Russell Martin - Confirmed as First Team Manager

[Saints Fan In Peace]

On 24/08/2026 at 11:08, Manwell Pablo said:

They haven’t given him players to make his style of football work. Which is unsurprising. 

Bearing in mind that:

 

At Southampton, in his Premier League season he had Premier League promotion levels of money available (circa £130m in the first season to promoted teams), was allowed to bring in 16 players that summer, and built a completely uncompetitive team which got humiliated every week until he was sacked 

 

and

 

At Rangers, he was at a club with 5x-8x the spending power of every other club in the division except one, was allowed to bring in 14 players, and had them in 8th place out of 12 when he was sacked 

 

...it does make me wonder what club he would need to be at, and what resources they would need to have available, for him to be able to get the players he feels he needs for his style of football to actually work. 

 

Edited 25 August by Saints Fan In Peace

[Iwebema]

3 minutes ago, Saints Fan In Peace said:

Bearing in mind that:

 

At Southampton, in his Premier League season he had Premier League promotion levels of money available (circa £130m in the first season to promoted teams), was allowed to bring in 16 players that summer, and built a completely uncompetitive team which got humiliated every week until he was sacked 

 

and

 

At Rangers, he was at a club with 5x-8x the spending power of every other club in the division except one, was allowed to bring in 14 players, and had them in 8th place out of 12 when he was sacked 

 

...it does make me wonder what club he would need to be at, and what resources they would need to have available, for him to be able to get the players he feels he needs for his style of football to actually work. 

 

I was amazed he took a job in the UK, it always felt like he needed to go abroad and rebuild.

 

[Richmondfox]

6 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

It's more a footballing ethos than a tactic, I am sure he can use different formations and nuances but his ethos as a manager is hold the football. That 100% wont change it's how he see's the game. 

 

77.2% 69% and 73.2% (with ten f*cking men) possession stats in out first three games with a pretty pathetic output is just going to be us all season. 

 

Again Stupid appointment, and had we got the players in to do it in this division we'd be in all kinds of trouble next season anyway as it's not a viable way to play for a Championship team on a budget. 

It’s even more frustrating as the goal came from quick wing play, avoiding the clowns that can’t pass the ball first time and send it sideways and back. 

 

 

[john ridley]

If the players we've  signed cant play his way then dont fuvking sign em then .

[HankMarvin]

1 minute ago, Iwebema said:

I was amazed he took a job in the UK, it always felt like he needed to go abroad and rebuild.

 

Rebuild makes it sound like there was something there in the first place 

[Saints Fan In Peace]

13 minutes ago, john ridley said:

If the players we've  signed cant play his way then dont fuvking sign em then .

Quite. Which is why McCarthy was a truly mystifying signing, especially as his no. 1.

 

At Saints he had no trust in him at all — he didn't even have him on the bench, he dropped him to third choice for most of the season. 

 

 

Edited 25 August by Saints Fan In Peace

[LCFCCKEANO]

19 minutes ago, Saints Fan In Peace said:

Bearing in mind that:

 

At Southampton, in his Premier League season he had Premier League promotion levels of money available (circa £130m in the first season to promoted teams), was allowed to bring in 16 players that summer, and built a completely uncompetitive team which got humiliated every week until he was sacked 

 

and

 

At Rangers, he was at a club with 5x-8x the spending power of every other club in the division except one, was allowed to bring in 14 players, and had them in 8th place out of 12 when he was sacked 

 

...it does make me wonder what club he would need to be at, and what resources they would need to have available, for him to be able to get the players he feels he needs for his style of football to actually work. 

 

Devils advocate as I am by no means a Martin fan, but how much control over transfers did he actually have? 
 

From what I have seen with Southampton which will be less than you it seems recruitment is entirely separate from the manager

[Saints Fan In Peace]

1 minute ago, LCFCCKEANO said:

Devils advocate as I am by no means a Martin fan, but how much control over transfers did he actually have? 
 

From what I have seen with Southampton which will be less than you it seems recruitment is entirely separate from the manager

Totally valid point to make, but at that time our Director of Football (Wilcox) had left for United a few months previously, and he wasn't replaced until the following season, so Martin had a much more hands-on role with recruitment that summer. They created a transfer committee made up of him, a couple of (unqualified) board members and the head of recruitment.

 

To be totally fair to him, it wasn't the most stable environment, but it did mean he was heavily involved in deciding who came in. They brought in a lot of players - 16 - but most just weren't up to the necessary standard, and Martin later admitted (in the podcast interview with Lineker IIRC) that he had underestimated the pace and athleticism that was required in the PL. 

 

But they were 'his players', brought in by him to play his way. 

 

[Saints Fan In Peace]

45 minutes ago, Iwebema said:

I was amazed he took a job in the UK, it always felt like he needed to go abroad and rebuild.

 

I don't think he had any offers from abroad, to be honest. The only ones I remember were sniffing around for a bit were WBA, but they went for Morrison in the end. 

