Russell Martin, now at Southampton as head coach, forever wearing his heart on his sleeve opened up on his feelings for the Swans after his enforced departure in the summer. With a variety of changes happening at the club at the end of last season Martin found himself surplus to requirements of new Chairman, Andrew Coleman including a variety of other changes. All of which have torn the spirit and identity from the club.

To that end the man who split the Swansea support more than any manager in recent times responded to how he feels about his time at Swansea City. We shouldn’t forget Swans interim head coach, Alan Sheehan was dismissed from a coaching role at Southampton when Nathan Jones was sacked. Both managers go head to head with points to prove, Russell Martin is currently in amongst a fantastic unbeaten run and Alan Sheehan is slowly turning things around at the Swans. Two wins, a draw and a loss are the return for Sheehan’s first four games with the club itself putting up excuses for their slow appointment of a new manager.

Not many have bought in to that.

Martin was philosophical but as he states he points no blame at the supporters or the folk who administer the daily running of the club. "The supporters are probably frustrated because the same things keep happening again and again. It's no fault of the supporters or the people who work at the club on a day-to-day basis. Apart from that, I have no other opinion on that” Make of that what you will.

Martin is right, every time the club look on the verge of taking a step forwards it seems the majority owners have some form of plan to mess it up. Basically it’s incompetence. It happened with Martin and then Steve Cooper before him. Both displayed a progression through their time at the Swans and both strangely left with questions unanswered. Cooper not being offered a salary rise after taking the Swans to the Play Off final at Wembley, and Martin displaying a huge turn around in form and character which saw a near play off finish at the end of last season.

Those choices were very strange, and they all centred around money. Both managers wanted reinforcements to mount a new season with hope to get the club to the premier league. And both were oddly moved on. Make no bones about it, this pattern of mismanagement has meant Swansea fans have had enough. The leadership is poor, it makes decisions based on ‘not’ spending money where it’s needed, and any coach who speaks out is pushed away. Cooper proved he had the ability with a bit of support, and took Nottingham Forest up, and Martin is doing it now at Southampton. The verbal protests, at Fridays win against Preston should be echoing in their ears. The overdubbed extended highlights were an embarrassment for the club. And it matters not the content of what was being sung, what matters is the worm is turning. And people are not happy.

Swansea City fans take a long time to become militant but when they do it’s dramatic. Fridays protests were nothing, just a benchmark for further action if this carries on. Quite simply this is the majority owners last chance to run the club appropriately and professionally. People will say who will come in ? Well, it’s happened before and it will happen again.

Moving back to the game Martin has said. "When we were there, we gave everything we had - and by the time we left, I felt the supporters understood what we were doing and there was a big connection. I might be totally miles away from that and they might boo me, I don't know. Whatever it is will be, I am at a brilliant club now with a group of players I love." He himself had some shocking abuse from so called fans at Southampton, but they seem to have piped down since he has turned the corner. Premier League entitlement etc.

It’s clear Martin is very aware of the ongoing scenario at Swansea, he knows numerous staff still at the club, and they too are happy to talk when necessary. "I would be frustrated if I was a Swansea supporter because the club is fantastic and everyone in the city is a huge Swansea fan. Alan is doing a good job and their players are playing for him. They won this weekend through two moments of quality and I am sure their players will see an advantage. They know how we want to play, but we need to make sure that isn't an advantage and that our knowledge of their players is instead."

Jay Fulton is confident after Fridays win. “We obviously know the Southampton manager. It’ll be a tough game, but on the back of the three points on Friday we’ll be looking to take the confidence into that game. Since Sheez (Sheehan) has come in, we’ve won two, drawn one and lost one. Friday was a bit of a setback in terms of performance but we know what we’re trying to progress and what we’re trying to do. I don’t think we were at our best, but we stuck together and Pato’s shown up with two good goals”

Swansea City take on Southampton tomorrow ( Boxing Day ) kick off 3pm.

Artwork by Swansea Independent

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