Bournemouth Fan View: Simon Francis must stand down as Cherries captain

I have a huge fondness for my team’s captain Simon Francis. He’s much loved at AFC Bournemouth, and the passion he has for the club is obvious.

From his legendary gun fingers celebration to his bombarding runs down the right flank in our Championship season – he’s a player it’s hard not to embrace.

He’s worked his way up from the lower leagues after all, from being booted out from Charlton – but then knuckling down to find himself the captain of a Premier League club.

But this is no time for such love addled musings. Francis is sadly currently making our team weaker – and perhaps not for the reasons you think.

Captain not-so-fantastic

You know those marauding runs I mentioned earlier? The ones Francis made from right back? Those haven’t happened for a while, as he’s actually been played as a centre back for much of the last two seasons.

This was largely down to a lack of dedicated centre backs, due to Eddie Howe’s strange reluctance to sign a decent one.

But now that we have Nathan Aké – who was one of the few bright spots in our defeat at West Bromwich Albion, incidentally – problems have arisen. The young Dutchman must play because he’s always looked so assured for us.

Then you have Steve Cook, who is our best defender. And whisper it, may also be our best player. So he can’t be dropped either.

READ MORE: Premier League clubs to discuss shorter transfer window for the summer

READ MORE: Fantasy Football Gameweek 1: Yahoo Cup’s £1,000,000 Perfect Lineup

Not back at centre back

So this means Simon Francis can no longer really play as centre back. Which means Howe has to put him in his old right back position if he’s to get into our first eleven.

Problem is, he’s no longer got the pace or awareness to play there. Whereas Adam Smith – who played there for us for most of the last campaign – does.

Sadly as Francis is captain, Howe clearly feels he can’t be dropped – as Eddie does love his favourites. So because of an armband we are effectively hobbling ourselves unnecessarily.

Seeing Francis struggling on the right at the Hawthorns on Saturday until he went off injured has not convinced me otherwise.

Captain Cook?

I won’t bleat away and not offer a solution though, that’s not my style. It’s fairly obvious who should be the team’s captain after all.

Steve Cook is softly spoken, but he’s been an ever present in our team since the League One days. He’s also improved massively since we arrived in the top flight to become the most important member of our squad. He’s always the first name on the team-sheet in my mind, and he should be captain.

Last season when we were in a terrible patch of form he never shied away from trying to gee up the rest of the team. He was always looking to play a forward pass, or pushing up the pitch himself. He was often one of the only shining lights in a pit of darkness.

Simon Francis clearly loves AFC Bournemouth. But in my opinion if he wants the club to progress he has to renounce his captaincy – for the good of the team. And after all, isn’t that what a great captain does?