Luke Offord is relishing the responsibility of leading Crewe Alexandra into the 2022-23 season as captain.
The 22-year-old defender, who has been at Mornflake Stadium for 15 years, was picked for the honour by manager Alex Morris on the first day of pre-season training.
Now Luke is looking forward to pulling on the armband when The Railwaymen travel to face Rochdale in the League Two opener tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm).
He said: “I’m really happy about it. I’ve been at the club since I was seven so it is a big achievement and something I’m looking forward to.
“Being captain brings a lot of responsibility, and I enjoy that. I was captain a few times last year and I think those were my better games, it brought the best out of me.
“I think it will push my game on. I feel that I’m normally consistent anyway, but having the armband can kick me on even more. I think I’m loud enough on the pitch, but I like to lead by example with my performances too.
“As captain, if people aren’t doing their jobs properly you have to tell them, but that won’t just be me. There are a lot of leaders in the dressing room, but I don’t mind doing it where it is needed.
“There have been a lot of good captains here, like Perry (Ng) and Luke (Murphy) in the past couple of seasons, so I’ve got to look up to those people and do a good job.”
Crewe will travel to Spotland in good spirits after a positive pre-season, and will be backed by close to 1,000 travelling supporters.
Luke, who is closing in on 100 games for the club, says the players are determined to put on a good show for the fans.
He added: “We owe it to the fans to do well because of the way they stuck with us last season. We have to put the past behind us and do our best going forward.
“We have to go there with a strong mentality and want to win the game. We need to get off to a good start, three points would be good so that’s what we’ve got to aim for.
“There will be a lot of challenges in League Two, maybe more different styles of play than in League One, so every game will be tough.
“We have to defend well, and if we do that I think we have the quality up the pitch to cause opponents problems.”