Lionesses star Alex Greenwood named new Man City captain after Steph Houghton's retirement - but Cityzens boss Gareth Taylor explains why she won't always wear armband despite 'easy' decision

The news was announced on Friday, ahead of City's new Women's Super League season kicking off away at Arsenal on Sunday. It wasn't a huge surprise as Greenwood has worn the armband several times before, including last season when Houghton wasn't in the team, but was still a big moment for the defender.

Houghton was City's captain throughout her 10 years at the club and, as a tremendous leader, also had the honour to do so with England for eight years. However, she called time on an illustrious career at the end of last season, paving the way for Greenwood to take over the leadership role for 2024-25.

Speaking in his press conference on Friday, Man City head coach Gareth Taylor admitted it was a "fairly easy" decision to make Greenwood the new club captain. "Alex is a big driver of the way we do things, on and off the pitch, which is really important, as well as being a top, top player," he said.

However, Taylor also explained that a leadership group had been appointed - of Jill Roord, Khadija Shaw, Laura Coombs, Lauren Hemp and Laia Aleixandri - and that the armband will be shared around them through the season, rather than resting solely with Greenwood.

"Steph did a lot of work, considering she didn't play an awful lot last season. She supported Alex really well with a lot of small bits off the pitch where it allowed Alex to be herself and that's what the leadership group is for, to help her," Taylor said. "Captaincy, at times, will rotate on matchdays, which is normal. I think that's good in a sense. It's more like a shared thing, but Alex is that club captain and she's that main figure that we really want to embody everything that we do at City."

Though it came before this official announcement, Greenwood wore the armband for the first time as City's club captain on Wednesday, when they started the 2024-25 season with a 5-0 win over Paris FC in the first leg of their Champions League second round qualifier.

The England star will hope to lead her team to another victory this weekend, when they take on Arsenal, likely to be a rival for this season's WSL title, at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.