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Russell Martin

LegalEagle

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The Kraken

The Kraken

Posted
Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:


Yeah you’re right. You’ve given him 5 games and already slating him. 

Tbf he’s been consistent in his slating, he started soiling his underwear about RM after our first league game. Which we won, strangely enough.

 

Edited by The Kraken
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The Kraken

The Kraken

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Martin interview in the echo - no subscription needed just use 12ft ladder

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyecho.co.uk%2Fsport%2F23786252.man-behind-southamptons-modern-manager-russell-martin%2F

Interesting that he lives in Hove, according to google maps it’s 1hr 45m to Marchwood. Fuck that for a commute.

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Convict Colony

Convict Colony

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2 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Interesting that he lives in Hove, according to google maps it’s 1hr 45m to Marchwood. Fuck that for a commute.

hahahahahaha i did the exact same thing and thought the same, when does training start 10am - he's finished around 2pm maybe ? suppose if he leaves at 7am its not too bad but nearly 4hrs a day in a car is fucking tough, bet he listens to a lot of podcasts.

 

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The Kraken

The Kraken

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3 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

hahahahahaha i did the exact same thing and thought the same, when does training start 10am - he's finished around 2pm maybe ? suppose if he leaves at 7am its not too bad but nearly 4hrs a day in a car is fucking tough, bet he listens to a lot of podcasts.

 

That’s the players sure, I imagine the manager and coaches are in earlier than that and stay a bit later. Still not a 9-5 of course but jeez, that’s a lot of driving to be doing a few days a week.

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AlexLaw76

AlexLaw76

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Just now, The Kraken said:

That’s the players sure, I imagine the manager and coaches are in earlier than that and stay a bit later. Still not a 9-5 of course but jeez, that’s a lot of driving to be doing a few days a week.

He may have a 'pad' to use in Southampton...for him and his "aunty"

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The Kraken

The Kraken

Posted
Posted
Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

He may have a 'pad' to use in Southampton...for him and his "aunty"

Yeah surely it’s this. Sean Dyche used to do similar when at Burnley, lived with his family in Northamptonshire but shared a flat locally with Ian Woan that they stayed at during the week.

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

day talk GIF

Hope you've never watched a stream then

Firstly that's not quite the same thing is it when it's the local paper struggling to survive. The Daily Echo isn't the Athletic. Secondly, by posting it on here you're making this forum liable which imo is a shitty thing to do. 

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Osvaldorama

Osvaldorama

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2 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

“Some days you would have to eat a bit of toast for dinner and some days you would have a nice bit of pasta, it was what it was and we all mucked in together,” Russell Martin recalls.

 

Now five seasons into a management career in the EFL, following a 15-year playing career, Martin smiles despite describing the difficult circumstances of his adolescence.

Around the millennium, in Brighton, a teenage Martin lives with only his brothers – two older and one younger – and is already working either side of school to help support the family.

 

Martin would clean pubs in the morning, clean windows in the evening and also worked in corner shops Co-op and Spar. An older brother’s business bore much of the financial burden.

In previous interviews, he revealed he was eight when his family had to move as his father lost the home due to gambling addiction. The brothers were later left alone after a messy divorce.

 

“Growing up, I saw a lot of stuff I wouldn’t want my kids to see and saw a lot of people I didn’t like – you either try and change the cycle or you become the next part,” he tells the Daily Echo.

“I think it helped me grow emotional intelligence and understanding people’s energy and trusting my gut instinct on that.

“It was quite tough at times, going to work at 15 because no parents were home anymore. But we had to find a way between us, we didn’t have much choice.

“It gives you a bit of gratitude. The kid that was there at 15, doing this now – I feel very grateful, it’s how I can maintain some sort of calm amongst all of the chaos.”

Martin is speaking to the Daily Echo for over an hour in this interview, having just invited us to watch the morning’s training and to eat lunch in the first-team player and staff canteen.  

The 37 year old, whose family also included his best friend from school, fostered by Martin’s mother since the age of 11, has done a lot of thinking.

 

Martin almost left to study coaching and journalism in America – he insists he would not make a good sports reporter in the modern era – before getting his break at Wycombe in 2004.

During his twenties, one of his brothers introduced Martin to some aspects of Buddhism – although the former defender admits he is still not massive on organised religion.

One aspect he has taken into his personal and professional life is the idea of karmic retribution. A cause-and-effect principle that sees future consequences for good and bad deeds. 

