GARRY Thompson is remaining coy on his Bradford (Park Avenue) captain ahead of the first game of the Vanarama National League North season.

The player-manager takes charge of his first official game when Avenue travel to face Curzon Ashton tomorrow.

Thompson described his overwhelming excitement at getting started, but kept quiet on who would lead the pack out come 3pm.

He said: "The idea is, I’ll have a main captain, but I’ll have people who’ll help me in the dressing room.

"What worked really well at Wycombe is we had, what we call, generals who lead by example and it’s not just about having one captain.

"It’s about somebody wearing the armband obviously, but being a leader comes in different guises.

"You could be a vocal player; you could be leading by example in terms of your hard work or your determination when you walk onto the pitch.

"That’s what I want. I don’t just want one captain. I want three, four, five, six, seven captains, I want everybody to take on that leadership role."

There was a big summer overhaul for Thompson and assistant-player-manager Shaun Gardner to contend with, but the duo are pleased with how recruitment has gone.

Part of the rebuild was giving several players a chance at being captain across seven pre-season friendlies, with the likes of Mitchell Lund and Ryan Cresswell given the nod in different games.

Thompson said: "It gives everybody a spring in their step.

"But at the end of the day it’s down to me and Shaun how we lead and the captain is an extension of us on the pitch.

"The person who takes that honour and that role will be somebody we feel has had a good pre-season and we feel can lead this group of men into this season and hopefully one that’s going to be very successful for us."

The player-manager has already done his homework on Saturday's opponents, taking time to watch and study their game last weekend.

Thompson said it will be down to him and Gardner to make sure they exploit any obvious weaknesses, but doesn't want to get bogged down too much with what the opposition does.

It's about their game, their style, and imposing themselves on the opposition.

He added: "Up and down the leagues, the players have got to buy into the way we want to play and I think they’re doing that.

"Not at any point has there been any signs of frustration, we’ve gone behind in a couple of games and our reaction has been first class.

"I also said to the boys that a lot of people are writing us off this year, because of probably the average age of the squad.

"My response to that is, I don’t think age has got anything to really do with it.

"It’s about characters, we feel like we’ve recruited the right characters to get in the building.

"Those characters who, if we’re getting beat or we’re not in a game, can pull themselves out of those situations."