Gillingham manager John Coleman was pleased to see how Max Ehmer responded after the captaincy was taken off him.
It was a big call for the Gills boss to switch the armband midway through the season, handing it to Armani Little instead.
Both Ehmer and Little played on Tuesday night in a 1-1 draw at Walsall.
Coleman said: “The one thing I know about Max Ehmer is that he realises (being captain) is an honour, so he was hurt when the team captaincy was taken off him.
“He’s still club captain and I think he is captain material. He loves the club.
“It takes a certain style of player to be a captain. Some take to it like a duck to water, some don’t. For some, it makes them play better, while some they feel a burden. I don’t think Max particularly feels the burden.
“What I was pleased with was the response I got from Max.
“I only told him on Monday morning, you wouldn’t have known by how he played [on Tuesday] that he’d had that put on him on Monday.
“He responded well, he marshalled the defence brilliantly and you wouldn’t, from his playing perspective, have known that he’d had the captaincy taken off him.”
Coleman kept faith with Ehmer as captain when he took over but felt big changes were needed after last weekend’s loss at Barrow and that was one of them.
“It was (a tough call),” he said.
“Since I’ve come into the club, six games, Max and Robbie (McKenzie) have been our two most consistent players but I felt we needed to get more influence higher up the pitch.
“I felt as though Max would benefit from just concentrating on marshalling and the defence, which he did superbly during Tuesday night.
“I’ve been in the position of being captain and had it taken off me when I was on a great run, when I was captain of Southport.
“I quickly realised after the first game, it didn’t change the way you played, it didn’t change the way you interacted with people. You can be a captain on the pitch without having your armband on.
“You should have 11 captains but the reality is you don’t in this day and age, with just society in general, there is a lack of leadership. It doesn’t mean that three or four people can’t step up to the plate and influence the rest of the players who are playing.
“Some might do it by action, some might do it with their mouth, but you’ve got to get that balance of getting everybody on the same page and fighting for the cause, celebrating your little mini wins and trying to all push forward together.
“I think there should be five or six captains on the pitch and hopefully we’ll have that on Saturday.
“Armani is quite vocal, he’s not scared to open his mouth, and I think we’ve got a natural captain in Sam Gale. He’s a bit young at the moment but I will be amazed if Sam Gale doesn’t captain Gillingham at some point in his career.”
