Who will be captain?

He was blamed by manager Steve Cotterill for costing us the game, and the manager said he would consider taking the club captaincy from him. That decision is still to be made and the manager said yesterday: “I don't have to make that decision at this moment in time, I want to make it when I've calmed down and had some time to think about it.”

Micah Hyde took the captain's arm band last week and when he was later substituted in the game he passed it to Frank Sinclair. I can't recall who took it the last time Thomas was sent off but when he was suspended at Palace it was Sinclair who led us out.

Much will depend on the team news and I expect it to be Frank if he plays at Norwich or Micah if not but Steve added that the final decision for the permanent role might well rest with who actually wants the job.

“I don't have to address it for a few weeks with the international break coming up,” he said. “But it is not a case of stripping him of the captaincy, it is more who wants it. A couple of players have been touted, but some of them didn't want it when it was offered two years ago, so we have to see who wants to take up the mantle.”

That suggests he could well be looking at a change, and an inspired guess would suggest certainly John McGreal and probably Micah were the players who weren't keen on the role at the beginning of the 2004/05 season.

I think it is fair to say that a poll of Burnley fans right now would certainly not vote for Thomas to continue as captain, the patience has worn a bit thin for a player who has received no fewer than four red cards in his last eighteen starts for the club.