Ranking all 8 Man Utd captains since Roy Keane left Old Trafford under a cloud
Roy Keane helped Manchester United deliver some of their most memorable moments during his time as captain, but some eight men have worn the armband as 'permanent' skipper in the 18 years since his departure.
Keane was tasked with captaining United for eight years under Sir Alex Ferguson, with that period including the famous Treble success in the 1998-99 season. While the Ireland international missed the Champions League final through suspension, his input that season can't be overlooked.
His exit came hot on the heels of a brutal MUTV segment in which he tore into multiple members of United's squad. Keane was denied a proper farewell, having struggled with injury in his final United season, and retired in 2006 after a brief stint with Celtic.
The 18 years that followed have seen United go through several managers and even more skippers. There was a continuity of sorts before Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, but a lot of movement has followed in the decade since.
Bruno Fernandes currently has the honour, and the Portugal international will want to pass the two-and-a-quarter-year average tenure of those to wear the armband since Keane moved on. Here, Mirror Football takes a closer look at that octet, ranking them from worst to best.
Marcel Sabitzer completes Man Utd transfer after last-minute deadline day dash
8. Ashley Young
England international Young did plenty for United during close to a decade at Old Trafford but didn't even last a season as captain. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave the former Watford and Aston Villa man the armband at the start of the 2019-20 season, but he was gone by January, joining Inter Milan.
Do you agree with our ranking? Have your say in the comments section
Ashley Young served as club captain for half a season (Getty Images)Young may have felt he needed to move for first-team football after losing his starting spot at United, and minutes elsewhere have arguably vindicated his decision. This season, at the age of 38, he is already close to matching the number of Premier League minutes he racked up in that final half-season with United.
7. Antonio Valencia
Another long-serving star with a brief period as skipper, Valencia had spent close to a decade with United before taking over as permanent captain in 2018. He was de facto skipper in his penultimate season, but injuries limited his involvement in his final campaign.
The Ecuadorian wore the armband for some big victories in the 2017-18 campaign, including a memorable 3-2 win against Manchester City in April. He made just six appearances the following year, though, with the last of them coming from the bench in a limp defeat against Cardiff.
6. Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick barely featured in his final Man United season (PA)Valencia's 2017-18 run as captain came while official skipper Carrick was out injured. Carrick captained United for the first time in Ferguson's final game in charge, a 5-5 draw with West Bromwich Albion, and wore the armband sporadically under Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho made Carrick captain on a permanent basis ahead of the 2017-18 season, but the former Spurs and West Ham star barely featured due to heart problems. Nevertheless, he led the side out in the final game of that season - his only league start of the campaign - as United claimed a 1-0 victory over Watford.
5. Harry Maguire
It was Maguire who took over the captaincy after Young left for Inter. The centre-back had only been at Old Trafford for a few months, joining from Leicester the previous summer, but was backed by then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Harry Maguire captained United during their run to the 2021 Europa League final (NurPhoto/PA Images)In his first full season as captain, Maguire helped United reach the Europa League final. His next two seasons were far less successful, though, with United posting their worst-ever Premier League points tally in 2021-22 - with Solskjaer sacked off the back of Maguire's red card in a chastening defeat at Watford - and then Maguire losing his starting spot under Erik ten Hag.
Maguire was linked with a summer exit after losing the captaincy to Bruno Fernandes. Instead, though, he has stuck around and shown there's life after that kind of blow.
Man Utd deadline day live updates as Sabitzer completes loan move
4. Bruno Fernandes
The jury is still out on United's current captain, with positives and negatives. His suitability was questioned last season, especially during a 7-0 defeat at Liverpool, but on-field contributions have won some critics over.
Keane was one of those critics, saying: "The one thing I would do, after today having watched him again, I would definitely take the captaincy off him, 100 per cent. I know it was a big decision to change the captaincy with (Harry) Maguire.
Questions have been asked of Bruno Fernandes during his time as Manchester United captain (Getty Images)"But Fernandes is not captain material. I think he's a talented player, but what I saw today, we've discussed this before, I was at Liverpool last year, his whinging, moaning, and constantly throwing his arms up in the air. It really isn't acceptable.
