Captain courageous

Jim Jefferies wants to see how his players work under different leadership as they play their pre-season friendlies. He will hang off announcing his new club captain untill the games against Wolves and Blackburn. Until then, the armband will be passed like a relay baton between Eggert Jonsson, Marius Zaliukas and Lee Wallace. WHoever has the armband for the games against Wolves and Blackburn will be wearing it for the first SPL game of the season against St Johnstone. Zaliukas is still considered the favourite to be namem as captain despite his loan from FBK Kaunas of Lithuania being due to end in December.

Jefferies said: "The captaincy will be decided a couple of weeks before the season starts. We're looking more towards the Wolves and Blackburn games. There are two or three candidates with Michael Stewart gone. I'm going to have a chat with Marius about the fact he's out of contract in December so I have to find out what he's thinking and what's ahead. If there's a possibility he might be moving on, that might rule him out. He is a candidate as are two or three others, like Lee and Eggert. I'll look at it over pre-season. I might use different captains in the first two or three games against Dunfermline and down in England You're looking for somebody who plays all the time, who gets the respect of the staff and the players and who is 100 per cent behind everything."