“I think what you put out you get back, and you attract good people if you try and be a good person – but I know I have the capability to be quite horrible or ruthless,” Martin explained.

 

“I think the people who pretend they haven’t got the capability to do something quite bad are the people you should worry about.

“I saw so much of it in my upbringing, so I know it’s in there somewhere. This game can be quite brutal and I choose to connect with people,” he added.

“There has been only one time I’ve flown off the handle at the lads this season and it wasn’t after Sunderland, I wasn’t happy on the training pitch today for about five minutes.

“If I’m not honest, it causes conflict within me. It doesn’t feel very good, and when people are dishonest it gives you tension somewhere – so I choose to be honest.”

 

Martin is quick to state that he would not call himself a Buddhist, despite having done plenty of reading on the subject and admitting he will likely chant again, as is traditional in the faith.

When asked what he would tell Jake Humphrey – he brought up the presenter’s podcast – if quizzed on his meaning of ‘high performance’, Martin would simply respond ‘presence’.

Manifestation – bringing thoughts into reality through focus and belief – is another revealing aspect Martin has taken from curiosity and, as much as he does not like to admit it, his spirituality.  

Martin said: “The visualisation stuff was something I always struggled with as a player. We’d have a psychologist come in and tell us to visualise stuff.

READ: Behind the scenes at Southampton's training ahead of Leicester City 

“All I could ever visualise was a mistake. It would be one positive and then a short back-pass, a missed tackle or scoring an own goal – my brain would try and tell me I’m not good enough.

“Imposter syndrome because of the route I took, not getting into it until I was a bit older and going from League Two to the Premier League, feeling like I had to prove everyone wrong.

“The last thing my dad would say was don’t make a mistake. I hear it now at kid’s football, ‘Get rid of it’ and ‘Don’t play with it there’. They’re seven years old.  

“The visualising is not sitting there and visualising for a long time, but it’s thinking about what I want at the end of the season – celebrating on the pitch with my family.

 

“It doesn’t just happen by thinking about it but I work every day with that in the back of my mind to make it happen.”

In an interview with Training Ground Guru last year, the former Swansea City and MK Dons boss spoke candidly about the eventual inevitability of being sacked as a football manager.

So far, Martin has avoided that. Never before have the expectations on him been higher than at Saints, a club internally and externally expecting a speedy return to the Premier League.

Although Southampton went unbeaten in their first four Championship matches, winning three, a 5-0 hammering at Sunderland before the international break raised eyebrows across the division.

“If Jason (Wilcox) has to ring me one day saying it hasn’t worked out, as long as I can walk knowing I’ve treated people well and given them all I can, I’ll just learn from it,” Martin adds.

“I met with Graham Potter last week for coffee; a brilliant guy and a brilliant manager. It was fascinating listening to him talk about Chelsea and how grateful he is for that experience.

 

“He said he wouldn’t change anything about himself, but I know all the nonsense around him was incredible. He didn’t get sacked for 12 years, every day maintaining that intensity.

“This job can be stressful because you care about how people feel, and after last Saturday, I had a couple of hours where it was the end of the world.

“I always look on the good side of people and situations too much but (Matt) Gilly and Dean (Thornton) are different – Gilly is more balanced and Dean is more cynical, it works well.”

Martin makes us aware he thinks some in the game believe he is "arrogant or whatever" but insists that kind of reputation only bothers him if it is someone he has worked with. 

“It’s also not stubbornness,” he said. “I’m not stubborn, I want to have conversations and learn and I’m open to being flexible and adaptable.

“But if you believe in something so much, you have to have conviction – and conviction and stubbornness can be very similar.

“The game is full of fear. The way we play requires ultimate courage and I have to have courage to stick to what I believe in, but I never just do the same thing all the time.

“I get it, I’m 37 and haven’t won anything. The team plays in a way that was called ‘extreme’ by a couple of people at Swansea recently but I don’t see it as extreme.”

After a chaotic summer professionally, Martin is now settled in his personal life with his three children, ages 11, nine and eight, back in school.

He cherishes his wife Jasmine, whose wedding was postponed two weeks so Martin could play as Scotland beat Croatia in June 2013, and his two year old Cocker Spaniel called Barney.

Martin is based back in Hove, just over an hour from Southampton, as he did not want to move his kids somewhere new again – they have already had four schools, as a result of his work.

