Russell Martin - Confirmed as First Team Manager

[Angus Scott]

30 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I'd happily get a sending off after half an hour every game if it means Cullen comes straight off as well. Will go down as one of the worst players to ever player for us.

The poor man's Ayoze Perez

[Guy]

9 minutes ago, Iwebema said:

I think their entire squad is worth 1 Jordan Ayew.

The only plus of this season so far is that he's also not a part of it!

[HP1]

6 minutes ago, Angus Scott said:

The poor man's Ayoze Perez

So far he is in the conversation for one of our worst ever players. Literally offers nothing. At least Josh Low had height and physicality.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

1 minute ago, HP1 said:

So far he is in the conversation for one of our worst ever players. Literally offers nothing. At least Josh Low had height and physicality.

 

And Low played in the division above and didn't cost 7 figures.

 

 

Pandering to these shit managers and giving them signings the next manager won't want after the inevitable sacking is mind numbing

[funkyrobot]

25 minutes ago, nnfox said:

The players are the players.  Those are the tools he has at his disposal.  They are not suited to his style of play and won't be either, regardless of how good a coach he thinks he is.

 

I'll give him a fair chance when he recognises that the players he has are not technically good enough to play his brand of football.

 

Our fortunes will change immediately if HE changes and comes up with a system that our players can actually play.  Sticking stubbornly to this fairytale football for the next 10-15 games will only get him sacked and prevent us from getting promoted.

There’s no historical evidence that playing a different style of football at this club will more suit Okoli, Skipp, Thomas, BDCR. They’ve been shit previously playing the different styles that span Cooper Ball, RVN Ball, Cifuentes Ball, & Rowett Ball. Our fortunes won’t change whilst we are reliant on these players, irrespective of who the manager is and what style he tries to play. 

[murphy]

4 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

I’m not focusing my attention on the wrong place. We all know the owner and top management are not fit for purpose. BUT football still continues during this period when the owners are looking to get out. The demand for a manager to be sacked after 2 games irrespective of the owners is just crazy. You have to give him a chance. I don’t like the fact he’s signed and is playing McCarthy, I don’t rate Okoli, Thomas, or Skipp I’m not particularly impressed with your mate Souttar, Cullen is peripheral BUT I do applaud his selection of Braybrooke, his selection of JJ, Alves, Howell, Aluko. I do see the logic of signing Chaplin and Burns, I do see an attempt to play forward, I do see he’s inherited massive weaknesses in key areas (particularly centre back) irrespective of the style of football we play,  and I do think it’s reasonable whoever the owners are, however poor the owners have been, to give a manager more than 2 games before demanding his sacking! 

Two games is not really relevant.

 

Very few took Martin's reign with an open mind.  It was painfully obvious that he was the wrong man for the job and a manager that was coming off the back of two horrendous fails. 

 

I wanted him gone the moment he arrived if not sooner.  The idea that he will magically become anything other than Russell f***ing Martin if we sit back and wait is not a realistic one. 

 

The 'patience' argument does not really apply in this case since his methods and their consequences are so entirely predictable and he is a manager no one wanted in the first place.

[Ric Flair]

14 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

I’m not focusing my attention on the wrong place. We all know the owner and top management are not fit for purpose. BUT football still continues during this period when the owners are looking to get out. The demand for a manager to be sacked after 2 games irrespective of the owners is just crazy. You have to give him a chance. I don’t like the fact he’s signed and is playing McCarthy, I don’t rate Okoli, Thomas, or Skipp I’m not particularly impressed with your mate Souttar, Cullen is peripheral BUT I do applaud his selection of Braybrooke, his selection of JJ, Alves, Howell, Aluko. I do see the logic of signing Chaplin and Burns, I do see an attempt to play forward, I do see he’s inherited massive weaknesses in key areas (particularly centre back) irrespective of the style of football we play,  and I do think it’s reasonable whoever the owners are, however poor the owners have been, to give a manager more than 2 games before demanding his sacking! 

Fans aren't asking for him to be sacked after 2 games, they didn't want him here in the 1st place. 

 

 

[Iwebema]

10 minutes ago, Guy said:

The only plus of this season so far is that he's also not a part of it!

At this stage of our Leicester City journey, I'm ruling nothing out...

[murphy]

7 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

There’s no historical evidence that playing a different style of football at this club will more suit Okoli, Skipp, Thomas, BDCR. They’ve been shit previously playing the different styles that span Cooper Ball, RVN Ball, Cifuentes Ball, & Rowett Ball. Our fortunes won’t change whilst we are reliant on these players, irrespective of who the manager is and what style he tries to play. 

Maybe, but why make things harder for ourselves by appointing a manager that plays to our weaknesses and has become little more than a meme?

[funkyrobot]

4 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Fans aren't asking for him to be sacked after 2 games, they didn't want him here in the 1st place. 

 

 

Fans ARE asking for him to be sacked after two games. Read this thread. Yes many fans didn’t want him to be here in the first place. Thats irrelevant tbh. Once a manager is appointed you HAVE to give them more than two games, whether you think he shit or not,  particularly when you are still within a first transfer window. 

[murphy]

6 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

Fans ARE asking for him to be sacked after two games. Read this thread. Yes many fans didn’t want him to be here in the first place. Thats irrelevant tbh. Once a manager is appointed you HAVE to give them more than two games, whether you think he shit or not,  particularly when you are still within a first transfer window. 

Fans are having a moan about him and are perfectly entitled to do so.

 

[Headcase]

27 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

There’s no historical evidence that playing a different style of football at this club will more suit Okoli, Skipp, Thomas, BDCR. They’ve been shit previously playing the different styles that span Cooper Ball, RVN Ball, Cifuentes Ball, & Rowett Ball. Our fortunes won’t change whilst we are reliant on these players, irrespective of who the manager is and what style he tries to play. 

