Stephens proud to take on captaincy

Ward-Prowse departed Saints earlier this week after 20 years with the club to join West Ham United, with manager Russell Martin selecting Stephens as the man to take on the armband from him.

Having been at St Mary's for a dozen years himself, it is an honour that means a particularly great deal for the centre-back, who skippered the team on Saturday against Norwich before formally taking on the role after Ward-Prowse's move was completed.

"For someone who's been here for 12 years now it's been an incredible journey for me," he said. "To now be the captain of this club is obviously a massive honour and a massive privilege for me and it's something that I'm really proud of.

"It was a lot to take in over the weekend. Obviously, the game on Saturday was quite an emotional day. The first one for me as captain was incredible for me, but obviously not having Prowsey there as well was a sad day, but we have to move on. We wish him well and life goes on here and we have to do our best without him."

Speaking about how he found out from Martin that he would be the new captain, Stephens said: "Obviously, Prowsey was heavily linked away and we weren't sure if that was going to happen and the manager spoke to me and just said 'If he stays, great, that's what we want, but if he does move on then I want you to be the captain and lead the team.'

"So that was obviously a massive privilege for me and something I'm really proud of, but obviously I was still hopeful that Prowsey would stay and that he would be leading the team still and that would have been better I think. I would have been more than happy with that, but as it happens he has moved on, he's taken that decision and we wish him well. I'm more than happy to take the armband and try to carry on what he did for the last four or five years."

Ward-Prowse is not the only positive example of a captain Stephens has to take inspiration from either.

"When I broke into the team you had José Fonte, who was one of the best leaders I've seen," he said. "When you were around the dressing room he was brilliant and he was obviously alongside Steven Davis, who took over the armband and was another brilliant leader. He played goodness knows how many times for Northern Ireland and was another fantastic leader in the dressing room, so I've tried to take what they've done.

"Obviously Prowsey as well, the way he conducts himself, the way he shows his professionalism every day. It's something that I'll obviously try to carry on."

Stephens added: "It's not going to change how I am too much, because I've always tried to be a leader in the dressing room and a leader on the pitch. The position I play obviously requires a lot of communication and that's something I've always tried to bring. So I don't think that's going to change too much, which is good for me, because it doesn't put too much pressure on me to do things that aren't natural for me.

"It's definitely something I'm going to enjoy. There's going to be challenges that come this season, but I'm looking forward to it."

The next challenge comes this Saturday, when Saints visit Plymouth – the club Stephens played for before moving to St Mary's as a teenager.

"That will again probably be another emotional game, back where it all started, at the club that gave me the platform to become a professional footballer, so to go back there as captain is going to be very special for me and very special for my family as well, who will obviously be at the game," he said. "It's going to be a great game and certainly one I'm looking forward to.

"I've got a few mates that are season ticket holders at Plymouth, so they'll be sitting in the Plymouth end probably giving me a little bit of stick, but I'm looking forward to it, it's going to be good.

"They've had a good start to the season, obviously same points as us and they're particularly good at home, especially last season but even the year before. I think over that period of time they've possibly got the best home record in the country, so it's not an easy place to go and not many teams go there and come out with three points, but we're fully aware of the challenge ahead and we're looking forward to it and very hopeful we can get the three points."