 

 

Edited 25 August by Saints Fan In Peace

[adamkhalifa]

Quicker this love affair ends the better. Unfortunately for us, we are going to feel the pinch. 3 idiots at the top of the tree, found this guy to finish off King Power.

[Les-TA-Jon]

44 minutes ago, Saints Fan In Peace said:

Quite. Which is why McCarthy was a truly mystifying signing, especially as his no. 1.

 

At Saints he had no trust in him at all — he didn't even have him on the bench, he dropped him to third choice for most of the season. 

 

 

I'll have you know that McCarthy started for Southampton vs Leicester in April 2024. He played terribly and Leicester won 5-0. 

 

Oh wait...

[VG Fox]

8 minutes ago, adamkhalifa said:

Quicker this love affair ends the better. Unfortunately for us, we are going to feel the pinch. 3 idiots at the top of the tree, found this guy to finish off King Power.

more like a nasty spin the bottle moment that a love affair tbh 

[AKCJ]

45 minutes ago, john ridley said:

If the players we've  signed cant play his way then dont fuvking sign em then .

The club is utterly obsessed with playing like Man City. I love watching that style of football and I do think it's the right way to play the game however you don't get Ruben Dias, John Stones, Josko Gvardiol etc in League 1. Centre halves at this level who can pass the ball and manage it under pressure either cost a bomb or cannot defend.

 

It's beyond time the club realised the position it's in an acted accordingly. You do not get out of League 1 by pretending you're a Premier League team that's been hard done by.

 

We just have to desperately hope that the next owner isn't such a brain dead moron and we can actually build a side where the goalkeeper saves shots and catches crosses, the centre backs can defend, the fullbacks can stop crosses and get forward, the midfielders can take the ball and pass the ball, the wingers want to get the ball into the box and the strikers want to score goals.

I hope we can get through this transfer window with a couple of new centre halves and a proper midfielder and move forward by appointing the man they should have gone for in April.... Dave Challinor.

 

Then we can move on and play his preferred 3-4-3 which suits so many of our team.

 

Stolarcyzk

Aluko Souttar Kangasniemi

Joseph Braybrooke Page Watson

Burns Bristric Alves

 

Ravizzoli, McFarlane, Coulibaly, Gray, Howell, Cullen, Chaplin

 

That to me looks exciting, fast and attacking with players coming off the bench who can make an impact. Exactly what Leicester City should be.

[Saints Fan In Peace]

7 minutes ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

I'll have you know that McCarthy started for Southampton vs Leicester in April 2024. He played terribly and Leicester won 5-0. 

 

Oh wait...

He'll be bringing in Angus '0-9' Gunn next...

[Richmondfox]

2 hours ago, AKCJ said:

The club is utterly obsessed with playing like Man City. I love watching that style of football and I do think it's the right way to play the game however you don't get Ruben Dias, John Stones, Josko Gvardiol etc in League 1. Centre halves at this level who can pass the ball and manage it under pressure either cost a bomb or cannot defend.

 

It's beyond time the club realised the position it's in an acted accordingly. You do not get out of League 1 by pretending you're a Premier League team that's been hard done by.

 

We just have to desperately hope that the next owner isn't such a brain dead moron and we can actually build a side where the goalkeeper saves shots and catches crosses, the centre backs can defend, the fullbacks can stop crosses and get forward, the midfielders can take the ball and pass the ball, the wingers want to get the ball into the box and the strikers want to score goals.

I hope we can get through this transfer window with a couple of new centre halves and a proper midfielder and move forward by appointing the man they should have gone for in April.... Dave Challinor.

 

Then we can move on and play his preferred 3-4-3 which suits so many of our team.

 

Stolarcyzk

Aluko Souttar Kangasniemi

Joseph Braybrooke Page Watson

Burns Bristric Alves

 

Ravizzoli, McFarlane, Coulibaly, Gray, Howell, Cullen, Chaplin

 

That to me looks exciting, fast and attacking with players coming off the bench who can make an impact. Exactly what Leicester City should be.

 

You would expect that line up to score goals  Two monsters at the back and up front, skill and drive in the middle. 
 

The front three already proved they have something, especially as the goal was against the style of play the clown wants. 

 

The opposition strikers need to be scared of not bored watching our defence waiting for a misplaced pass. Wingers need to be allowed to run at the fullbacks, trying to get early bookings like Barnes could do. 

 

We really need a Marcin Waseleski type player.  I might be misremembering but after a challenge I recall a ref coming over, he got up and marched towards him and the ref peeled away. 

 

 

 

Edited 25 August by Richmondfox

[Corky]

3 hours ago, Saints Fan In Peace said:

Bearing in mind that:

 

At Southampton, in his Premier League season he had Premier League promotion levels of money available (circa £130m in the first season to promoted teams), was allowed to bring in 16 players that summer, and built a completely uncompetitive team which got humiliated every week until he was sacked 

 

and

 

At Rangers, he was at a club with 5x-8x the spending power of every other club in the division except one, was allowed to bring in 14 players, and had them in 8th place out of 12 when he was sacked 

 

...it does make me wonder what club he would need to be at, and what resources they would need to have available, for him to be able to get the players he feels he needs for his style of football to actually work. 

