Russell Martin

[suewhistle]

31 minutes ago, coalman said:

Russell your football is shit isn't really an insight.

Spread out between Saints, Leicester and Rangers regulars £70000 doesn't go that far.

[franniesTache]

On 24/10/2026 at 17:27, Roo1976 said:

WHY ARE WE STILL INTERESTED IN HIM?

For the same reason some of us still hate Ian Branfoot, Roger Milford and Adrian Heath with a passion

Edited October 28 by franniesTache

[Badger]

5 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

For the same reason some of us still hate Ian Branfoot, Roger Milford and Adrian Heath with a passion

And John Bailey 

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, Saint NL said:

A few in here would be qualified for Head of Football Insights alongside Our Russ.

 

Have we got a recent/ failed former Head of Football Insights looking for a job? Because that's who they'll hire

[spyinthesky]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

And John Bailey 

Just a distant thought but I and many of my schoolmates, used to really dislike George Kirby when he played for Plymouth.
However when Ted Bates signed him in 1962 we all took him to our respective hearts.
George was a typical robust centre forward of the time and helped propel us to the FA Cup Semi Final in 1963 as a 2nd Division club.
In todays game he would probably have been the recipient of a yellow or red card each game.
Off the field he was a real gentleman apparently.

[sotonjoe]

I was thinking the other day and I might be coming to the conclusion that I rate him as a worse manager than Nathan Jones when their who managerial careers are taken into account

[Holmes_and_Watson]

 

5 hours ago, sotonjoe said:

I was thinking the other day and I might be coming to the conclusion that I rate him as a worse manager than Nathan Jones when their who managerial careers are taken into account

I think the band just preferred Nate's mad energy on tour to Russ' love in approach, that they left behind in their psychedelic years of the late '60. Martin's insistence on having the band pass their instruments across to each other might not have been for everyone, but The Who Sells out is still an album to be respected. 

[Weston Super Saint]

14 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

 

I think the band just preferred Nate's mad energy on tour to Russ' love in approach, that they left behind in their psychedelic years of the late '60. Martin's insistence on having the band pass their instruments across to each other might not have been for everyone, but The Who Sells out is still an album to be respected. 

Sorry?  What have a rock band got to do with the World Health Organisation?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

45 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Sorry?  What have a rock band got to do with the World Health Organisation?

Bands make loads appearing at gala events.

[coalman]

A hard fought draw with Stevenage showing the benefit of being able to bring on 3 lightweight attacking midfielders once again. The unbeaten run continues and stretches to 2 games.

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, coalman said:

A hard fought draw with Stevenage showing the benefit of being able to bring on 3 lightweight attacking midfielders once again. The unbeaten run continues and stretches to 2 games.

They had 66% possession though, so at least they are still trusting the process. And remember Russ even once admitted that he would prefer to stick to his philosophy and lose than have to change it to get results. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, coalman said:

A hard fought draw with Stevenage showing the benefit of being able to bring on 3 lightweight attacking midfielders once again. The unbeaten run continues and stretches to 2 games.

Wiki sez "Most consecutive league games without defeat – 23 (1 November 2008 – 7 March 2009)"

They are on their way.

[Zorba]

1 hour ago, coalman said:

A hard fought draw with Stevenage showing the benefit of being able to bring on 3 lightweight attacking midfielders once again. The unbeaten run continues and stretches to 2 games.

He’s found his level.  

[markr27]

....plus they were brave. So, so brave.

[HKsaint]

Brave in the sense of combating and knowing that they were not able to win with Russball.

[coalman]

11 hours ago, Zorba said:

He’s found his level.  

As I said on another thread Leicester were in danger of back to back to back relegations this season. They were lucky to be able to bring in a manager capable of stabilising them and laying the foundations. 

[CB Fry]

5 minutes ago, coalman said:

As I said on another thread Leicester were in danger of back to back to back relegations this season. They were lucky to be able to bring in a manager capable of stabilising them and laying the foundations. 

Behave. They've had back to back relegations already. They were not going to drop to the fourth division. Any manager should be able to get them minimum in the play off picture with the squad they have.

[coalman]

Just now, CB Fry said:

Behave. They've had back to back relegations already. They were not going to drop to the fourth division. Any manager should be able to get them minimum in the play off picture with the squad they have.

Weren't they? Until Martin worked his magic and established his culture they were flirting with the relegation zone. They wouldn't have been able to attract half that squad without him at the helm. Let alone drill them into a unit capable of playing his system to its fullest potential.

[CB Fry]

Just now, coalman said:

Weren't they? Until Martin worked his magic and established his culture they were flirting with the relegation zone. They wouldn't have been able to attract half that squad without him at the helm. Let alone drill them into a unit capable of playing his system to its fullest potential.

Sorry I missed the fact you are taking the piss ❤️

[steve green]

On 28/10/2026 at 13:46, Badger said:

And John Bailey 

 

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Midfield_General]

Still, at least he’s put to bed the scandalous accusations that he has absolutely no idea how to coach a defence 

[Turkish]

15 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

They had 66% possession though, so at least they are still trusting the process. And remember Russ even once admitted that he would prefer to stick to his philosophy and lose than have to change it to get results. 

Apart from when he needs a result to save his skin that is. Like at Rangers when the fans turned and they had Celtic away and he set up ultra defensive so they wouldn’t lose. 

[rallyboy]

That youngster McCarthy he's brought in looks handy.

Pity he didn't use either of them to prevent the first goal yesterday.

[coalman]

Yes, Russ, it's all coming together. Decent of you to let the rest of the league know what's coming for them.

