Mature Sure… but O'Neill knows he'll never totally calm Captain Cattermole

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UPDATED:

11:40 GMT, 15 September 2012

Has Lee Cattermole matured

'Oh definitely,' says the Sunderland captain. 'On and off the field, although there's work to be done on it.'

Black Cats manager Martin O'Neill had a slightly different take when told of his skipper's response.

'Matured Cattermole will not have grown up when he is 40,' he said. 'I have kept him as my skipper, and I need my head examined.'

O'Neill is only joking, of course. Sort of.

Joy of six: Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole believes he is more mature man on and off the field

Helping the 24-year-old grow as player, captain and man is one of O'Neill's many little projects at Sunderland. And he has his own way of doing it.

Cattermole revealed: 'He will say something sarcastic or make a joke among the lads about a booking or challenge and I know he's aiming it at me.

'We have never had a serious one-to-one conversation about it. That is how it has been. So far.'

Curbing the bookings would keep O'Neill at bay. Cattermole has played 76 times for Sunderland and picked up 34 yellow cards and five reds.

Strikers set goal targets in August. So has Cattermole set one for bookings He smiles. 'I might have. I have my aims, hopefully I'll get there.'

O'Neill knows his skipper is a work in process and he wants him to extend the contract which expires this season.

'My acerbic wit has not stopped him from being suspended,' O'Neill said. 'Will he change a great deal Unfortunately not. But I like Cattermole, I do like him.

'And deep down, he is a decent lad, doesn't always show it, but he is. He's done really well for me. I want him to stay and hopefully he feels the same way.'

That affection took time to build after a very different response to O'Neill's first day at the Stadium of Light.

Seeing red: Cattermole has developed an unhealthy reputation as a dirty player in his time at Sunderland

After his lengthy introductions to the media, the new boss went to Bob Paisley's birthplace, Hetton-le-Hole to take in a windswept game where he watched James McClean for the first and last time as a reserve.

Cattermole went out drinking with Nicklas Bendtner, then bounced off a few cars in the shadow of Newcastle's stadium. Months later, he was cautioned and ordered to pay 4,000 for the damage. Not a good start.

'It wasn't a great way to make an impression,' he confessed, after bringing the subject up first. 'It was a mistake. There was a lot going on at the time, a lot of pressure and I handled it in the wrong way.

'I had a little hiccup in Newcastle and from then, I thought, I need to improve here.'

It was not the first time his critics and supporters questioned his right to wear the armband. Two red cards in as many weeks under Steve Bruce, and repeated yellow cards, did not help, but the fans sing his name now.

With typical honesty, Cattermole laughs off the 'being stripped of the captaincy' clich. It has never concerned him, he says, but he can't hide the desire to grow into the role.

'I have never, ever worried about
that. It is something you press guys have said since I was made captain
and with everything I have ever done wrong.

'I
don't want to name names but a lot of other lads get booked or sent off
and no one says anything. But if it is Lee Cattermole it is a big issue
and they say, “he is losing the captaincy”.

Pedigree: Cattermole was highly-regarded during his time as an England youth international

'When I was made captain I thought I didn't need to change because I was captain for what I am but it is a bigger role than I thought at the time. There is so much more to it goes on behind the scenes.

'When I was a kid at Middlesbrough, we had the best captain ever in Gareth Southgate who was absolutely brilliant. When he came into the gym before training and did his routines, I just looked up to him, wanted to be like him.

'I realise now that is what the kids here are like with me but you don't see that initially. It is great and something I am trying really hard at.

'Gareth is a different character to me completely and he came as captain, in his 30s, played for England, bags of experience. I came here at 21 and it was given to me and I am still learning but I do think I'm getting better.'

Cattermole is at the heart of a
Sunderland side, lifted by the summer arrivals of Steven Fletcher, Louis
Saha, Carlos Cuellar and his old Boro pal Adam Johnson.

The
England winger's defection from champions Manchester City may have
raised eyebrows but Cattermole always felt Johnson would not be able to
resist a return to his home-town club.

He
said: 'I thought we had a chance because Johnno is type of lad who
won't accept sitting on the bench and he is too good for that.

Respect: Former skipper Gareth Southgate

'He's not happy to be just in the City squad. I have known him since he was 11 and he hasn't changed. He wants to be a footballer, he loves it and just wants to play every week. He will absolutely love his time here, which I told him before he came. It is not a backward step but it was still a big ask.

'We have gone for quality rather than quality and it is brilliant the manager, owner and people behind the scenes got them in.'

One of Cattermole's tasks as captain this week is to welcome battered fellow Twitterer James McClean back to the fold.

No doubt tired now of the admonishments, the winger needs to feel loved again ahead of Liverpool's visit to the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening.

'He'll be all right,' said the skipper. 'Three years ago Twitter might have been the worst thing ever for me and I still write something and go “oops, better not send that”. He's got good friends here.

'It's important to remember he didn't have an Academy education and that makes a big difference. You learn so much about respect and wider issues you might be confronted with.'

While McClean was sending expletives, Cattermole was keeping his followers up to date with his golfing prowess.

It is his love of golf which has given him a perspective on the role he can play in the wider football community, particularly as a captain.

Cattermole, who has a four handicap, said: 'I played the Old Course at St Andrews, which was unbelievable. Just to be stood there in front of R&A and coming up 18, where there's loads of tourists taking photos.

'That is what I love about golf, you can go play somewhere where all the greats have played. You can't walk and play on Wembley as a football fan and re-enact 1966 but you can stand on the Road Hole tee and say, “right, I'm going to be Sergio today”. That's unbelievable.

'The main reason I went on Twitter was to look at golfers like Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy and see what they are up to. They'd put course planners up and describe how they wanted to play the holes. I love all that.

'When we were in South Korea in the summer the lads were all on it and, with nothing else to do, I opened an account and the reaction of the fans, and the buzz they got from what I was telling them was the same as I'd get looking at Lee Westwood.

'Sometimes you forget that you are people's hero as well. People do look up to you and I'd forgotten that because, to me, I am just a normal lad.'