Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole believes Bruno Fernandes is being “disrespectful” to his teammates when he throws his arms in frustration while wearing the armband during matches.
Cole described the playmaker’s captaincy style as “different” and says he understands his mentality given that times have moved on. Fernandes has been critiqued for his gesticulative manner when games are going against United.
He took further heat for putting an arm towards an official when skippering the side in last season’s 7-0 defeat to Liverpool and for his aggressive tackles towards the end of the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City last month.
Fernandes took on the captaincy from Harry Maguire over the summer, having often been bestowed the honour when Maguire was benched for the majority of last term. Many agreed Fernandes was the correct choice for the role at the time, although some have questioned Erik ten Hag’s decision since.
Roy Keane said he would have stripped the Portugal star of the captaincy after the derby defeat while Gary Neville suggested the midfielder may be best giving up the role at the end of the season.
However, there has been concern over a lack of alternative skipper options at the club, with Cole being one of those uneasy with the current situation. He unpacked his thought about Fernandes as captain when recently speaking to Betfred.
“First and foremost, captains now are different to captains in my day and they lead in a different way,” Cole said.
“If you look at all the captains in the Premier League currently, how many of them share characteristics with captains from ten or twenty years ago? Not many do.
“There’s talk about Bruno Fernandes not being the right choice for captain, but if you look around the Manchester United dressing room currently, then who else would you give the captaincy to instead?
“There’s not four or five standout contenders. When I was at the club, you could have possibly given the captaincy to Jaap [Stam], Denis [Irwin], Peter [Schmeichel], Giggsy (Ryan Giggs) or Scholesy (Paul Scholes).
“There were so many options back then but nowadays, players are different and lead in a different way.”
Commenting on Fernandes’ style of captaincy, Cole said he can come across as having a lack of respect for his colleagues at times. He added: “Bruno leads in a different way and I understand it.
“I can also understand that people don’t want to see a captain waving his arms about in frustration, which I personally believe is disrespectful to his teammates, but at this moment in time, he’s the man and he will captain the side in a way which he believes is beneficial to himself and his teammates.”