Named team captain for Sporting KC, Johnny Russell calls it ‘just a massive honor’
Pulling Johnny Russell aside after a training session last week, Peter Vermes shared his plans for the upcoming season with the 30-year-old Scotsman.
To make him the ninth primary captain in Sporting Kansas City history.
“I think it was a very simple decision,” Sporting KC coach Vermes said Wednesday. “Johnny has natural leadership qualities.”
Russell will pull on the captain’s armband from 2021 onward, taking the mantle from club legend Matt Besler, the KC native who left at the end of the 2020 season. Besler, now with fledgling Austin, held the captaincy from 2014-20, making him the longest-standing captain in club history.
Vermes and Russell kept the news between themselves until Wednesday morning, when the decision was announced to the rest of the squad during preseason camp in Arizona.
“It’s just a massive honor to be chosen and be the captain of the team,” Russell told The Star. “It’s a job that I’m not going to take lightly.”
It’s perhaps no surprise to anyone familiar with the club that Russell is taking the armband on a permanent basis. The Scot was named captain on 10 occasions in 2020, including for both of the team’s MLS Cup Playoff games.
Russell joined Sporting Kansas City from English second division side Derby County in January 2018. Since then he has notched up 25 goals and 23 assists in 79 games for Sporting Kansas City. That equals a goal involvement every 121 minutes of play.
He also led the team in combined expected goals and assists in 2020 (10.21), and his 30 key passes were also a team-best. There’s no denying that the winger has stepped up for Kansas City when needed most.
“His personality is for sure Type A, and I think it lends itself to him not being afraid to step in and take charge and take the lead, especially in tough moments,” Vermes said. “And I thought last year the times that he was captain for us, he changed in a very positive way.”
And while his play on the field certainly helps his case, a lot more goes into picking a captain for Vermes.
“It has to be someone that the players respect,” Vermes said. “It also has to be a guy that you expect is going to be on the field regularly because of the way that he plays, the way that he trains every day, all of those things.”
Russell is the fourth captain Vermes has picked during his tenure with the club. The first three were Davy Arnaud, Jimmy Nielsen and Besler.
“And then the final piece is he has to be an extension of me and the rest of the staff,” Vermes continued. “And then I would always say that he has to be somebody with a strong personality.”
Russell certainly ticks the boxes on all of those criteria.
When he was named captain in 2020, his play seemed to rise to another level. But even without the armband, he’s been a leader on and off the pitch.
“Now I’m the captain, so there’s going to be a lot of things that are going to come with that,” he said. “I’m going to have a lot more on certain responsibilities, but I feel like I do that anyway, just with the title of captain comes a little bit extra. But it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Russell was one of several potential candidates for captaincy — some of whom predate Russell in KC. Veterans Tim Melia and Graham Zusi both stand out as viable options, as does star forward Alan Pulido, who captained the side on four occasions in 2020.
Even though it’s Russell who has taken the armband, he’ll still take into consideration the voices of those leaders around him on the field.
“There’s a lot of great leaders at this team, a lot of experienced guys at this team, as well, so it could have been any of us,” Russell said. “Just because I’m the captain, it doesn’t change the roles of any of those guys, as well.”
“They’re leaders and obviously I’ll be looking to them as well for a bit of wisdom from time to time.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Named team captain for Sporting KC, Johnny Russell calls it ‘just a massive honor’."