Fulham boss Chris Coleman denies fear is behind his controversial decision to appoint Portuguese winger Luis Boa Morte as captain this term and hand him a pay rise on his new contract.

It looked certain former Arsenal and Southampton forward Boa Morte, booked seven times last season, would join Newcastle this summer after Fulham held off a £3million bid for him last January - even though the player indicated he wanted to go.

But Boa Morte will lead out Fulham at Blackburn, vowing not to change his belligerent style one little bit - and with Coleman insisting: "He is the best man for the job. Simple as that."

The Boa Morte move looked virtually a done deal but Coleman, who engineered Fulham's best finish of ninth in the top division the season after he took the reins in April 2003, has kept him out of the clutches of the bigger fish.

Coleman said: "After we let Lee Clark go at the end of the season I had to find somebody committed to the team and unselfish. Boa's all that. He's also the most experienced player up front.

"Sure, I know people think I gave him the armband because of all the talk about him moving but it wasn't the case. It was a no-brainer for me. I had to give it to somebody worthy of it and he fits the bill.

"He doesn't shout and bawl in the dressing room but he's a leader because he's been fantastic for us the last two seasons and talks to people all the time. He knows it's not all about him.

"We are talking with him right now about another extension to his contract. It won't be easy to get him to sign it but he's got three years left on this one and he's a quality player. We don't want to lose him."

Boa Morte, 28 earlier this month, will not speculate on his future but said: "It was a real honour to be given the captain's armband but I expected the good reception from the fans last week and the only shame is that we didn't win the game against Birmingham.

"But I am not going to change as a player. I play with passion and commitment and that will continue."

Coleman would have welcomed that from another Tigana signing, Marlet, but he recalled: "He refused to play in the second game of the season and to me that is sacrilege.

"It was all about wanting to get a permanent move to Marseille and, quite honestly, I don't want to talk about him. That is all history."

Coleman took on former England striker Andy Cole to fill the main striker role last season but he scored 13 goals and returned to Manchester last month - this time with City - and Fulham struggled among the relegation-survivors.

Star goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar went in the same direction, to United, and there was an immediate crisis when back-ups Jaroslav Drobny and Mark Crossley were both injured on a summer tour to America, forcing the recruitment on loan of Tony Warner from Cardiff.

Coleman's only other notable signing was Watford's Heidar Helguson at £1.25million but he must wait for his chance while Brian McBride and Tomasz Radzinski fill the striking roles.

Blackburn Rovers boss Mark Hughes has promised to do all he can to rid his club of the bad-boy reputation which saw them in hot water with the Football Association this week.

Rovers picked up a £10,000 fine - with a further £50,000 suspended - for finishing bottom of the Barclays Premiership Fair Play League last season with five red cards and 74 bookings.

And just one game into the new season Hughes is already counting the cost of further indiscipline with striker Paul Dickov suspended for Saturday's Ewood Park clash with Fulham after being dismissed in the opening-day defeat to West Ham.

That is hardly the start Hughes wanted after impressing upon his players the need to improve their behaviour following a season in which they were criticised by several rival Premiership bosses for alleged "nasty" and "bully-boy" tactics.

Hughes said: "Paul's challenge wasn't something we needed given the timing of it but we have made a pledge to the FA and we don't expect to be a similar situation this time next year.

"We've highlighted it because it has become a concern that we are getting tarnished with labels we don't really want.

"The perception of how we go about our business since our home match with Chelsea is something we don't really want and we want it to change."

At the end of January Jose Mourinho laid into Rovers following his side's 1-0 win at Ewood Park, and provoked a strong reaction from Hughes who has never been afraid to stand up for his players.

Despite his insistence that the referee's job will be easier at Ewood Park this season Hughes maintains it is of equal importance than none of his players lose their fighting spirit.

Hughes added: "It's an emotive sport and I ask my players to compete and be determined but not get into the position where people can criticise you.

"We've given too many people that opportunity because the red and yellow cards have mounted up but there are always reasons for that and we will address them and make sure they do not happen again."

Dickov's late challenge on Paul Konchesky nine minutes after coming on as substitute have left Hughes with a striking headache this week with Craig Bellamy a doubt with a thigh injury.

It has not been the best of weeks for the Rovers boss, who lashed out at the Football Association of Wales for their lack of communication over Bellamy's new injury, which was picked up during training ahead of Wales' midweek friendly against Slovenia.

But he will hope to put all his mounting problems behind him against Fulham and is boosted by the return to full fitness of New Zealander Ryan Nelsen following a knee injury.

Hughes added: "The second half last week was a disappointment because we had done really well in pre-season and our form had progressively been getting better.

"We were looking fitter and stronger so naturally we expected that to continue.

"But we can't dwell on it for too long because we have another game to prepare for and we have to make sure the things we were not happy with don't happen again."