Skipper Ivar

So it was the conservative decision for Ivar Ingimarsson to be appointed Reading’s new captain, a far cry from the far left decision to give youngster Alex Pearce the armband, he will be given the vice captaincy instead.

With Ingi’s injuries of late, it must have been tricky to give the responsibility to someone who may not be in the team often.

As determined last year and the year before that, Graeme Murty’s presence was solely missed and his influence and passion was left best on the pitch, when out of the side, the team missed that certain drive.

Let’s hope Ingimarsson will be able to supply that drive on a regular basis.

The Icelandic international was always the safe bet as he has been the club since October 2003, Steve Coppell’s first signing, and his love and knowledge of the clubs exceeds most other candidates.

James Harper’s potential move to Wolves, as reported earlier, gave indication that he was never in the running, and with Andre Bikey linked with many clubs it would be doubtful he would be risked with the responsibility, not that he would have been a good leader anyway.

Brendan Rodgers is certainly a clever man and what he said of Ivar speaks volumes: “Ivar has great respect from everybody here and his communication is open. He is ruthlessly simple, he says it as it is. I know he can put my message across when I am not there.”

That’s fair enough really and that is more than enough for me.

Pearce being given the vice captaincy role is fantastic new, Rodgers definitely knows his worth and if he’s playing constantly this season he’ll now doubt be able to fill role to a very good standard.

Rodgers spoke inspiring words of him: “In terms of Alex, I know that over time he can progress into a natural captain and he can learn from guys like Ivar. I want to help Alex in his progress because he is a natural leader of this club. He will learn as vice captain and be mentored to become captain one day.”

This may be the indication that Pearce may not be automatic first choice and with the signing of Matthew Mills he may have to show his worth more and more.

In all, a fine decision. The obvious one.

We just need a good song for him now.