COLCHESTER United have named Tom Flanagan as their new captain.

The 32-year-old centre-back, who joined the U’s on a one-year deal from Shrewsbury Town last month, will skipper the U’s as they embark on a brand new season in League Two.

Flanagan, who has made more than 300 league appearances, takes over the armband from Connor Hall, who left Colchester to join Port Vale earlier this summer.

Colchester boss Danny Cowley feels the Northern Ireland international will be able to ‘carry the message’ for his new-look side in the forthcoming campaign.

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Cowley said: “Tom drives the standards and he has very high standards for himself.

“He holds himself accountable and I think he’s willing to hold others accountable.

“I think he has a good feel socially and for what people need; sometimes they need the arm around the shoulder and the love and then other times, they need the encouragement and need to be pushed and squeezed.

“I think he has a good feel for this and tactically, he’s a very intelligent boy who has a very good understanding and very good grasp of the game.

“You always want your leaders to carry the message.”

(Image: CU-FC.COM)

Cowley believes he has a number of leaders in his Colchester squad, this season.

“Tom Flanagan will captain the team on the pitch but we have seven or eight leaders which is something that we didn’t have last year and that’s going to be important,” added Cowley.

“You know that you’ve only got to look round and see experience right through the team.

“We have Lyle (Taylor) who’s an incredible leader which is going to be brilliant for our young players particularly Samson (Tovide) and Bradley (Ihionvien), who play in a similar position.

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“We have Tom Hopper, who leads by example in the way that he trains, we have boys like Alex Woodyard, Ellis Iandolo, Jack Payne who drive the energy of the group, you have boys like Ben Goodliffe and Kells who are very good organisers and will really support Tom in that area as well.

“From right down the spine of the team from Matt Macey to Lyle Taylor, I see a lot of captains and a lot of leaders.

“I think always success leaves clues and when I look at my successful teams in the past, we’ve always had a number of leaders and we have a leadership group.

“You can either look at the young players and someone like young Samson.

“He’s only 19, 20 but wow! He’s got so much personality and power and you always know when he’s in the room.

“He has so much character and you don’t have to be 30 to lead and in any successful team, these are really important qualities.”