Russell Martin

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

but he had little to no support in regards to transfers and negotiations.

 

Blackmore claimed he was on the committee & 3 of the transfers were entirely down to him. How could he be so wrong with his connections? 
 

 

 

[tdmickey3]

22 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I smell pony. You’ll be claiming Frazier, his mate, wasn’t his signing. Neither was Wood or Manning. 
 

He must be the only manager who was shafted in the window who then said “We’ve done good business this window,"

What a guy, most other managers drop subtle hints they’ve been let down, not Lego. Unique talent….

 

He is STILL defending his crush... desperately pathetic

[Midfield_General]

If I was a betting man I’d say that if Martin stays in this country he’ll end up at Leicester for next season. He’s not getting a PL job any time soon so I’d say that’s probably the next best thing. Could see him going to Rangers though, battering pub teams most weeks in a two-horse race would be a great way to make himself look good. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

I think Martin will end up back at Norwich or at Leicester. 

[Tommy Mulgrew]

The difficulties that Postecoglou is having at Spurs show that an inflexible possession-based style of play is bound to end in tears in the EPL even with much better players than Martin had here.  Spurs’ fans are venting the same anger towards and criticisms of Ange as many on here did to Martin.  Wherever Martin ends up he will not do any better in the Premier League than he did with us even if he has a successful promotion campaign with a Championship side.  Despite reported interest from them, I believe Leicester can and should get someone better than him.  Norwich or Rangers seem to me to be a better fit for him.

[gio1saints]

23 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I smell pony. You’ll be claiming Frazier, his mate, wasn’t his signing. Neither was Wood or Manning. 
 

He must be the only manager who was shafted in the window who then said “We’ve done good business this window,"

What a guy, most other managers drop subtle hints they’ve been let down, not Lego. Unique talent….

 

yeah I see your (as per usual cynical) pov - maybe RM is airbrushing his history a bit about those recruits that did not happen. Maybe he did go on record at the time saying he loves those he's recruited. The latter if true ( probably 99% certain)  is Manager talk 1.01 anyways.

Thing is people knew at the time pre and early season he was not getting who he wanted - so I discount its retrospective PR work to make him look good for his next job ( though it does no harm). HE 100% wanted Delap -Who visited training ground and was happy with RM.  And if we had Delap all that faffing around pre season with stupid formations without a proper CF - and getting beat every week - would probably not have happened. Maybe history would change. maybe not.

So-  the transfer fiasco was not his fault basically. He did not solve the stay competitive in the EPL puzzle with what players he had - that's his fault.  

[Weston Super Saint]

On 22/04/2025 at 12:18, gio1saints said:

My understanding is that Russell really wanted : Liam Delap - Liam was happy but our ceo fucked it up, he wanted o’reilly but our ceo fucked it up, he even wanted Jordan Henderson and was refused. He got what he was allowed to get and they were not his first choice(s). Even the Flynn deal was nearly fucked up. 
To say the the bad recruitment was on Russell Martin is inaccurate. Guilty in other ways but in that : innocent. 

Horseshit.

We had no intention of signing PL level players.

Look back through the many different threads and it's clear, we've been told a hundred times, that the recruitment strategy was only ever about recruiting Championship level players for next season.

Something about PSR innit, something, something.

[BarberSaint]

9 hours ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Horseshit.

We had no intention of signing PL level players.

Look back through the many different threads and it's clear, we've been told a hundred times, that the recruitment strategy was only ever about recruiting Championship level players for next season.

Something about PSR innit, something, something.

 

 

Correct. These comments were made at the beginning of the season by Martin when he expressed how happy he was at the transfer business. You can compare that with RH whose face told you all you needed to know when asked about his request for a striker at the fans' forum.

[Willo of Whiteley]

32 minutes ago, BarberSaint said:

 

 

Correct. These comments were made at the beginning of the season by Martin when he expressed how happy he was at the transfer business. You can compare that with RH whose face told you all you needed to know when asked about his request for a striker at the fans' forum.

