He might be the man with the armband for the season now, but John Egan reckons Brentford are developing into a team full of leaders.
With last season's captain Harlee Dean stripped of skipper duties this term due to his speculation surrounding his future, both Egan and Nico Yennaris have worn the armband this season, but Bees fans were kept waiting on a permanent appointment.
But with Dean finally leaving on deadline day, head coach Dean Smith used Saturday's return to action at Aston Villa to finally unveil Egan as the man who will be his captain for the rest of the campaign.
“It's a massive honour to captain this football club and this great group of lads,” said Egan. “I had a chat with the gaffer Thursday, so that's when I found out. I've been captain at my previous club, so it's nothing new to me, you have to just have to keep being yourself.
“But whether you're captain or not, you've got to go out and give a performance. We've got a lot of people growing into leaders in this team, and today (at Villa) everyone was driving each other on, which was great to see.
“Now I just want to cement my place and keep getting clean sheets, along with a few wins. We've got a lot of quality still in this squad, and I think we showed it today by outplaying a team which has spent a lot of money for large parts of the game.”
For Egan, his first game as permanent Bees captain saw a return to the ground where he scored a late equaliser last season, so you could say Villa Park holds some happy memories for him.
“That was a great feeling, and I had another half chance today I probably could have done better with it, but it wasn't to be,” Egan said. “But a clean sheet is always number one for a defender.
“We were solid throughout the game, restricted them as a team and created some good chances. On another day we would have taken those chances and won it, but we can take a lot from the game as we controlled it for long spells.”
In a week when Premier League clubs voted to close the transfer window before the start of the season, Dean's exit brings an end to a saga which has provided an unwelcome distraction during the first month of the season.
“I suppose from September 1 onwards you know what your squad is, until January at least, and you could see in training all week that we were on it – and we brought that into the game today,” Egan added.
“I was good friends with Harlee as well – but that's football, people move on. I wish them all well, just not against Brentford.”
