Ben Davies: John Terry is the ultimate captain

English Football League / Ben Davies / 27 November 2009 / Leave a Comment

Ben scored against Rochdale in midweek but it proved to be no more than a consolation goal.

"This is an incredible record to have considering the amount of managers that have been and gone. They have all kept Terry as captain which says everything about his abilities as a leader."

The Notts County midfielder on a dip in form for the club, playing alongside Schmeichel Jr, tempers flaring in the Merseyside derby and why John Terry is the real deal when it comes to leadership.

It has been an eventful week for me as we have had two games this week already and are preparing for our F.A Cup trip down to Bournemouth this weekend. It all started off with a nil-nil draw at home to Aldershot. It was a tough game to play in and we came up against an Aldershot team who defended well and were hard to break down. We created some good chances but it was not our day and we had to settle for a draw. This game saw me come up against my friend and fellow betting.betfair.com columnist Ben Herd, the Aldershot full back. It was good to see him, but not so good to see him have a great game against us.

The Tuesday night fixture saw us travel up to Rochdale on a very wet and windy Tuesday night. This game saw us lose our nine game unbeaten run, as we went down 2-1. It was one of those nights where everything seemed to go against us. We hit the bar, had shots cleared off the line and were on the wrong end of an extremely harsh penalty decision from which they scored their first goal. I managed to score our goal but it was small consolation as we all left Spotland feeling very disappointed.

It was pleasing to see our goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel being rewarded this week after getting the player of the month award for October. Kasper has been in great form and fully deserved the recognition. He is a great keeper and the club did brilliantly in signing the big Dane on a five year deal. He is still very young and has a great chance of achieving great success at Notts as we hopefully progress through the leagues. His resemblance to his dad is unbelievable. The first day he trained with us I remember a striker going through one on one with him and him coming flying off his line to save the shot and the rest of the lads being gobsmacked at how similar it was to the way his Dad used to do it. His attitude to the game is brilliant and even in training he is devastated when he concedes goals. He is equally as passionate about his country. I do a lot of work with him and the fitness coach, Marcus Svensson, who is a swede. The competitiveness between them is brilliant. Denmark recently beat Sweden in the World Cup qualifiers and will be in South Africa next summer with Sweden missing out; poor Marcus has not heard the last of it just yet.

It was disappointing last week to see our youth team go out of the F.A Youth Cup. They were beaten 2-0 by Hartlepool. The Youth team were only set up last year and are making great strides. The youth team manager Michael Johnson is working wonders with them and is teaching them the club's way, which is to pass the ball. Although it may be a while yet, the club will hopefully (sooner rather than later) be bringing talents such as Mark Draper, Tommy Johnson and Jermain Pennant through their Youth ranks again.

I also noticed this week that Chelsea's Champions League encounter saw John Terry lead out the team for the three hundredth time. This is an incredible record to have considering the amount of managers that have been and gone. They have all kept Terry as captain which says everything about his abilities as a leader. He has now become a great role model for young footballers in the way he conducts himself on the pitch and the way his level of performance never drops. He also seems to have a great influence on the players around him and knows when to step in and calm down somewhat fiery players such as Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole.

I have been the captain of a football club myself (at Shrewsbury) and I know how hard it is to get everything right and manage to keep up your responsibilities whilst never allowing your own personal standards to drop. You not only have to get yourself right but also have a job to make sure all the other players are ok, focused and that none of them have any problems. There is always something to do, particularly on match days when everything is so hectic and full on, and that is when your duties are called upon the most. Terry seems to take everything in his stride and is the perfect type of character to be a captain, which is why he is the leader of both his club and country.

Steven Gerrard is a similar type of character on the field and when Liverpool need him most he always seems to be there to bail his team out of trouble. Countless times he has led Liverpool to victory when they look as though they are down and out and are facing defeat in the face. Cesc Fabregas is another one who often comes good when his team most need someone to lead the way.

Gerrard brings me nicely on to the Everton v Liverpool match and on to this week's bet. Liverpool are desperate to climb up the league and need a win, as do Everton, who are really struggling this season. I can see Liverpool winning this at [2.2] but as tensions run high in local derbies between both players and spectators, there is a possibility that someone could let the occasion get the better of them, so get on a sending of at [3.55].