He’s hardly going to come out in public and say “what the fuck is going on, are those people on the board thick as pig shit” is he 😅

[Holmes_and_Watson]

The closest Martin got to showing his transfer frustrations I know of, was at Swansea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64497895

[Lord Duckhunter]

12 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

He’s hardly going to come out in public and say “what the fuck is going on, are those people on the board thick as pig shit” is he 😅

Of course most managers don’t, they’re more subtle than that if they’re unhappy. What they don’t do is talking gushingly about the “great business” the club has done. It’s pretty hard to distance yourself from signings after saying that, particularly when you’re on the transfer committee, and some of them are your ex players & your bestie from Jock land. 

[sadoldgit]

2 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Of course most managers don’t, they’re more subtle than that if they’re unhappy. What they don’t do is talking gushingly about the “great business” the club has done. It’s pretty hard to distance yourself from signings after saying that, particularly when you’re on the transfer committee, and some of them are your ex players & your bestie from Jock land. 

Jock land? Seriously?

I remember when your posts about football were worth reading. These days you just come across as a bitter and twisted old man who can’t get his message across without puerile name calling and can barely string a sentence together without resorting to Anglo-Saxon invective. I thought that with great age was supposed to come great wisdom? You just come across as a jilted lover.

He’s gone. Let it go.

Edited April 24 by sadoldgit

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

I remember when your posts about football were worth reading. These days you just come across as a bitter and twisted old man who can’t get his message across without puerile name calling and can barely string a sentence together without resorting to Anglo-Saxon invective. I thought that with great age was supposed to come great wisdom? You just come across as a jilted lover.

He’s gone. Let it go.

Not sure how you can be critical of anyone elses posts when 90% of yours are either slagging off another poster, the Trump or Farage, or just a link. Your best post of recent weeks was slagging off Nigel Farage for slagging off someone you've been slagging off for months, so desperate were you to have a go at him 😂

I've given you some attention now so hope that gives me the dopamine hit you've been desperate for all week. 

[CB Fry]

I've just got round to reading it this morning - in an interview with The Times yesterday Gary Lineker name checks Russell Martin as a potential future England coach (alongside Eddie Howe and Frank Lampard). "He's a really good coach, you can tell".

Maybe he is going to Leicester for next season.... 🤔 

[Weston Super Saint]

6 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

I've just got round to reading it this morning - in an interview with The Times yesterday Gary Lineker name checks Russell Martin as a potential future England coach (alongside Eddie Howe and Frank Lampard). "He's a really good coach, you can tell".

Maybe he is going to Leicester for next season.... 🤔 

Fingers crossed - easy 6 points!!

[Turkish]

23 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

I've just got round to reading it this morning - in an interview with The Times yesterday Gary Lineker name checks Russell Martin as a potential future England coach (alongside Eddie Howe and Frank Lampard). "He's a really good coach, you can tell".

Maybe he is going to Leicester for next season.... 🤔 

This reminds me of the days when Nigel Adkins was going to be the next great England manager who we will probably lose at some point to either Liverpool or the England job

[Lord Duckhunter]

City players and Pep crying about the way we played yesterday puts Pep’s praise of Lego into its proper perspective……

 

[Doctoroncall]

6 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

City players and Pep crying about the way we played yesterday puts Pep’s praise of Lego into its proper perspective……

 

Tbf Pep said Diaz was wrong. It’s nice to hear a £50m talent in a billion pound team moan about another teams way of playing. 

[Maggie May]

Finally, a performance we can be proud of.  

[qwertyell]

I see Rusty turned up on Match of the Day 2 last night.

It's the perfect gig for him - he gets to preach his visionary football hypothesis to the waiting nation, whilst simultaneously lecturing why everyone else's approach is stupid and they're not brave enough. Or something about scar tissue. 

