Why Steve Bruce Should Stick With Captain Cattermole
Perhaps I'm too forgiving for my own good, perhaps I'm just stupid, perhaps I just feel it should be case of three strikes and out not two, but I don't think Lee Cattermole should be stripped of the Sunderland captaincy.
The calls for Cattermole to lose the armband have been intense over the weekend, particularly from a large band of cyber warriors who have talked tough on message boards and Twitter.
And it is easy to see why the condemnation has been so widespread and prolonged. Since Cattermole was given the responsibility at the start of the season he has been sent off twice before half-time, for two bookable offences, in just three games.
Only stupid criminals commit the same crime twice, particularly when you've been caught red-handed with your pants around your ankles the first time.
Lessons were supposed to have been learnt when his sending off just before the interval went a long way to allowing Birmingham City to take a point home with them from the Stadium of Light on the opening day of the season.
Instead, after one combative performance against Manchester City without a yellow card, Cattermole was at it again at Wigan and there is little defence for that kind of stupid decision making.
Booked once, you simply do not take any silly risks by sliding in and Steve Bruce will be wondering whether he has simply asked a 22-year-old to take on too much?
Is the captaincy affecting his decision making? Is it a distraction? Is he trying to do too much? Is he trying too hard to impress? At the moment, all the answers would appear to be yes.
However, the art of management is not colour by numbers and Bruce may well decide to keep Cattermole in the job because he still believes he is the right man to lead the players around him.
He has criticised him in public and will have done so rather more aggressively behind the scenes, but he will want to move on and he will want to keep Cattermole motivated and focused.
If he sticks by him when it would be far easier to take the easy way out and ask someone else to lead the side, he will not only earn the admiration and thanks of the player, but also respect in the dressing room.
Cattermole is one of the most popular players at the club and if the manager stands by him in this, he is showing he will always fight for his players, no matter what.
He backs them and they should always back his judgement in return. It is about creating that bond, a sense of unity and fighting for a common cause.
If Sir Alex Ferguson punished Roy Keane for every stupid tackle, if he had attacked him incessantly for every misdemeanour he made as a young man, he would never have had the player who became the driving force behind the most successful club side of the Premier League era.
Ferguson stuck by Keane, through thick and thin, through good times and bad, and he was repaid with his loyalty. Keane went on to run the dressing room at Old Trafford, but he did so in Ferguson's name.
Cattermole is no Keane, but he might become one. He is 22 and has much to learn. He has been reckless and stupid, but he knows that. If Bruce takes the armband now he will be dishing out extra punishment on top of the club fine and suspension.
It could crush one of his key players. It is a difficult decision, but don't be surprised if Cattermole continues as captain.
Sunderland's manager would be well within his rights to strip him of the armband after what happened at Wigan, which is precisely the reason why he might decide not to.
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
The simple fact is Catts doesn't have the safegaurd in his personality to stop these types of things from happening. If he's not punished for making the wrong decision he'll never be in a position to make the neccesary changes to his midset and mature as a player. As you said he has the potential to be a player in the same mold as Keano, but he also has the potential to go down the Joey Barton route. Because its so early in the season I think Bruce will keep him as captain, but only for that reason. If he cant use the aggression he has in a positive manner I think he should be sold never mind stripped of the captaincy.
I've never been his biggest fan and I dont even think he particularly enjoyes playing for the club. But as a loyal fan of SAFC I would like to see him turn a corner in his career and maybe become a great player for the Black Cats.
He has plenty games to prove his critics wrong, lets hope he has the drive to do it.
One thing that is for certain is that no supporter will be half as upset as Steve Bruce about the Catts situation. Once SB has become calm enough to talk to the it would not surprise me either if there is no new captain just yet. But this Catt will not get to live deven more lives.
i think SB should keep catts as captain,any other decision would humiliate the player.You see similar challenges go unpunished week in week out in premier league,his reputation goes before him same as joey barton,alan smith and co. its time he matured but saying that he has been sent off 5 times