the home pre-season matches and last weekend’s draw with Colchester. In every game I’ve seen he was the go to man, almost everything came from the midfield where he was playing. He is tactically aware of not only his position but also others, he's not afraid to take the ball if players get in trouble and will shoulder that responsibly - not only that he takes the control to give instruction to players, which are carried out with no arguments. I’ve seen both young players and mature players approach him and speak to him. On those occasions he can be seen organising players whilst holding his composure all the time, he directs them and he never shouts, he is calmness personified and that's why he has all the qualities of a captain. Vaughan doesn’t have the armband, I hear you say - why have you wrote this? I believe some players were just natural born leaders, Vaughan is exactly this, they are not cocky or arrogant, they simply lead with or without armband. An armband is the respect that a player is given not only by the manager and the staff but the lads and us the fans too. I’ve not read that he is vice captain or anything like that but from what I’ve seen Duffy has that same respect shared by everyone. It seems Duffy doesn’t mind if he plays a captain’s role, the number 5 may look like he will remain County’s captain but it's safe to say that Vaughan is the people's captain. Share your thoughts about this feature on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.