Russell Martin's stock amongst Southampton supporters is at a low ebb at the moment, however a little further down the South Coast he seems to be held in higher esteem with rumours circulating he could be the next Brighton manager.

Some sections of the Saints support have a fragile relationship with the manager of their club, they feel that his brand of what is sneeringly referred to as "Tippy Tappy Football" is costing Southampton promotion.

That has been ramped up in recent weeks with the team going through a tough spell and many feeling the reason is easy to pinpoint, the fact that Martin has been determined to play Jack Stephens in whatever position he can find for him

Down in Sussex by the sea. Roberto De Zerbi is said to be almost certain to leave Brighton in the summer, he is said to be being monitored by Liverpool who could face competition from a number of other big clubs in Europe.

footballtransfers.com have revealed that the Seagulls have a shock appointment in mind, should De Zerbi leave in the summer and that man is Russell Martin.

They also go on to claim that over the International break, Brighton held discussions with Russell Martin and that although nothing was decided or finalised, the current Saints manager is firmly on their short list to replace De Zerbi

Photo: Action Images

Boris1977 added 08:48 - Apr 9 Very surprised about this rumour. At Brighton he'll certainly have access to better players and finance but this story sounds like fantasy. His track record just doesn't add up to proving himself to such an extent that a premiership club would take this massive gamble
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dirk_doone added 09:13 - Apr 9 You're too late with this story, Nick. April 1st was more than a week ago.
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SaintNick added 09:27 - Apr 9 When Brighton appointed Graham otter he had just taken Swansea to 10th in the Championship, Roberto De Zerbi had been a bit of journeyman manager. Brighton are a club who look beyond big names and look for the up and coming coaches. Here at Southampton we as a fan base seem to want big names rather than up and coming coaches
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janecook added 09:42 - Apr 9 That would be good news and bonus he might take Stephens with him.
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A1079 added 10:35 - Apr 9 I agree with Nick that Brighton have a good recent record of taking on managers that are not necessarily riding that high with a stock value and making it work. It perhaps says more about their management structure higher up and the support they give to their managers and coaches. I am not sure we have had good leadership at Southampton since the sad demise of Marcus Liebherr and that has eroded our position in the league and our standing as a forward thinking club in football with some quite dreadful and very costly decisions over the seasons since Marcus passed away. I don't think that the potential move of RM to Brighton is as fanciful as it may sound. With the right players and quality his vision could work. I appreciate it is not a popular thing to say at the moment, but I have not entirely given up with RM though equally I am not convinced by him. He has made some bad errors of judgement of late and his stubbornness and unwillingness to see it or apply tactics that work in games is worrying and costly but then I was not complaining when we went on that unbeaten run and my expectations for this season at the start of it were quite low because last season the team and the squad were completely demoralised and that was going to take time to turn it around.

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Centurion added 11:32 - Apr 9 It would be ironic that he is more likely to go to Brighton if we fail to win promotion than if we succeed IMO.
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DellBoyWally added 13:13 - Apr 9 If he goes (please!!) who comes in? My fave at the moment would be Carlos Corberan, After being Marceko Bielsa's right hand man at Leeds he took Huddersfield to the playoffs in his first job, Now at West Brom, they would be the team we play in the playoffs as things stand!!
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DellBoyWally added 14:14 - Apr 9 BUT! Ruben Amorim has apparently agreed to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool so they won't be wanting De Zerbi, Damn!!
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LondonSaint76 added 14:53 - Apr 9 Don’t worry DBW there are plenty of other clubs after DeZerbi for sure
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underweststand added 08:06 - Apr 10 Is this more "click bait " I wonder?. If we don't make it through the play-offs many think that we will have a mass kull of staff, players and not least the manager. Nonsense. Everyone would look at the chance of some sort of advancement and stories like this are commonplace. Although not every game brings the required result we have a small group of " followers " who will even criticise when we win, because they don't like " Russball", If we have achieved anything this season it's precisely because of this formation. Possession denies the opponents the use of the ball , and makes them run around needlessly in attempts to regain it. Not sure it would work in every club, Brighton being one example where a move there for RM might be short-lived . If we were to lose RM, for goodness sake get us a replacement who can talk about football and players in " football English ". At least Koeman could communicate, but I've had my fill of foreign managers who can only speak through an interpreter.

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Bowlercow added 10:41 - Apr 10 What do Saints supporters want RM has done a brilliant job and given us a team to support again I hope he doesn't go but if that comes about try for Liam Rosenior from Hull
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LordDZLucan added 13:57 - Apr 10 Brighton are not a bigger club than Saints. They are currently being feted like we were 10 years ago but could easily go on the same downward spiral. In other words it would not be a step up for Russell Martin so why would he move?
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