Kevin Nolan is like a new signing

When we first brought in Nolan, I was extremely excited to finally have a captain who will actually contribute to the team, I was also chuffed that he will be doing his captain's blog on the official site. However, this excitement quickly changed to remorse.

I have been our Captain Kevin Nolan's harshest critic all season. He always looked lazy and went missing for a majority of every match he participated in. Fair enough, you can't take away the fact that he has scored the winning goal on three occasions, but at what cost? In the first 29 matches he played for us, he did not even assist one goal...this would be okay for a centre back, but not an attacking midfielder!

When playing Nolan, it used to feel like we was playing with 10 men. I also used to get really annoyed that Sam Allardyce was so stubborn and refused to drop him, just because he was our captain and most likely since he was Sam's big signing. 

It was only after coming back from his suspension that Nolan's performances started to get better. I don't know if it was down to a lack of match fitness, but after missing those 3 matches he looked a lot fitter and started to consistently put in good shifts. 

Over the course of the last 4/5 games, I thought Nolan has been fantastic....he has actually gotten 1 assist in each of our latest four matches, as well as putting in really good shifts. He has had a lot of the ball and been a lot more dangerous in front of goal.

I honestly think Nolan will be a clinical player in our promotion hopes regardless if it is through automatic promotion or play-offs....I would have never imagined myself saying that halfway through the season. Keep it up Captain Kevin Nolan!