"It has to start somewhere and where do you make changes - manager? board level? It starts with that (the captaincy) because the manager is capable of doing that. Hold his hands up and say he got it wrong. Fernandes is a great player, but he's the opposite of what I would want in a captain."
Ten Hag disagreed, though. "I don’t understand why (people are questioning whether he should be captain) because everyone has their mistakes, no one is perfect," he said after the recent victory over Fulham. "But he’s doing a lot of things really well and as a captain, he’s setting an example - we saw today how hard he’s working, he’s pressing and in the end, he’s scoring a goal and he’s massively important for us."
3. Wayne Rooney
While Wayne Rooney's contribution as a Manchester United player is plain to see, his input as captain is a little different. He took the armband in 2014 when Van Gaal replaced David Moyes as manager and held onto it until his 2017 exit.
That period brought three of United's more recent trophies - the 2016 FA Cup, followed by the League Cup and Europa League triumphs one season later. He only started one of the three, though, remaining an unused sub in the second and coming on in the final minute against Ajax in Stockholm with the game already won.
"Wayne is the captain of the club. He's trusted by the players, he's trusted by myself and he represents the club in a fantastic way as a player and person," Mourinho said early in the 2016-17 season. "But in football, everyone is the same and if he has to go on the bench, he goes on the bench."
Rooney's final season as captain wasn't too dissimilar to Maguire's in terms of his status in the team, but he left for a farewell season at Everton before a spell in the United States. The trophies count for something, though, as do Rooney's on-field efforts before being made full-time captain.
2. Gary Neville
Neville was the longest-serving captain since Keane's exit, serving as skipper for five years before calling time on his career. Those might have been the final five years of his career, but they still produced some high points.
One of those high points came in the 2006-07 season when Neville's United broke Chelsea's stranglehold on the Premier League. He missed the 2008 Champions League final victory, having spent the entire season out injured, but was in Moscow to join his colleagues in their celebrations.
The England international also sat out the 2009 final against Barcelona, with the last few years of his United career plagued by injury. By the time his final game rolled around, in January 2011, he had already ceded the armband when it became clear his minutes were on the wane.
Gary Neville struggled for minutes in his final few Man Utd seasons (Getty Images)"Gary is still club captain but I have been looking for someone who is going to be playing consistently every week," Ferguson said at the time. "Over the last two or three years we have had to pass the baton along the line a few times.
"We have not had a consistent captain because Gary's injuries have prevented him from playing all the time. If he was available all the time he would be the captain. He would have been on Saturday. But I have to look at the overall picture."
1. Nemanja Vidic
Vidic was the man who took the armband from Neville not long before the Englishman's retirement. After Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs started as captains in the 2008 and 2009 Champions League finals, the Serbian did the honours in 2011.
Nemanja Vidic captained United to their most recent Premier League title (Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)It was also Vidic who captained United to Premier League glory in both 2011 and 2013, with only a last-gasp Sergio Aguero goal for Manchester City in 2012 denying him three in a row. A disappointing final season, with Moyes at the helm, isn't enough to take the top honour away from the centre-back.
Still, while Vidic might be the best post-Keane captain, he's not considered the best in recent history. According to Ferguson, that honour goes to Bryan Robson, who skippered the side to their first Premier League title.
"He was easily the best captain I had. I think over the period he was at United, he was the best player," Ferguson said at the premiere of 'Robbo: The Bryan Robson Story' in 2021 "The players loved him. They responded to him and he was the longest-serving captain in my time anyway. It’s difficult for a captain because sometimes he has to tell the truth to players, you know?
"The encouragement he’s got to give them sometimes can be quite volatile and he was like that, but the players did love him. They appreciated the time he took on them and another thing, he’s the only captain I knew who could make a decision on the pitch. He didn’t need to look over to me.
"He would do that and that’s unusual. In fact, it’s very unusual because he had the balls to do that."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
