Stephen Carr earns captain's armband for Birmingham City

Aug 21 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Mail

“Some players might be missing from time to time through rotation. I would imagine Carr will be there as long as his form continues. As long as Carsley is not in the team, Carr is team captain.”

Carr, 32, has been a revelation for Blues since the day he decided to come out of retirement to answer McLeish’s call back in February. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United player came close to turning his back on English football completely to finish his career in Ireland’s domestic game.

And that has led to him and former League of Ireland star Keith Fahey being the target of a few training ground jibes.

“Stephen was courted for some of the Irish teams and we were kidding on about that the other day,” said McLeish. “We were saying when we brought Keith Fahey in, that they could be playing against each other in Ireland now, Bohemians versus St Pats!

“I was surprised he had retired. I think he was a bit disillusioned with the game and maybe he had lost his appetite and hunger.

“When you lose that, there is no point in carrying on because you end up not wanting to go into tackles, you don’t want to head the ball or get your face hurt.

“There is that element of it missing and you are really not cut out for top-line football any more.

“Steve did contemplate coming back playing at any level but to come back to a team who had an opportunity to go back to the Premier League was an offer he couldn’t refuse.”