There is evidence that the likes of okoli would probably be ok if he was not asked to play the ball 30 times in and around is box, and we were playing in the opposition half and not relying on our defenders to make up 70% of our total 75%. Possession And thats just okoli, its the same for the others at the back skipp included ect

Edited 22 August by Headcase

[CleudoG]

Honest question - do the managers get the best view of what’s really happening on the pitch by standing on the side line? Martin took our best three attacking options off for a triple substitution - I get Alves may need minutes managing but Bristric was starting to get into the game and keep the CBs busy, thus creating room for the wingers/CM. I really wonder whether Martin, and all our previous crap managers, have failed to read the in game action low down on the side line as the substitutions for a few seasons have been diabolical. I also support Rugby League and the coaches there sit high up in the stands and seem to read the  game much better. 

[It'sblueupnorth]

1 hour ago, funkyrobot said:

Fans ARE asking for him to be sacked after two games. Read this thread. Yes many fans didn’t want him to be here in the first place. Thats irrelevant tbh. Once a manager is appointed you HAVE to give them more than two games, whether you think he shit or not,  particularly when you are still within a first transfer window. 

Why do we? We know exactly how this is going to play out, he's shown no signs whatsoever that he's learnt anything or changed his management style or philosophy from all the jobs he failed at, so why hang about giving him time? If we sack him in 10 games time (we won't) but miss out on the play offs by a pt, that decision could ultimately put the club in admin. That would also mean the club having a strategy in place and some idea on who they would replace him with which we know isn't the case but we are gaining absolutely nothing by giving him time. We all knew this appointment should never have happened, but they did it and need to get him out sooner rather than later, the clubs future actually depends on it

[SafewayFox]

3 hours ago, Gazza M said:

Martin O Neil's most recent book is a good read. One thing he mentions is how he assessed what the players strengths were and set up accordingly. With us the old 3-5-2 was a masterclass and suited the likes of Walsh and Tags. He went to Celtic and reverted to a back 4 and didn't play like he did with us.

 

Martin is a limited manager because he has no plan B and plan A is floored. Anyone worth their salt would look at Souttar and Okoli and play to their aereal strengths and get them off the ball as much as possible when in possession. 

I’m not defending Martin but not sure Okoli has any strengths. 

[Jakemoore]

He said all the right things after the game. Not sure I’m backing him to turn this around but I’ll give him another 4 games before I turn on him. 

[CleudoG]

On 15/06/2026 at 22:13, Blue-fox said:

Imagine the scenes if we concede to a sloppy goal 10 mins in to the first home game of the season 😂

5mins 12seconds

[SafewayFox]

58 minutes ago, CleudoG said:

Honest question - do the managers get the best view of what’s really happening on the pitch by standing on the side line? Martin took our best three attacking options off for a triple substitution - I get Alves may need minutes managing but Bristric was starting to get into the game and keep the CBs busy, thus creating room for the wingers/CM. I really wonder whether Martin, and all our previous crap managers, have failed to read the in game action low down on the side line as the substitutions for a few seasons have been diabolical. I also support Rugby League and the coaches there sit high up in the stands and seem to read the  game much better. 

I think you’re being too kind to most managers.

 

They have pre-determined substitutions and very rarely deviate away from this.

 

In a nut shell, they are arrogant coaches rather than managers.

[Dan]

I've refrained from arguing with a lot of the deluded fools in this thread who fell for it hook, line and sinker. I'm quite patient. I knew that time would eventually just beat them on its own.

 

I didn't realise quite how little of it we'd need though. It really is hilarious.

[Guy]

1 hour ago, CleudoG said:

Honest question - do the managers get the best view of what’s really happening on the pitch by standing on the side line? Martin took our best three attacking options off for a triple substitution - I get Alves may need minutes managing but Bristric was starting to get into the game and keep the CBs busy, thus creating room for the wingers/CM. I really wonder whether Martin, and all our previous crap managers, have failed to read the in game action low down on the side line as the substitutions for a few seasons have been diabolical. I also support Rugby League and the coaches there sit high up in the stands and seem to read the  game much better. 

Interesting point as I remember Pearson went through a spell of watching from higher up in the stands while leaving Shakey to instruct  pitch side - which paid dividends one season, possibly it was when we won the Championship under him in 2013-14? It's well known that rugby coaches do it for their own benefit and it's strange how football management hasn't followed suit over the years. Maybe it's still playing catch up with rugby ... again!

Edited 23 August by Guy

[jonny_wright]

It’s not a stretch to say he has 8 games to save his managerial career, if he doesn’t win any of our first 10 games he will have to go, ba do don’t think he will ever recover from this. 
 

I want him gone already, seen enough! Rangers fans warned us too 

[CrazyKopCorner]

Needed to start with the players and coach accordingly. 

 

Has come in with a system that at least half of them have no chance of implementing. 

 

We need to bring in an old pragmatic head to save the season already 

 

 

[CL Fox]

7 hours ago, Angus Scott said:

The poor man's Ayoze Perez

I keep seeing references to players like Perez and comparing Rodgers to Martin.

 

We're light years away from those players and managers. Rodgers had his faults but hes 1000 times the managers Martin is. Perez scored a hat trick in a 9 nil away win at Southampton. 

 

Its not even remotely comparable to these losers.

[Kinowe Soorie]

I said he’s got to have ten games to see whereabouts we are, he’ll do well to reach that on the current showing.

[Claudio Fannieri]

…….i wonder how long before he walks away amid accusations of broken promises about the rebuild, forced to use players he doesn’t want etc 

 

This is giving me similar vibes to last season, which coincidently we lost our second league game of the season 2-1 to a team we were expected to steamroller (PNE)