Chris Brunt wants to keep captaincy

An excited Chris Brunt is eager to take on the captaincy duties for Albion again next season - regardless of what changes are made during the summer transfer window.

Brunt took over the armband as Scott Carson's deputy when the goalkeeper lost his first-team place and is ready for more responsibility next season.

Head coach Roy Hodgson is still shuffling his numbers for the 2011-12 campaign, with question marks over the future of Carson among the issues being discussed within the Albion ranks.

But Brunt, who has himself been a target for transfer talk after his most impressive form as a Premier League player last season, shrugs off the rumours to make it clear he is eager to lead the team again next season.

He said: "I enjoyed the results under the new manager. I've been here long enough to start taking responsibility now.

"It's not changed me that much. I think I was getting a bit grumpy but I probably moan less now. It does give you a different outlook.

"I have to get behind people if they're having a rough time. Most of lads have been happy enough with it so I'm happy to do it until the manager tells me otherwise.

"The manager runs things past me in the week and it's nice to be involved in that side of things. The manager is good, you can see how vastly experienced he is and he's probably had thousands of captains in his time.

"I get on well with him and he's helped me as a player both on the pitch and as an individual off the pitch."