Magpies' captain Scott Leather is growing into leadership role

The central defender was named as skipper during the summer, taking over the armband from Andrew Teague, who departed Victory Park to join Lancaster City.

Filling the boots of Teague is certainly no easy task – he carried out the role for nearly a decade and led the club to three promotions.

After a summer of change which has seen the average age of the squad lowered considerably by Vermiglio, Leather at 28-years-old is one of the elder statesman on the playing staff.

And according to the manager, Leather is enjoying the responsibility of his new-found status. He said: “I have been really happy with the character that my squad has shown this season, people like Scott Leather.

“I have already highlighted how phenomenal he has been so far this season with his performances.

“Even taking away the skipper’s role away from it, his performances have been second to none.

“He’s been urging the younger boys on which is a really big positive.

“To be honest, I will have to speak to him at some point regarding the captain’s role but I think he is really enjoying it and he’s really taken to it.

“As everyone knows we have gone to a little bit of a hybrid model this season where we are looking to train on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“When we agreed a new deal with Scotty, we told him about this new model which we were looking at implementing.

“We understand that football is not his primary income.

“He’s got his job as a lift engineer and that’s important to him, so we recognised that we might have to take a little bit of a hit with Scotty.

“But at the same time, he was devoted to staying with us and is really committed. Although he’s not able to come to every training session.

“The dedication he has shown to keeping himself in shape, what he’s eating and drinking.

“To see the way he’s preparing himself is quite motivational and inspirational to the younger players in the squad.

“Scotty is probably in the best shape that I have ever known him, his fitness and physique wise.

“He’s looking really fit and as a result of that we’ve seen him produce some really good performances.

“I think for the first time, he’s one of the oldest lads that we have got and he’s still only 28.

“We need Scotty for his experience, calmness and composure.”