Skipper Tommy Fraser is surely looking at a season keeping the bench warm. He is certainly not in Micky Adams strongest midfield quartet, far from it. New arrival Gary Roberts has quickly established himself alongside Anthony Griffith in the central midfield, and it appeared to me at the back end of last season that Doug Loft had moved above Fraser in the midfield pecking order.

Fraser has started the last two league games playing out wide right, clearly a position that does not suit him. He does not have the pace to be a winger, and his instinct is always to 'tuck in'. The only reason he has been playing out there is because Lewis Haldane has been absent after suffering a freak insect-bite incident, Louis Dodds needs to bring some consistency into his game, and loanee Bell-Baggie has simply not shown enough to warrant a place in the starting line-up.

Haldane is now apparently on his way back to fitness. Doug Loft was on the bench yesterday, after recovering from a punctured lung. I suspect Fraser will find himself well out of the picture with everyone fit and available for selection.

Fraser will doubtlessly get a chance next Saturday as Roberts will be suspended, and this will be the only way I imagine Fraser will get a sniff of first team action. In his favour is, of course, the fact that Roberts and Grifith will no doubt be picking up a few suspensions! Although Loft will also be staking a place in centre midfield.

So, the question is this: If Fraser is going to spend a good deal of the season on the bench will Adams allow him to keep the Captaincy? What is the value of having a Club Captain who is not in the starting eleven? Adams does have options Captaincy-wise: Marc Richards picks up the armband when Fraser is not appearing, we also have Gareth Owen at the back who has good experience of the Skipper role having captained Stockport County into League 1 three years ago.

When he arrived last May Fraser looked the part. He had played at Brighton under Micky Adams previous to coming to Vale Park, and was immediately installed as Captain. He certainly looked like a leader, and was the type of player Fans like - aggressive, passionate, chasing lost causes. He also enjoys a bit of 'banter' with opposing players - just ask Francis Jeffers or Aldershots John Halls!

However, after an initial bright start his performances began to drop off, and after a brief injury found himself on the bench with Loft and Griffith holding the central midfield places.

Frasers' contract is up in May 2011. Would anyone be surprised if he is not at Vale Park next season?

Photo: Action Images

PVFC_78 added 08:55 - Sep 14 I thought he was awful second half of last season. He just seemed to get worse and worse. Maybe it would do him good to have the captaincy taken off him and let him concentrate on his football. To be honest we wouldn't miss him if he left.
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