Takes some front to shamelessly sit there dissecting the shortcomings of - in this instance - Chelsea trying badly to play out from the back, and Tottenham being a defensively disorganised rabble. 

A bit like how Gary Neville has somehow become the all-knowing authority on everything, in spite of making an absolute fool out of himself when someone called his bluff and (briefly) gave him a manager's job. 

[tdmickey3]

27 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

I see Rusty turned up on Match of the Day 2 last night.

It's the perfect gig for him - he gets to preach his visionary football hypothesis to the waiting nation, whilst simultaneously lecturing why everyone else's approach is stupid and they're not brave enough. Or something about scar tissue. 

Takes some front to shamelessly sit there dissecting the shortcomings of - in this instance - Chelsea trying badly to play out from the back, and Tottenham being a defensively disorganised rabble. 

A bit like how Gary Neville has somehow become the all-knowing authority on everything, in spite of making an absolute fool out of himself when someone called his bluff and (briefly) gave him a manager's job. 

He really is a prize prick

[SaintsBarry74]

23 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

City players and Pep crying about the way we played yesterday puts Pep’s praise of Lego into its proper perspective……

 

This. They'd love for us to fiddle about with the ball at the back. Russball is the worst kind of football.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, qwertyell said:

I see Rusty turned up on Match of the Day 2 last night.

It's the perfect gig for him - he gets to preach his visionary football hypothesis to the waiting nation, whilst simultaneously lecturing why everyone else's approach is stupid and they're not brave enough. Or something about scar tissue. 

Takes some front to shamelessly sit there dissecting the shortcomings of - in this instance - Chelsea trying badly to play out from the back, and Tottenham being a defensively disorganised rabble. 

A bit like how Gary Neville has somehow become the all-knowing authority on everything, in spite of making an absolute fool out of himself when someone called his bluff and (briefly) gave him a manager's job. 

Particularly when all of the teams he managed we're exactly that.

[Oldandtired]

I've just watched a clip of him commenting on a referee decision on MOTD2. Even the sound of his voice gets my hackles up 😡

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Oldandtired said:

I've just watched a clip of him commenting on a referee decision on MOTD2. Even the sound of his voice gets my hackles up 😡

#scartissue 🙂

Hopefully, we'll get over it.

[Saint Fan CaM]

9 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

#scartissue 🙂

Hopefully, we'll get over it.

I think there’s a bit of danger that we recoil completely from ‘Russball’, when there are some valid reasons for keeping possession in certain scenarios. The problem is when a particular tactic becomes the ONLY mode of play and allows the opposition an excellent opportunity to figure out a strategy to win BEFORE kickoff!

[Zorba]

18 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

I think there’s a bit of danger that we recoil completely from ‘Russball’, when there are some valid reasons for keeping possession in certain scenarios. The problem is when a particular tactic becomes the ONLY mode of play and allows the opposition an excellent opportunity to figure out a strategy to win BEFORE kickoff!

That’s not Russball though, that’s just basic football. Good riddance to everything related to that clown.

[Saint Fan CaM]

2 minutes ago, Zorba said:

That’s not Russball though, that’s just basic football. Good riddance to everything related to that clown.

Well that was my point - people often relate ‘Russball’ simply to possession football and playing out from the back, but in reality it’s when the squad is drilled into ONLY playing in that manner and squad quality is poor so that there’s next to no creativity or skill to move forward without making too many errors. It’s just about OK in the Championship (we still managed to ship far too many goals), but woefully found wanting in the Prem such is the gulf between the two leagues.

[Zorba]

1 minute ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Well that was my point - people often relate ‘Russball’ simply to possession football and playing out from the back, but in reality it’s when the squad is drilled into ONLY playing in that manner and squad quality is poor so that there’s next to no creativity or skill to move forward without making too many errors. It’s just about OK in the Championship (we still managed to ship far too many goals), but woefully found wanting in the Prem such is the gulf between the two leagues.

