LATICS boss Keith Curle was right to slate the lack of leaders in the dressing room after Saturday’s woeful performance against Mansfield – it’s been the case for far too long.

Most teams have a player who fans can point to as the one who represents their club, the one who’s in charge of the squad. Our captains just haven’t shown that desire in recent years.

Carl Piergianni and latterly Nicky Adams have both seemed to try to fill that role, and on paper, they seem as if they should fit the bill.

They are older players with a wealth of playing experience that should be able to aid the younger players in their role as captain, but it just hasn't clicked.

Before then, and before he was ousted from the squad, David Wheater displayed glimpses of having the correct temperament.

He was charismatic and seemed to be the right man to lead the team – those who have met him off the pitch will have seen the truth in that statement.

Yet even with Wheater, things just didn’t seem right, or at least he didn’t seem to be the man he was for his previous club Bolton.

Maybe that’s due to the well-documented problems off the field, or it could be a culture that’s been allowed to fester in the dressing room since dropping down to League Two.

Look at seasons before that, and Latics always had that man who felt like they were the beating heart of the club.

Peter Clarke was just that, the response to his goal away to Chesterfield is evidence of just how much he was befitting of the role.

Even when things were going wrong off the pitch, he was a true professional who seemed to drag up the standards of the rest of the team.

The key thing that Clarke benefited from was time.

He spent a total of three seasons at the club, and despite not being given the correct goodbye when he eventually departed, he gelled into Latics and became part of the furniture.

Curle is seemingly old fashioned in the way he conducts himself off the pitch, and that is needed.

Both Piergianni and Adams are contracted for next year and could step up. The former is perhaps the best candidate for the role, having been at Boundary Park since January of 2020, first on loan from neighbours Salford City and then permanently.

In the eerily quiet ground this year, you can hear the players better than ever.

It’s not always come through, but I’ve sometimes seen glimpses of leadership from Piergianni – and it always seems to be something that sticks out when Latics win.

If next season is to be better, then a strong leader has to be a regular component of the team.