Robert's Note: As I said in the comments, I'm not sure if this is a truly significant question, but it's a fun one to talk about, and I like the way it's presented here! Let's hear what you think! And thanks to Staggs11

We all suffered through last year's horror show that was Aston Villa's season and it got even worse than club captain and fan favourite Stiliyan Petrov announced he had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia. It hit the club and the fan base hard at a time when we all thought it couldn't get any worse.

Now the dust has settled, premier league status was maintained, Alex McLeish was shown the door and a new season beckons my question to all of you is who will Paul Lambert in still with the captaincy duties?

Now we have all seen Mr Lambert announce Petrov has maintained the captaincy, however we can all safely assume that unfortunately we probably won't see the great man take the field in season 2012-13.

So who are the candidates?

Gabby Agbonlahor - Now former fan favourite, turned under achiever Gabby Agbonlahor wore the armband for the claret and blue last season when Petrov was out ill. Will he return to his post in the 2012-13 season? I personally don't think so, the rumours of Gabby being expendable with Sunderland and Martin O'Neill reportedly interested don't exactly help his cause of staying with the club, let alone being the captain. I'm a big fan of Gabby, I have "Agbonlahor 11" on the back of my 2011-12 away jersey, but as a captain long term, I don't see it happening.

Shay Given - Super Shay Given may have saved our season with that magical save late on against West Brom, and he is definitely captain material in my mind. However, with the rumours of Brad Guzan returning to the Villa to push for a larger role somewhat hurts his stock in this department. Surely Brad Guzan would not return to AVFC knowing he will be playing behind not only the #1 keeper, but the captain as well, making it even more unlikely Paul Lambert will select Guzan over Given when putting in the team sheet. I would love to see Shay captain, but it all hinges on the Brad Guzan developments in my opinion

Richard Dunne - Richard Dunne is the ultimate 50/50 player in the Aston Villa squad, and by 50/50 I mean you either love him or you hate him. Some will claim Richard Dunne is a true professional, a defensive stalwart, a great leader. Others will tell you Richard Dunne is an old, slow, defensive liability who has his left his best premier league days behind. Now I would probably be against this move, I would not like to see the big Irishman become the interim captain of Villa because I believe the Dunne/Collins era of the Villa defense is over and I'd like to see minimum one of them make way for Ciaran Clark to become a full time centre half.

Darren Bent - The record signing and goal machine, Darren Bent whom we purchased from Sunderland for £24mill back in January 2011 would almost certainly be a candidate for the job. Bent was the man chosen to wear the armband in the recent pre season friendly against Burton Albion if that has anything to go by. I personally don't think it does however I wouldn't be against this move. While I don't see Benty as a true leader in a similar mould as a Petrov or Laursen before him but I believe he'll be a good candidate. He should be able to lead by example by scoring an absolute bag of goals under Paul Lambert's system that actually involves scoring goals and attacking unlike his predecessor McLeish.

So they are my main candidates I've highlighted as to who could wear the captain's armband while Petrov is still getting treatment and recovering. Who do you guys think will get the responsibility? Let me know and lets get some discussion going on!

All the way from Australia

Staggs

UTV