Agreed, but RM’s legacy would be over-playing around the back. We’re not going to turn into long ball merchants just because that knob’s gone. I’ll not be thinking that we’re still playing a bit of Russball when we decide to knock the ball around a bit.

His shit philosophy is now just a bad distant memory.. thank fuck!

[OldNick]

1 hour ago, Zorba said:

Agreed, but RM’s legacy would be over-playing around the back. We’re not going to turn into long ball merchants just because that knob’s gone. I’ll not be thinking that we’re still playing a bit of Russball when we decide to knock the ball around a bit.

His shit philosophy is now just a bad distant memory.. thank fuck!

when I see him or his name sends a feeling of disgust and dislike. To see him parading himself on TV and getting a free ride as though he had taken us to the CL. Absolute uselss and I hope he fades away like Branfoot did

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 hours ago, Zorba said:

Agreed, but RM’s legacy would be over-playing around the back. We’re not going to turn into long ball merchants just because that knob’s gone. I’ll not be thinking that we’re still playing a bit of Russball when we decide to knock the ball around a bit.

His shit philosophy is now just a bad distant memory.. thank fuck!

 

2 hours ago, OldNick said:

when I see him or his name sends a feeling of disgust and dislike. To see him parading himself on TV and getting a free ride as though he had taken us to the CL. Absolute uselss and I hope he fades away like Branfoot did

Thing is if he’d have been given better players that had the skill to play the system successfully, this conversation would be quite different I reckon. My problem with Russball mostly was it was deathly boring, but would that position have changed if we’d gone up Champions last season and remained in the Prem? Maybe and to say otherwise is being extremely disingenuous.

[trousers]

10 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

if he’d have been given better players that had the skill to play the system successfully, this conversation would be quite different

If Martin hadn't dogmatically stuck to a system that a 5 year old could see was doomed to failure with the quality of our squad, the conversation would also be quite different... 

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 minutes ago, trousers said:

If Martin hadn't dogmatically stuck to a system that a 5 year old could see was doomed to failure with the quality of our squad, the conversation would also be quite different... 

True (if you read further up the thread you’d see I’d already said that), although that does not mean my last statement is not also true. 😉

Edited May 12 by Saint Fan CaM

[trousers]

1 minute ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

True, although that does not mean my statement is not also true. 😉

Yep. Sorry, didn't mean to imply otherwise

[Tommy Mulgrew]

3 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Thing is if he’d have been given better players that had the skill to play the system successfully, this conversation would be quite different I reckon. My problem with Russball mostly was it was deathly boring, but would that position have changed if we’d gone up Champions last season and remained in the Prem? Maybe and to say otherwise is being extremely disingenuous.

I agree that it was usually boring but not your first point, sorry - see my earlier post:

On 22/04/2025 at 20:51, Tommy Mulgrew said:

The difficulties that Postecoglou is having at Spurs show that an inflexible possession-based style of play is bound to end in tears in the EPL even with much better players than Martin had here.  Spurs’ fans are venting the same anger towards and criticisms of Ange as many on here did to Martin.  Wherever Martin ends up he will not do any better in the Premier League than he did with us even if he has a successful promotion campaign with a Championship side.  Despite reported interest from them, I believe Leicester can and should get someone better than him.  Norwich or Rangers seem to me to be a better fit for him.

Chelsea and Spuds both have several players who have the skill but if those clubs cannot consistently get it right what chance does lowly Southampton have?  We are well rid of him and his ideas, IMO.

[OldNick]

15 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

 

Thing is if he’d have been given better players that had the skill to play the system successfully, this conversation would be quite different I reckon. My problem with Russball mostly was it was deathly boring, but would that position have changed if we’d gone up Champions last season and remained in the Prem? Maybe and to say otherwise is being extremely disingenuous.