It also means he is within touching distance of an ever-growing charitable project he put his name to years ago – the Russell Martin Foundation.

Originally just a football academy, the Brighton & Hove-based organisation now employs more than 20 people full-time to deliver football, education and health programmes.

“I was getting later into my career and Sergio Torres, one of my best mates, was retired or retiring. Chris Whelpdale was the same and another very good friend,” Martin explained.

We're thrilled to announce that the Russell Martin Foundation has been shortlisted for the Football Business Awards 2023.
.
RMF’s commitment to empowering young people through football and education is truly inspiring, and we couldn't be more proud of everyone involved. pic.twitter.com/ALZLua0Gnu

— Russell Martin Foundation (@RMFoundation5) April 5, 2023

“I’d known Gary (Mansell) and he had set up the academy but felt he couldn’t take it much further without some help and support so I was like let’s do that.

“It’s something I would have liked in the area when I was young because you either played for Brighton or a grassroots team with no expert coaching in between.

“Lots pop up short-term to try and make a bit of money but nothing that cares for the kids, so we started delivering free sessions to a few schools in deprived areas as well.

“I was playing at the Premier League at the time and it was a way of giving back, as well as helping a few mates at the time – it helped Serg stay in the game while he did his badges.”

The foundation grew quickly from having just 12 kids on its first 'holiday course', with Martin investing with no expectation of getting anything back.

Dr Alan Sanders, chief executive, has steered the foundation to offer structured education away from mainstream schools, which Martin recognises is “not for everyone”, delivering at KS2, 3 and 4.

They now own a 3G pitch and are taking a run-down facility at Southwick FC to develop another artificial surface and classrooms.

Martin, chair of the trustees, doesn’t have day-to-day involvement and insists he can’t take credit other than good people together. His name went on it primarily to get help from the PFA.

“Now we provide extra time provision for kids before they reach the end of the line with schools giving up on them,” he continued, with a smile.

“The ones they say are struggling, our team will look at them and see how much we can do for them.

“There are so many issues at play, not just at school but at home; parents and drug abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse, some of the stories are horrific.

“The impact we can have in three or four months, sometimes longer, to get them back into mainstream schools has been amazing, and how much it’s grown.

“The one thing they’re not really doing is telling everyone how great they are! They do so much good work, it’s a team of 30 people, and I want them to take credit for it.”

It is interesting and evocative to sit and talk with Martin, both off-record over lunch and in a recorded interview setting. He is a manager who is genuinely attentive and interested.

He is someone seemingly aware of opinions about him despite both insistence that he does not consume outside noise and his self-conviction.

Martin commands the same respect he bestows on others while simultaneously taking a self-deprecating view of his achievements, particularly regarding his playing career.

Given his journey, everyone he has connected with and that bit of doubt that always remains, it will not only be Martin touched if he can celebrate with his family, on the pitch, next May.


Quality. I fucking love the bloke. 
 

 

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Maggie May

Maggie May

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

“There has been only one time I’ve flown off the handle at the lads this season and it wasn’t after Sunderland, I wasn’t happy on the training pitch today for about five minutes.

There will be some fans who will take this as he’s not getting his message across to the players.

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derry

derry

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Sounds like a decent bloke, a bit different from the normal run of the mill managers. Now that the transfer window is shut and his squad is complete following the 5-0 hammering, there is the necessity to combine a mean defence with his football attacking ideals if we are to realise everybody's ambitions. I think it is time to buckle up and see how it turns out.

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Marsdinho

Marsdinho

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Posted
18 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

I don’t suppose anyone wants to do a copy and paste job on here.

Daily Echo website is awful, or certainly on mobile device anyway.
I could probably walk to Hove in quicker time.

Download either Brave browser or Firefox Focus browser. They automatically block all adverts and pop ups. Good for the Echo, this site and others.

 

 

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Dusic

Dusic

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11 minutes ago, derry said:

Sounds like a decent bloke, a bit different from the normal run of the mill managers. Now that the transfer window is shut and his squad is complete following the 5-0 hammering, there is the necessity to combine a mean defence with his football attacking ideals if we are to realise everybody's ambitions. I think it is time to buckle up and see how it turns out.

Exactly. Anyone slagging him already is a bootlicking moron to be honest.

Significant change doesn't happen inside 5 games and we have won 3 of them anyway!

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manji

manji

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 13/09/2023 at 13:31, Long Shot said:

Why do people conveniently forget the debacle at lowly Gillingham? 

