FanPost

State of the Chelsea Captaincy

CFC vs Ferencvaros

Seeing Ivanovic wear the captain's band over the weekend got me wondering if that is something we should get used to. Of Chelsea's last 352 matches, at least one of John Terry, Frank Lampard or Petr Cech has started 340 of them. Over those six years only one Premier League game was started without any of those three. On May 11th, 2014 Ashley Cole captained Chelsea to a 2-1 victory over Cardiff City.

Here is a list of the matches started without those three gentlemen:

2013/2014 (4 of 57 matches)

Swindon Septermber 24th 2013 (Capital One Cup)

Arsenal October 29th 2013 (Capital One Cup)

Derby County January 5th 2014 (FA cup)

Cardiff City May 11th 2014 (BPL)

2012/2013 (2 of 66 matches)

Southampton January 5th 2013 (FA cup)

Swansea City January 9th 2013 (Capital One Cup)

2011/2012 (1 of 61 matches)

Everton on October 26th 2011 (Capital One Cup) Cech came on for Lukaku after 60 minutes

2010/2011 (1 of 53 matches)

MSK Zilina on November 23rd 2010 (UCL)

2009/2010 (3 of 56 matches)

QPR on September 23rd 2009 (Capital One Cup)

Bolton on October 28th 2009 (Capital One Cup)

Blackburn on December 2nd 2009(Capital One Cup)

2008/2009 (1 of 59 matches)

Burnley on November 12th 2008 (Capital One Cup)

The captain's band is still firmly around JT's aging arm, but the departure of Frank and the real possibility of Courtois taking over for Cech leaves some doubt about who will wear the band should JT not be selected, not to mention who will wear it after he is gone. Many of us thought David Luiz was the man for the job but he too is gone. So who will it be?

Ivanovic was given the band over the weekend and seems a likely candidate. He has been with Chelsea since January of 2008 and has 2 years left on his current deal. At 30 years old he has lots of experience for both club and country, and he would continue the tradition of the Chelsea captain coming from defense.

New boy Cesc has captained a premier league team before. He experienced and he is yet to make a competitive appearance for Chelsea.

I love Ramires. Some may not understand this, but he is one of my favorite players on the squad. However, I don't think captaincy should be determined by highest likelihood of earning red cards.

Gary Cahill seems like an easy fit because he is JT's understudy. The more Gary can become John the less we have to worry about a societal collapse in a post-Terry world.

Matic has been around the bridge for a couple of seasons, is likely one of the first names on Mourinho's team sheet, and seems composed and levelheaded. A longshot, but I wouldn't complain.

Lewis Baker made his first team debut last season and is entering his 10th season with Chelsea. He won Chelsea's goal of the year and young player of the year award last year and I dream of him captaining Chelsea in the future. That future is not today.

Drogba seems like an obvious choice except that he likely won't be on the field enough this season and does little to answer the question of life after JT.

Mikel has been a loyal blue for years, but after Matic came back home minutes were hard to come by. I don't expect that to drastically change this year. You have to play to wear the band.

Hazard is great. He is loved universally in West London and respected around the world. He plays in every match that he is fit for and is the face of Chelsea. I'm also not convinced that he is going to be Chelsea's captain. We all love to watch him joke around on the sidelines and his general light hearted attitude, but I'm not sure that makes him an exceptional leader at this stage in his life. He is young though, so anything is still possible for him.

Fernando Torres scores when he wants, so I assume he captains when he wants too.

Andre Shurrle is enjoying life at Chelsea and has blue blood in his veins (I guess everyone's blood is blue before it is oxidized, but I bet Shurrle's stays blue). He works hard, he is enthusiastic, and he is loved. He is also young, and used as a sub more often than given a starting role. That will need to change before he becomes Chelsea's captain.

There are other players in the squad of course, but these are the ones that I believe are worth mention. Tell me what you think. Who will be Chelsea's next captain?

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any sort of approval process. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions held by the editors of this site.

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