Morecambe manager wants senior players to lead around the club

Stephen Robinson believes too much significance can be placed on the role of a captain as he prepares to name Morecambe’s new skipper.
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Sam Lavelle had worn the armband, having replaced Barry Roche when he became goalkeeping coach following Derek Adams’ arrival as manager in the autumn of 2019.

However, Lavelle’s deadline day move to Charlton Athletic means the club is now looking for a replacement captain.

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Robinson has a candidate in mind but admitted he preferred to see collective leadership in and around the club instead.

Anthony O'Connor was named as one of the Morecambe players Stephen Robinson wants to run the dressing roomAnthony O'Connor was named as one of the Morecambe players Stephen Robinson wants to run the dressing room
Anthony O'Connor was named as one of the Morecambe players Stephen Robinson wants to run the dressing room
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When asked on Friday morning if he had made a decision on a captain, he joked: “I’m not telling you because I haven’t told him yet!

“The captaincy, for me, isn’t a huge deal because I want a group of players who run the dressing room.

“You want players like Toums (Toumani Diagouraga), Anthony O’Connor and Aaron Wildig, older players like that who will control the dressing room.”

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It’s almost three months since Robinson took charge following Adams’ departure for Bradford City.

In that time, 18 players have arrived with another 17 departing in an attempt to build a squad capable of surviving the club’s first season in League One.

The hope is to bring in one more player on the back of Lavelle and Kelvin Mellor having left the club in midweek.

As Robinson admitted, it’s been something of a breathless introduction to life at the Mazuma Stadium.

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He said: “It’d be nice doing signings in ones rather than 10s!

“We had to get a squad together very quickly and we used the loans up quickly to put some meat on the bones.

“It’s something we will revisit in January but we’ve got the look of a decent squad and there’s more to come from others. It’s up to them to step up but you never stop trying to improve.

“I keep repeating myself about how little personnel we had - three signed players - but we had to build the squad quickly.

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“We had pre-season two weeks away and, while some have done better than others, I think we’ve put a very good squad together.”

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