But he didnt try and get them or when it was obvious we werent good enough he was too arrogant to change

[Fabrice29]

31 minutes ago, OldNick said:

But he didnt try and get them or when it was obvious we werent good enough he was too arrogant to change

 

18 hours ago, OldNick said:

when I see him or his name sends a feeling of disgust and dislike. … I hope he fades away like Branfoot did

He’s not going to fade away if you keep talking about him. 

[tdmickey3]

18 hours ago, OldNick said:

when I see him or his name sends a feeling of disgust and dislike. To see him parading himself on TV and getting a free ride as though he had taken us to the CL. Absolute uselss and I hope he fades away like Branfoot did

Don't be to harsh, some still kiss his picture on their bedside cabinet

3 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

 

He’s not going to fade away if you keep talking about him. 

 

[Fabrice29]

7 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Don't be to harsh, some still kiss his picture on their bedside cabinet

 

Do you want me to send you some pictures for your bedside cabinet hun?

[SambaMaverick]

Wonder who Dychey could be talking about (apart from Kompany) from around 41 minutes here?

[Lord Duckhunter]

58 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

Wonder who Dychey could be talking about (apart from Kompany) from around 41 minutes here?

Forget about manager, I’d have him as fucking owner after that. As he said, unless their  philosophy is “win games” they’re not getting the job…

[Dusic]

Sean Dyche is widely recognised for adapting his playing style, displaying tactical variety and a willingness to change when things are not working well.

Fascinated to see not only which team he takes over, but also which of the varied approaches from his career is adopted to get the best out of the squad.

 

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

2 hours ago, SambaMaverick said:

Wonder who Dychey could be talking about (apart from Kompany) from around 41 minutes here?

Just watched that from 41 mins (up to them talking Man U) and was a very good listen. Dyche said just about everything myself (and probably a majority of Saints fans) agree with and put into better words that many of us have already been saying.

Couldn’t disagree with anything he said...can we send a link to Rasmus and Co…?

[LGTL]

6 hours ago, SambaMaverick said:

Wonder who Dychey could be talking about (apart from Kompany) from around 41 minutes here?

Keane is spot on too. Martin couldn’t have given less of a shit about Saints. He was only out to protect his own ‘brand’. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 hours ago, TheAlehouseBrawlers said:

Just watched that from 41 mins (up to them talking Man U) and was a very good listen. Dyche said just about everything myself (and probably a majority of Saints fans) agree with and put into better words that many of us have already been saying.

Couldn’t disagree with anything he said...can we send a link to Rasmus and Co…?

I'd love to see a Dyche & Ankerson chat. 🙂

[Lighthouse]

5 hours ago, Dusic said:

Sean Dyche is widely recognised for adapting his playing style, displaying tactical variety and a willingness to change when things are not working well.

Fascinated to see not only which team he takes over, but also which of the varied approaches from his career is adopted to get the best out of the squad.

 

He probably should have tried adapting his style to score some goals at Everton, then he may not have been sacked.

[Fabrice29]

 

3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He probably should have tried adapting his style to score some goals at Everton, then he may not have been sacked.

Or maybe not getting beat twice by a manager who refused to adapt.

[Gloucester Saint]

Scholes actually named Southampton on 54 minutes as an example of not adapting and competing. Dyche did everything bar say the word.

It was pure nonsense from Martin and Ankerson last summer and season. 

[Dusic]

4 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He probably should have tried adapting his style to score some goals at Everton, then he may not have been sacked.

Exactly. He never adapts and is just as one dimensional as those he slags of - its hilarious.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

52 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Exactly. He never adapts and is just as one dimensional as those he slags of - its hilarious.

It would do a lot of them a world of good if they went on MNF and got shown, with no prior knowledge, half a dozen of their own teams conceding across the season. At the end of the first one, they're asked how they would change it. Only to be faced with another clip from a month later, with the same error. You'd soon have them turning on the players as not being good enough for "their" system. But it's far too cosy for such home truths.