Captain Tom, one of 20
Friday, 6th Aug 2021“I’d rather they’d all be captains and all feel comfortable of asking the questions if they were not sure.
Dom Thomas led the team out during the cup competition because Peter Grant felt that was important at the time but he is still resisting naming a club captain as such, he explained:-
“I don’t like naming a captain for one reason, if you don’t play him is he not the captain any more? I am hoping that I’m going to have twenty captains, I think that’s the way we have got to be.
“I understand how it is an honour to pull the armband on but for me it means nothing. I think it was proven on Saturday, even with the armband on you can still be taken off the pitch. I don’t want people to be saying ‘he has taken his captain off’ that is unfair on Dom as well because he is a player I have known a long time, I have great respect for him and is a massive player for us.
“Naming somebody as a specific captain I have never been one for that. As you know I played in a team where everyone of them was a captain and would have ripped your head off at half time. That was the way we were judged, everybody expected you to say your piece and that is the way I want the boys to do it here.
“I want every single one of them to feel comfortable to come and chap on the door, speak to us if they have something that they are not sure with. Sometimes players might think that they have to go to the captain, I am not a great believer in that. I would rather go and see the manager myself and tell him what I think and what I’m feeling.
“Sometimes the captain is an easy option - ‘go and you speak’. I don’t really like that, I want the players to have that confidence in themselves because if they have confidence in themselves to ask questions, they are going to have that confidence to try things on the football pitch which is also important.
“They are football players, they are not a centre half or a centre forward, they are a football player. It is the same with captain, I’d rather they’d all be captains and all feel comfortable of asking the questions if they were not sure. Whether you are the youngest or the oldest, I will respect every one of them the same way.”
Dom’s personality certainly imposes itself on the team and it is no surprise that he has led the team out every time so far this season. Peter continued:-
“Dom wants to be the best player that he possibly can be. He knows that he needs to raise the bar, he knows my expectations of him. He just can’t play when he is on the ball, he has to play all the time because, as I say, even if you are dominating the game you are probably on the ball two or three minutes maximum. There is a lot of time that you don’t have the ball as an individual so you have to be still affecting the game and the team.”
Peter Grant has known Dom since the Scotland Under 20s competing at Toulon.
“He is a fantastic boy, he has personality and has that gallousness which makes him the player that he is. I love that gallousness in all my players, I want them to all to have that confidence and I want them all to think that they are the best.
“I want them to have a strut but not take it beyond the line. I want them to have that belief in themselves, trust themselves, trust their team mates. That is the one thing that you always have to get from the boys. Be brave, you have to be brave to be a football player because you are going to make errors but the big players come back and get on the ball again. Dom definitely does that he has the personality to do that and hopefully that rubs off on the rest of the guys as well.” oy and I have known him since with the Scotland Under 20s when we went to Toulon. He has got that personality and has that gallousness which makes him the player that he is. I love that gallousness in all my players, I want them to all to have that confidence and I want them all to think that they are the best.
“I want them to have a strut but not take it beyond the line. I want them to have that belief in themselves, trust themselves, trust their team mates. That is the one thing that you always have to get from the boys. Be brave, you have to be brave to be a football player because you are going to make errors but the big players come back and get on the ball again. Dom definitely does that he has the personality to do that and hopefully that rubs off on the rest of the guys as well.”
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