David Artell / David Artell / 11 April 2008 / Leave a comment

Morecambe's David Artell talks us through the added responsibilities of being stand-in skipper, trying to revise for exams in a noisy house and why Gareth Barry is an important part of Fabio Capello's plans

This last couple of weeks has seen me adopt the role of captain in the absence of our usual skipper. It's always an honour when the gaffer pulls you to one side and asks you to lead the side, even more so when it's against one of your former sides as it was a couple of weeks ago. There's a couple of extra things to do such as going into the referees' room at 2 o'clock to exchange team sheets with the opposition. It's at this point where the away team can ask questions such as if there's a multi-ball system in place. The referee will then say a few words about how the captain can make his life easier by talking to him and then there's handshakes all round and everyone can then go and get changed.

If you don't go into the referees room an hour before kick off the club gets fined (£500 I think). In my experience this has only happened when the team bus has been stuck in traffic and there's nothing that the captain can do about it.

Another extra responsibility is the coin toss and looking after the mascots for the couple of minutes prior to the coin toss. The last event before kick off that requires the captain is the pre-match huddle. The 30 second speech differs from game to game but has a common theme. I just tell the lads to work hard, focus on their own jobs and if they do that then team success will follow.

Away from football and last week was a busy one as I had an exam at university on Tuesday and then a residential day the day after where we get the coursework for the next module (if anyone knows anything about haemopoeitic stem cells let me know!!!). The most difficult thing when it's exam time is finding time to revise in a house filled with the noise of two lively children. The next set of coursework is due to be handed in after the end of the season so I should have plenty of time to complete it. However I cant leave it till the end of the season as there's 12 of us doing our level two coaching badge. I'm not sure if management is for me or not but I'm not going to rule it out just yet. If I had to liken myself to a current manager I'd like to think that I'd taken a bit of something of every manager I've played under to produce something close to David Moyes. Moyes learnt his trade in the lower leagues and doesn't court the media (which the top managers shouldn't in my opinion) and seems a good manager to play under.

Going back to captains and Aston Villa skipper Gareth Barry has had a great season which has seen him cement his place as an England regular. I think the appointment of Fabio Capello will only add to his England reputation as Capello like his holding midfielders and Barry is the best in the business at the moment (his only competition seems to be the Manchester United duo of Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves).

There was talk of Barry leaving Villa Park around the time that Martin O'Neill took charge but O'Neill persuaded him to stay and has built a team around him that has seen Villa pushing for Europe. This week Villa travel the short distance to face already-relegated Derby and that should signify an almost certain three points for the Villains. Derby's main problem this season has been their inability to keep clean sheets and after some recent improved performances they are due a blip and I believe Villa could run riot and that's why I'm going for over 3.5 goals at [3.6].

David Artell plays for Morecambe FC:

http://www.morecambefc.com/

Tags: David Artell, Gareth Barry, Morecambe FC