“I don’t think he’d motivate me very well at all.” – Treacy and Cawley not gone on Fernandes as Man United captain

Niall McIntyre

Brought to you by William Hill.

Between them, neither Keith Treacy nor Alan Cawley are gone on the idea of Bruno Fernandes as Manchester United captain.

As a player, both Cawley and Treacy have huge admiration for certain parts of Fernandes’ game.

Namely his creativity and his knack for executing brave passes and clever finishes but, from a leadership perspective, Fernandes isn’t a man they’d be all-for following into battle.

Treacy, the former Blackburn Rovers and Burnley winger could see himself getting into verbals with Fernandes due to his tempestuous nature on the pitch. Cawley, who won the 2004 League of Ireland with Shelbourne, meanwhile, has criticised his touchy nature off the pitch.

“As a player, I love him,” says Treacy on the latest episode of the House of Football with William Hill.

“But I’ll be honest with you, his demeanour, the way he throws his arms in the air, the way he dives every now and then, the way he gives out to referees and team-mates.

“I think you need to have a bit more about you to be a Manchester United captain. As a motivator, I don’t think he’s there.

“When you’re in the trenches,” continues the former Republic of Ireland international, “like if City had been 80% of the ball and you need players to keep going through brick walls and he’s there throwing his arms up…

“I’d probably end up getting into verbals with him. I don’t think he’d motivate me very well at all.”

Alan Cawley criticised Fernandes for getting involved in a spat with Micah Richards recently. Richards, the Sky Sports pundit said that Fernandes’ on-field behaviour was disturbing the rest of the team and the Portuguese midfielder got drawn into it.

He responded to this criticism via his Instagram story, where he posted a clip of former Super Bowl winner Deion Sanders.

The clip shows the ex NFL star visibly challenging the journalists in front of him for questioning his performances and behaviour.

“Look at me. What about me would make you think that I care about your opinion of me? Your opinion of me is not the opinion that I have of myself.

“You ain’t make me, so you can’t break me. You didn’t build me, so you can’t kill me.”

“Football-wise, a brilliant player,” said Cawley.

“One of the elite players really. On social media, everyone was going on about ‘Bruno the captain,’ United were posting pictures of him winning a tackle and all this kind of stuff.

“Micah Richards had a go at him last week. And of course, Bruno went onto social media and had a go back at him, it was of an NFL star. Did you see that? I mean, if you’re the captain of Manchester United, you don’t get dragged down to that level of having a go back at Micah Richards or whoever it is.

“You do your talking on the pitch.

“It’s alright against Forest. Believe me, Forest are one of the worst, they’ll go down or they’ll be close to going down. ”

House of Football host Eric Lalor played Devil’s Advocate by pointing to Roy Keane’s fiery nature on the field, but both lads agreed that Keane’s boy language was more encouraging than sulky.

“The difference between Roy and Fernandes was that Roy’s standards were always there. He didn’t dive,” said Treacy.

“I know he got involved with referees but he was first and foremost winning his battle and winning his part of the pitch, but Bruno can be losing his battle and still giving out.”

“Bruno does it in a sulky way I find,” added Cawley.

“Roy was barking at them but it was more of a demands way from Roy. Roy wasn’t asking them to do anything he wouldn’t do and I felt the players were always with him. Some of those players in that United squad mightn’t even like Bruno I would say.”

When pushed for his opinion on who he would have as Manchester United captain, after a struggle due to the scarcity of suitable candidates, Cawley gave a hesitant nod to Casemiro.

You can watch the full House of Football below.