According to the media Southampton have agreed a deal with Swansea City manager Russell Martin to replace temporary manager at St Mary's , but who is the man who will become the 4th man in charge in the Saints dug out in barely 7 months.

When the name Russell Martin came into the frame for the Saints job, it is fair to say that a fair chunk of the Southampton fanbase said Russell Who !

Some might have been able to say he was the manager at Swansea City, but very little else, so here we give the rundown on the man who all media outlets seem to think is now the new Southampton manager in all but the signature on the contract.

Russel Martin was born on 4th January 1986 shortly before Glenn Cockerill scored a screamer in a 6th round FA Cup tie to line Saints up with a semi final showdown with Liverpool.

Although he was on his home town club's books it was with Wycombe Wanders he started his professional career in 2004, he stayed there until 2008 when he joined Peterborough and then following a spell on loan at Norwich joined them permanently in 2010.

He would play 308 games in all competitions for the Carrow Road club, including 125 in the Premier League where he was a virtual ever present for 4 seasons.

After a spell on loan at Rangers he joined Walsall and then MK Dons in January 2019.

Coming to the end of his playing career, he replaced ex Saint Paul Tisdale in November 2019 and although initially he was player manager he ended his playing career shortly after.

At this stage he had a career total of 579 games as a player plus 29 caps for Scotland.

At MK Dons in his first partial season MK Dons ended in 19th place in League One avoiding relegation.

In his first full season in 2020/21 he installed a possession based game to the team and in the March of that season his team recorded a 56 pass move to score a goal, a British record at the time, by the end of the season only Manchester City and Barcelona in Europe had a better possession rate than Martin's team, however it didn't improve things much in terms of League position and MK Dons finished 13th.

But that didn't stop Swansea City who appointed him their new manager in August 2021, he signed a 3 year deal and also brought along his assistants Luke Williams, Matthew Gill, and Dean Thornton from MK Dons.

Again it was a possession based game he would employ at Swansea, but also again it didn't really transfer to League position, his first season saw 16th in the Championship and in his second 10th.

It is pertinent to note here that Martin appears to have made noises to his employers about extending his contract as it only has a year left to run, but Swansea seem to have showed no immediate enthusiasm to do so. That is not good reading for those who are looking to establish his reputation down in South Wales.

In his personal life he is a Vegan, initially to manage a health issue but he is also a part-owner of Erpingham House, the largest vegan restaurant in the UK, to add to that he is also a Buddhist.

So this does not make good reading overall for Saints supporters, he clearly fits the blueprint of Sports Republic's managerial wants, but then again so did Nathan Jones who in fairness had a much better track record as a manager than Martin and that is saying something.

But to counterbalance those that say that his track record is nowhere near good enough for a club the size of Southampton and what we are trying to achieve next season, it could be pointed out that when Brighton appointed Graham Potter he had also taken Brighton to 10th in the Championship in his one season in charge.

Likewise if we look back at the managers who have been successful at Saints, the majority of them in the modern game have not had great CV's when they were appointed, Lawrie McMenemy had not managed above what was then the 3rd division, Chris Nicholl had only been assistant player manager at Grimsby in the then second division before returning to the Dell to manage Saints in 1985.

Alan Ball had a patchy managerial career at Pompey, Stoke & Exeter before arriving at the Dell in 1994, Gordon Strachan had just got Coventry relegated and was not a popular appointment.

Mauricio Pochettino was not a big name manager and who had heard of Ralph Hasenhuttl in December 2018.

Saints managers who have arrived with big CV's have in the main failed, Ronald Koeman perhaps being the only exception and Harry Redknapp being the biggest example.

So although like most Saints supporters I have spoken to I am not exactly overawed by Russell Martin's pedigree as a manager, that does not necessarily mean he is not a good fit for the football club, Nathan Jones obviously wasn't but perhaps Martin will be.

What i do think though is that Sports Republic are not reading the situation properly, I don't blame them for having a strategy and wanting to stick to it, but given that we have been relegated they should be looking at someone at the upper end of their blueprint, not those nearer the bottom.

They need to connect with the Southampton supporters, perhaps they think they are doing the right thing, that unveiling Russel Martin at the home game against Liverpool will suddenly change the mood in the supporter base, that it will draw the sting of what is looking like it will be a toxic day as we say goodbye to the Premier League after an 11 year stay.

But they will be wrong, if they were to appoint someone like Ronald Koeman as was the case in 2014 when we last had a crisis like this after the departure of Pochettino, when the sting was drawn by that appointment, then perhaps it might draw the sting.

But they are appointing Russell Martin who most will see from his record is worse than Nathan Jones on paper !

