Kolo - 'I am not more important than the team'

Kolo Toure has spoken of losing the captaincy to Carlos Tevez for the 2010/11 season:

'He broke the news that he would be making Carlos Tevez captain, in order that he would become a lot more involved with the club’s squad.

'He even quoted the example of Diego Maradona at Napoli, who worked wonders once he had been appointed their captain.

'I told him that it was not a problem, and accepted his decision. I am not more important than the team, and the decision was taken for the benefit of Manchester City.'

Encouraging words from a player for whom many thought being stripped of the captaincy may have an adverse affect.

Despite still being of the opinion that Vincent Kompany is the most ideal candidate to be club captain (although the idea of a captain in football is too often overplayed), there is definite logic in the decision to hand the armband to Carlos Tevez.

Certain players will clearly respond to the added responsibility and status (Toure cites the example of Diego Maradona) and the thinking with Tevez is that it will help him thrive within the squad and provide an added motivation being the designated 'figurehead' within the team.

As an aside to this, whilst it was a strange move initially by Mark Hughes to hand Toure the captaincy last season, losing it clearly hasn't had an adverse affect and he has opened the season in strong form, once again striking up an impressive partnership with Vincent Kompany when many expected him to be a weak link in the defence, or even on the sidelines.