Dave Challinor explains why former Newcastle United youngster Ryan Donaldson is his first choice as Hartlepool United captain ahead of 2020-21 National League season

Donaldson had the captaincy thrust upon him toward the end of the 2018-19 season and retained the armband for the 2019-20 campaign.

The 29-year-old is expected to lead the team out for the upcoming season in the National League, which is scheduled to start on October 3.

Challinor has admitted Donaldson may not be a natural leader but feels it’s the versatile midfielder’s other qualities that make him the right choice to be skipper.

“The captaincy won’t change, Ryan will be the captain and I’ve had no thought about changing that,” said the Hartlepool manager.

“It’s a strange one with captains, what I want is a changing room with leaders in and whoever wears the armband has a responsibility.

"Realistically the leadership is what you have in the changing room and the experienced players are naturally going to be the ones who step forward.

"Ry is there as captain, Feaths [Nicky Featherstone] is experienced, Lidds [Gary Liddle] is experienced and those are the type of players who need to be around the younger ones.

"Gav [Holohan] is experienced, Shelts [Mark Shelton] is experienced even though he’s young and there’s a lot of them like that who are strong leaders and you’ve got to use that as best as possible.

"You’ve got to be respected on and off the pitch and players can go to captains with potential problems and make us aware which is something Ryan is brilliant with.

"He’s been at the club a long time and divides opinion. People may say he needs to get more goals and that but for me he’s a manager’s dream because I can trust him to play anywhere except maybe in goal and at centre-back and do a job and give everything he’s got.

"He’s vital for us especially if we’re running with a small squad.

"I have no doubt that he’s the right person to remain captain – if we brought in a loud old fashioned leader then it may be different but it wouldn’t change his role as one of the leaders in the squad.”

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