Because the game was an irrelevance. Martin just used it to give some players a run out

My question is why moronic dipshits keep dragging out the negatives 

Edited by manji
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Gloucester Saint

Gloucester Saint

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Posted (edited)

There’s going to be a new manager thread if he doesn’t instil some basic level football organisation and discipline imminently. Another heavy defeat tonight and he is serious danger of being gone within a couple of weeks. Dragan cannot be satisfied. He’s made the same mistakes in having a wide open midfield as he did for Norwich and Sunderland. He might sound brighter than Nathan Jones but the same shambles and chaos is evident. 

OK - this is getting worse and worse. Maybe for the best if it’s a 0-6 and a change simply has to be made this weekend. An experienced manager this time please and one who can mine the free agent keeper market. 

Edited by Gloucester Saint
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Dr. Kucho

Dr. Kucho

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Waaaay waaay out of his depth

Nice bloke, good hair, but he will be sacked by xmas at this rate.

Absolutely woeful. 

Remember when he ridiculed the lad for asking about our soft spine....

Doubt Martin will be sacked this season. Can’t imagine Dragan is happy to be paying off Ralph, Jones and Martin whilst also having to pay a new manager. 

Think if Martin is sacked someone else high up might lose his job.

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Saint_clark

Saint_clark

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

That’s about 5 saves in a row from Bazunu. Saint Clark will be absolutely raging.

We are fucking terrible.

He's saved two shots straight at him and a long range effort that is a bog standard save. He's done the bare minimum expected of him but that is, in fairness, a huge improvement for him.

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sfc4prem

sfc4prem

Posted
Posted

The issue is that he doesn't seem to be 'learning' from some obvious issues. It's not even to do with the style of play, it's the players he is choosing and the players he was part of bringing in not being fully suited. If you can't learn or adapt your approach, you're fucked.

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AlexLaw76

AlexLaw76

Posted
Posted

Called it with Nathan Jones, and the same here. 

The man is way out of his depth. His set up is an embarrassment, and will get no where near the playoffs, let alone promotion - which is what he was brought in to achieve.

He has the worst defensive record in English professional football, and nothing is changing.

Before the mods lock this, the same happened with Jones (but much earlier), when it was evident he was out of his league

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stknowle

stknowle

Posted
Posted
Just now, SambaMaverick said:

I cannot believe what I've watched today. It's total humiliation yet again and I believe RM is not the guy.

He’s gone and achieved the seemingly impossible. He has. He’s significantly worse than Nathan Jones. I need no further evidence. Jesus fucking Christ.

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SambaMaverick

SambaMaverick

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, stknowle said:

He’s gone and achieved the seemingly impossible. He has. He’s significantly worse than Nathan Jones. I need no further evidence. Jesus fucking Christ.

The football is better but he looks equally out of his depth. At least he's a decent bloke but hopefully that doesn't make it any harder for SR to bin him.

My gut told me we should've sacked Jones on Boxing Day, and I'm having similar tingles tonight.

Give him to the next intl break, but fuck me - it's bad.

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stknowle

stknowle

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Posted
1 minute ago, SambaMaverick said:

The football is better but he looks equally out of his depth. At least he's a decent bloke but hopefully that doesn't make it any harder for SR to bin him.

My gut told me we should've sacked Jones on Boxing Day, and I'm having similar tingles tonight.

Give him to the next intl break, but fuck me - it's bad.

Oh don’t get me wrong he’s a nice bloke, far more likeable than Jones. But this is FAR more inept and at a lower level with greater resources. There is no scenario where this ends we’ll go for him or us. Just cut the losses, get him gone and start over yet again. 

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trousers

trousers

Posted
Posted

Probably too many Martini Espressos here on the Croatian Riviera, but... I'm buggered if I'm going to be the forum pragmatist any longer.... Martin clearly isn't up to the job... Get Potter in to sort this mess out... What is it with Sport Republic and selecting managers that are quite clearly out of their depth...?

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CityRanger

CityRanger

Posted
Posted

This from Martin startled me in the Leicester pre match press conference : “If Jason (Wilcox) has to ring me one day saying it hasn’t worked out, as long as I can walk knowing I’ve treated people well and given them all I can, I’ll just learn from it.”

Thats not what I want to hear several games into season after a massive loss to Sunderland. We’re not a fucking training simulation.

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