 

It isn't even about his style of play working. It is about PR and perception. He speaks a good game and has enough of the media onside so that when it goes badly, he will still have backers.

[murphy]

3 hours ago, Iwebema said:

I was amazed he took a job in the UK, it always felt like he needed to go abroad and rebuild.

 

It's more amazing that he was offered a job in the UK 

[boosmanana]

2 hours ago, AKCJ said:

The club is utterly obsessed with playing like Man City. I love watching that style of football and I do think it's the right way to play the game however you don't get Ruben Dias, John Stones, Josko Gvardiol etc in League 1. Centre halves at this level who can pass the ball and manage it under pressure either cost a bomb or cannot defend.

 

It's beyond time the club realised the position it's in an acted accordingly. You do not get out of League 1 by pretending you're a Premier League team that's been hard done by.

 

We just have to desperately hope that the next owner isn't such a brain dead moron and we can actually build a side where the goalkeeper saves shots and catches crosses, the centre backs can defend, the fullbacks can stop crosses and get forward, the midfielders can take the ball and pass the ball, the wingers want to get the ball into the box and the strikers want to score goals.

I hope we can get through this transfer window with a couple of new centre halves and a proper midfielder and move forward by appointing the man they should have gone for in April.... Dave Challinor.

 

Then we can move on and play his preferred 3-4-3 which suits so many of our team.

 

Stolarcyzk

Aluko Souttar Kangasniemi

Joseph Braybrooke Page Watson

Burns Bristric Alves

 

Ravizzoli, McFarlane, Coulibaly, Gray, Howell, Cullen, Chaplin

 

That to me looks exciting, fast and attacking with players coming off the bench who can make an impact. Exactly what Leicester City should be.

Challinor won't be back in management this season, taking a break for family reasons. Otherwise I'd agree with you on that.

[dmayne7]

3 minutes ago, murphy said:

It's more amazing that he was offered a job in the UK 

The caveat being that it was Leicester City, so not really surprising. More surprising we didn't create a few extra roles for him so he'll never leave, since Top and Co have such a hard on for him

[murphy]

2 minutes ago, boosmanana said:

Challinor won't be back in management this season, taking a break for family reasons. Otherwise I'd agree with you on that.

You seem very confident of this.  I wouldn't be so easily put off.  It sounds to me like something someone would say as a  diplomatic 'explanation' for parting by mutual consent.  I think there's a good chance a decent offer would tempt him.

[murphy]

Imagine a manager causing so much trauma and catastrophe at his former clubs that their fans follow him onto the fan's forum of his next club to warn them and unanimously deride him.  We've had Rangers fans, MK dons and Saints fans!

 

There's no doubt about it, Russell Martin is special.  Just not in a good way.

[Guy]

4 hours ago, Saints Fan In Peace said:

Quite. Which is why McCarthy was a truly mystifying signing, especially as his no. 1.

 

At Saints he had no trust in him at all — he didn't even have him on the bench, he dropped him to third choice for most of the season. 

 

 

Maybe he thinks he is good enough as a no.1 for League One level but wasn't when you were in the Prem. under Martin?? A weird signing all the same as you say!

[Colinjb]

22 minutes ago, murphy said:

Imagine a manager causing so much trauma and catastrophe at his former clubs that their fans follow him onto the fan's forum of his next club to warn them and unanimously deride him.  We've had Rangers fans, MK dons and Saints fans!

 

There's no doubt about it, Russell Martin is special.  Just not in a good way.

Almost feel sorry, but it is a form of therapy. Recovering from being Gaslit.

[Fox92]

 

29 minutes ago, murphy said:

You seem very confident of this.  I wouldn't be so easily put off.  It sounds to me like something someone would say as a  diplomatic 'explanation' for parting by mutual consent.  I think there's a good chance a decent offer would tempt him.

 

He has deserved a crack at a higher level but I don't think it would be as plain sailing as some like to think if he was our manager. 

 

Stockport are ambitious and the owner clearly wants them promoted in two or three seasons. It all seems totally different to our club.

 

They have failed in the play offs, at this level, in the previous two seasons. I'd be interested to see how he gets on at a bigger club.

[lcfcbluearmy]

On 23/08/2026 at 16:17, funkyrobot said:

Yeh so there’s proof that Martin’s system does incorporate a quick break. Doesn’t change the fact that in league one we will have most of the ball whether you like it or not. You cannot force another team to have possession, particularly when you are seen as the big fish in the pond. 

It really isn’t proof of anything it happened once all match that isn’t incorporated into the system. I really think maybe you need to stop making excuses and look at the facts this possession based system dosn’t work with our team