In other news, it's November already.

Edited 23 hours ago by coalman

[Miltonaggro]

59 minutes ago, coalman said:

Yes, Russ, it's all coming together. Decent of you to let the rest of the league know what's coming for them.

In other news, it's November already.

He's about to crack League One!...

[Weston Super Saint]

14 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

He's about to crack League One!...

I hope so.  It's about time he had some success and a shiny new badge.

[Midfield_General]

On 01/11/2026 at 06:55, coalman said:

Weren't they? Until Martin worked his magic and established his culture they were flirting with the relegation zone. They wouldn't have been able to attract half that squad without him at the helm. Let alone drill them into a unit capable of playing his system to its fullest potential.

Exactly. No-one could be expected to do better than 5 wins out of 13 games and 10th in League One with the resources he's been forced to work with. 

Edited 21 hours ago by Midfield_General

[coalman]

8 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Exactly. No-one could be expected to do better than 5 wins out of 13 games and 10th in League One with the resources he's been forced to work with. 

He's barely been able to bring in 20 new players as well. We've experienced first hand the toll that his high energy style of football and beast like training has on even the fittest athletes. That's a woefully thin squad he has to work with.

Edited 21 hours ago by coalman

[Miltonaggro]

30 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Exactly. No-one could be expected to do better than 5 wins out of 13 games and 10th in League One with the resources he's been forced to work with. 

Trust the Russ process...

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

Exactly. No-one could be expected to do better than 5 wins out of 13 games and 10th in League One with the resources he's been forced to work with. 

3 points off the play offs. 10 points out of 12. "Poised" would be the word.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

44 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

Trust the Russ process...

My brain cell did...

Trust in Russ. Catchy, if delusional.

But then...

Truss 'n Russ. A new politics and sport podcast that has people drilling out their ears.

You are responsible for that tragedy, Miltonaggro.

[kitch]

On 29/10/2026 at 11:26, sotonjoe said:

I was thinking the other day and I might be coming to the conclusion that I rate him as a worse manager than Nathan Jones when their who managerial careers are taken into account

100% he is. And even though NJ was a total failure here, he tried new things. He tried to put the team first, he was just hopelessly out of his depth and a bit of a loon. And his PL record was better than RM's.

[kitch]

On 01/11/2026 at 09:50, Turkish said:

Apart from when he needs a result to save his skin that is. Like at Rangers when the fans turned and they had Celtic away and he set up ultra defensive so they wouldn’t lose. 

And Leeds in the playoff final. Totally different approach.

[Midfield_General]

I think he's going to do with Leicester what he did with us in the Championship. 

With vastly more resources than almost anyone else in the division, he'll fail to get anywhere near the automatics and will scrape them up through the play-offs, and then dine out on it as though it was some sort of massive achievement. 

[coalman]

47 minutes ago, kitch said:

And Leeds in the playoff final. Totally different approach.

In his words "emotion took over" and the players ignored instructions for that

[Saint NL]

 

Next Man United manager 😱

[Holmes_and_Watson]

10 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

 

Next Man United manager 😱

I'm not so sure Man Utd really have the calibre of players to implement RussBall now. He would have to be backed to get rid of the likes of Fernandes, and bring in Smallbone.

[Turkish]

15 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

 

Next Man United manager 😱

Please make it happen 

[Midfield_General]

1 hour ago, Saint NL said:

 

Next Man United manager 😱

Well, by all accounts, after we got promoted through the play-offs under Russ, he was confidently telling his inner circle that the Man City job was the next natural step for him, so maybe he was almost right but just got the wrong Manchester club? Make it happen, Jason. 

On a separate note, how the hell is Wilcox still there? He's one of those most directly responsible for how hilariously shit they are now. Is Ratcliffe really that clueless that he can't see that Wilcox is way out of his depth and is a major part of the problem? 

Edited 1 hour ago by Midfield_General

[coalman]

1 hour ago, Saint NL said:

 

Next Man United manager 😱

Even though his Leicester journey is delivering all the joy I hoped for I would be here for it. The only trouble is that the light which burns twice as bright burns half as long as we discovered at Rangers.

[coalman]

6 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Well, by all accounts, after we got promoted through the play-offs under Russ, he was confidently telling his inner circle that the Man City job was the next natural step for him, so maybe he was almost right but just got the wrong Manchester club? Make it happen, Jason. 

On a separate note, how the hell is Wilcox still in post there? He's one of those most directly responsible for how hilariously shit they are now. Is Ratcliffe really that clueless that he can't see that Wilcox is way out of his depth and is a major part of the problem? 

To be fair even Pep was making noises which would indicate him as the natural successor. Pep didn't talk about any other manager in such glowing terms.

[Midfield_General]

5 minutes ago, coalman said:

To be fair even Pep was making noises which would indicate him as the natural successor. Pep didn't talk about any other manager in such glowing terms.

I always assumed that was just because he knew it was six easy points against us for as long as Russ was our manager and he carried on playing that way with our incredibly limited players. 

Every manager used to blow smoke about how great our football was that season, after we'd gifted them the easiest three points they'd ever get. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Midfield_General

[coalman]

38 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

I always assumed that was just because he knew it was six easy points against us for as long as Russ was our manager and he carried on playing that way with our incredibly limited players. 

Every manager used to blow smoke about how great our football was that season, after we'd gifted them the easiest three points they'd ever get. 

I too thought that for a while. Then I realised that other managers simply wished they were brave enough to have the courage of their convictions to the same degree.