Yeovil Town captain Jake Wannell has said it is an “honour” to be confirmed as club captain for the upcoming National League Premier Division campaign.
The defender will lead the Glovers out for the opening fixture when Hartlepool United make the 700-mile round trip to Somerset on Saturday.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah on Thursday ahead of the game, he said: “It is an honour to captain this great club. I think at Rochdale away (the manager, Mark Cooper) pulled me to one side and said he was going to make me club captain…and we ended up losing 4-0 that day, so it was a hard day for me personally! But, on the whole, it is a great feeling to lead the boys out.”
Wannell is expected will start alongside central defensive partner Morgan Williams, who boss Cooper confirmed is expected to be fit despite fracturing his hand, and regular full-back Alex Whittle, who has also been declared fit by his manager after limping off with a groin problem in the 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat at Weston-super-Mare last weekend.
However, there will be some less familiar faces in defence in the shape of on loan Bristol Rovers’ goalkeeper Jed Ward and Birmingham City loanee full-back Byron Pendleton. The captain is confident the new recruits, who are among eight brought in by Yeovil in the summer, will not have a negative impact on the squad. Read manager Mark Cooper’s thoughts on the summer transfer activity – HERE.
He said: “(The summer takeover) has not really affected us as players in pre-season, it has obviously been challenging for the club and for Mark. The takeover happening (at the end of May) means we have a smaller squad which is not always ideal as a player but we will give it a good go and hopefully do well.
“(This division) is a bigger, quicker, stronger league than the ones I have previously played in but otherwise it is quite tactical and Hartlepool will be one of the bigger teams in the league so I expect it to be a roll our sleeves up kind of game and hopefully get the three points.
“(Hartlepool) have recruited well, but on previous experience they have always been a direct team, a big, strong, physical outfit, so it will be a challenge.
“Having a strong back three or four will obviously help. Last season I got a few sendings off, as did Morgs (Morgan Williams) got sent off and we had a few injuries which did not help. If you compare that to the season before that, I think our defence hardly changed. It is the core of the team and if we can keep that defensive unit together, hopefully we can build on it.“
Great decision appointing Jake captain i love the passion he brings during games. Suits us perfectly