ALAN McCormack was stripped of the captaincy of Swindon Town by Paolo Di Canio over the weekend, the Advertiser has learnt.

McCormack started for the Robins against Tranmere last night without the skipper’s armband after he was reprimanded by Di Canio for missing a training session due to illness.

It is understood that the defender, who Di Canio made captain in the summer, made the decision to visit his doctor for a check-up independently on Saturday morning after being sent home from training on Friday and in order not to infect the rest of the Swindon squad ahead of the tricky trip to Prenton Park.

The former Charlton man only just managed to make the game against Colchester a fortnight ago after coming down with the bug, and has been struggling with it since.

However, the former Town manager did not take kindly to his decision not to attend and dismissed him as skipper, with Simon Ferry assuming those responsibilities last night.

McCormack becomes the third player to have the armband removed from their grasp after Paul Caddis and Oliver Risser suffered similar fates during the early months of the Italian’s reign.

Caddis fell foul of the Italian before the start of the current campaign, with Di Canio choosing to insert McCormack in his place.

The ex-Robins boss explained his decision at the time by saying: “My captain must deliver my words, value and principles to the rest of the dressing room.

“Macca is the perfect example of this.”

Risser, meanwhile, lost the armband to Caddis in October 2011 after spending a period of time on the sidelines with a groin injury.