The Blues boss started his reign by continuing with Toure as skipper during the victories over Stoke City and Wolverhampton Wanderers just after Christmas, two games the Blues won comfortably.
Then Shay Given took the captain’s armband during Toure’s participation in the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola and Nigel de Jong has also led the team on a number of occasions this season.
With Vincent Kompany, Stephen Ireland, Patrick Vieira, Gareth Barry, Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tevez all outstanding captain material in their own right, competition to lead the Blues is fierce.
However, Mancini was quick to hand the captaincy back to the experienced Toure on his return against Portsmouth last weekend and he repaid his manager by turning in a man-of-the-match display.
Kolo is the captain of the team and he was the captain before I arrived and I don’t intend to change anything.
...Roberto Mancini...
“Having said that, I want my team to have many captains out on the pitch, but only one player can wear the captain’s armband – and that is Kolo.
“He is a very important player for us and a very good leader so I am very happy for him to continue to skipper the team.”