Photo: Action Images

I_would added 11:10 - May 22 We'd better keep Ward Prowse then at all costs as he can make 56 passes in a row all by himself!
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IanRC added 11:26 - May 22 35% win rate says it all about Sports Republic’s ambitions.
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dirk_doone added 11:46 - May 22 The highlight of Russell Martin's managerial career was a record 56 pass move in a game his team lost to Gillingham. Brilliant. If you aspire to excellence, you don't embrace mediocrity but sadly that's what Sports Republic appear to be doing with their managerial appointments. The average league position of Russell Martin's teams in League One and the Championship is 14th. .

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1885_SFC added 12:14 - May 22 Time to sell the club again Sports Republic... to someone who actually knows how to run a football club the size of Southampton.
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highfield49 added 12:33 - May 22 The mood amongst supporters seems to vary between slightly warm to decidedly cold on the appointment of Russell Martin. Clearly, if he is installed as the replacement manager, it's not going to be with any hope or expectation of success from the majority of posters. However good or brilliant Martin might be in the future the club's followers need, and probably deserve, the appointment of a known entity with charisma to raise their hopes for next season. Whilst it appears that Man City's assistant didn't want the job, and most of us were probably unaware of his credentials, he would still have been a higher profile appointment simply by association with success. Personally I'll be bitterly disappointed if Graham Potter is announced as the new manager at Leicester, Leeds or any other struggling club. That will put Martin's selection firmly into the realms of failure to sell the job to the right person.

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landsdownsaint added 13:03 - May 22 It’s hard too believe what SR have done too us in their short reign , that Rasmus is playing football manager at our expense , I’ve met many a wannabe elite businessman like him who are totally in it for themselves…. Usually in a vegan restaurant!
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abingdonsaint added 13:35 - May 22 I’m not too interested in win percentages. Results are dictated largely by the club you are managing and their relative resources. As we have just appointed a Director of Football and a number of young players (hopefully some will stay!) from Manchester City it’s hardly a surprise that we want to appoint a manager who will play possession football. He comes across very well, and ticks a lot of boxes as far as I can see. This appointment, if it happens, certainly makes far more sense than the Nathan Jones one, which now seems even more bizarre than it did at the time!

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dirk_doone added 13:37 - May 22 From the Swansea fansnetwork forum: "When he goes, we will see a putrid goalkeeper replaced, the end of suicide defence passing and players being respected and nurtured playing in their best positions. It might see us enjoying watching us again." "It hasn't taken two years to get ready to launch an assault on promotion. We've basically wasted those two years trying and failing to get Martin's process to work. It's only when we abandon most of it that we get results. By any reasonable measure he's been a failure here."

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ItchenNorth added 14:06 - May 22 At two struggling clubs RM has improved both teams seasons on season, 19th to 13th and 16th to 10th. Thats pretty good, because if those were the type of league position jumps Saints were making (in any league), there would not be many complaining that a manager wasn't making positive progress with our team! RM has Championship experience and we need that. The problem with N Jones (and Sellers) was they had no management experience in the league we were playing in. Getting RM in early means players know a key position at the club is in place and then if they want in or out at Saints. Possession based football is my only real concern as it means nothing if you haven't got the players to create and be decisive in attack. RM might not excite the fanbase but did we really expect to attract a big name or anyone good thats in the open market (like Potter), as they will all be waiting for Premier League jobs! With RM seemingly in place, the season ahead will be defined by this summers transfers in and out.

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Peterx added 14:24 - May 22 Would have preferred a more meaty appointment (excuse the pun) but watching his you tube on doing the double on Cardiff he did appear to have more tactical acumen, or maybe it was just enthusiasm, than what we have been subjected to for a while.
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Bowlercow added 15:18 - May 22 Not impressed with RM on any level but as usual I will give him 10 games to prove me wrong SR will be able to continue with their project of buying young talent to develop and sell at a profit even in the second level
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Monksway added 15:29 - May 22 Ironically RM has travelled the same path via Swansea as Cooper and Potter. Given we wouldn't get either of them, SR have gone for "up and coming" rather than tried and tested. In truth I'm not sure how many options we actually have we were relegated BADLY not unluckily. Rock bottom. A massive re-build is needed. I don't think a media name like Gerrard, Lampard or Rooney would be the answer and I'm not sure who else is a realistic option.

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simmo400 added 19:42 - May 22 I think this appointment boils down to one thing money. He’s the right price so he’s the right manager end of.
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Stevebish added 13:47 - May 24 I don't know if this will be a good appointment or not, but this year our team has been crying out for a style of football that gives our forwards the space to run into, but we have played a high press giving them no space and the other teams know we don't have the players to unlock defences with that style of play so they just absorb the pressure and hit us on the break and win the games. Maybe having a change of playing style will help the players we have to play to their strengths. But we will see and hopefully it all work out wonderfully.

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