Russell Martin - Confirmed as First Team Manager

[Gamble92]

On 08/09/2026 at 14:11, Ian Nacho said:

Wouldn’t this work better if Claudio was dead?

[Eskay]

I’m actually pleased for him today. 
In the press conference he looked a troubled man. Leicester city had been tough on a lot of people. Whilst I know it has….it really shouldn’t impact anyone’s mental health. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. It’s not his fault how shambolic those above him are. 
 

I respect him for walking away swiftly today too. He did it last week when he lost. It says something about the sort of man he might be. If he was high 5ing the fans today I’d call him an arsehole after last week. 

[TeamRocket]

Wow 2 win, still dont trust him 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

The Martin out thread has been closed, what’s going on? 🤣 

[Claudio Fannieri]

I never wanted Martin to be appointed, more so because I wanted to see the club move away from the obsession with that style, however once appointed all I wanted was for him to be successful and prove the doubters wrong. During the summer o actually really warmed to him and liked what I saw and was reading in terms of the culture reset and raised standards. 
 

However since the season has started, there have been a fair few red flags which are caused for concern, especially our defensive fragility. 
 

However I also have some sympathy towards him, as I feel he has been massively let down by the people who hired him. In his interviews he continually refers to being excited by the project and working with the exciting young players coming through.
 

He clearly believed this was a long term project, which is what he needed after the disaster of Rangers, an opportunity to lay down his philosophy at a club that believe in it and that would give him the time and tools to make his philosophy work. 
 

Fast forward 3 months, the club is up for sale, at no point was Martin ever told this would happen at the time of his appointment and as reported by Tom Collomose he still is yet to be fully appraised of the situation, I actually feel for him, he is currently bearing the brunt of supporter frustration at the brand of football, one which he was specifically recruited to implement and he is taking this criticism at a club that effectively once in a preferred buyer position could sack him as his face doesn’t fit the potential new ownerships blue print. 
 

He has been thrown under the bus, sold a dream and project that in reality had he known the full picture and truth probably wouldn’t have touched it with a barge pole. Yes when the inevitable happens he will be paid off handsomely but in an environment where it can pretty much end someone’s career I do have some sympathy. 
 

Perhaps the chants about the football should be directed elsewhere than at Martin, whose appointment is another in this fascination and obsession of playing in a certain style. 

[deep blue]

1 hour ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

I never wanted Martin to be appointed, more so because I wanted to see the club move away from the obsession with that style, however once appointed all I wanted was for him to be successful and prove the doubters wrong. During the summer o actually really warmed to him and liked what I saw and was reading in terms of the culture reset and raised standards. 
 

However since the season has started, there have been a fair few red flags which are caused for concern, especially our defensive fragility. 
 

However I also have some sympathy towards him, as I feel he has been massively let down by the people who hired him. In his interviews he continually refers to being excited by the project and working with the exciting young players coming through.
 

He clearly believed this was a long term project, which is what he needed after the disaster of Rangers, an opportunity to lay down his philosophy at a club that believe in it and that would give him the time and tools to make his philosophy work. 
 

Fast forward 3 months, the club is up for sale, at no point was Martin ever told this would happen at the time of his appointment and as reported by Tom Collomose he still is yet to be fully appraised of the situation, I actually feel for him, he is currently bearing the brunt of supporter frustration at the brand of football, one which he was specifically recruited to implement and he is taking this criticism at a club that effectively once in a preferred buyer position could sack him as his face doesn’t fit the potential new ownerships blue print. 
 

He has been thrown under the bus, sold a dream and project that in reality had he known the full picture and truth probably wouldn’t have touched it with a barge pole. Yes when the inevitable happens he will be paid off handsomely but in an environment where it can pretty much end someone’s career I do have some sympathy. 
 

Perhaps the chants about the football should be directed elsewhere than at Martin, whose appointment is another in this fascination and obsession of playing in a certain style. 

Similar sympathy has been shown towards our last few managers that they'd been deceived when they were hired.

 

I just find it hard to believe that within the football league fraternity our situation via-à-vis the ineptness of our owner and board, and the poor state within the club, aren't recognised and well known.

[foxile5]

7 hours ago, deep blue said:

Similar sympathy has been shown towards our last few managers that they'd been deceived when they were hired.

 

I just find it hard to believe that within the football league fraternity our situation via-à-vis the ineptness of our owner and board, and the poor state within the club, aren't recognised and well known.

Of course it's well known.

 

Even a cursory Google of us would reveal a horror show. 

 

I'm sure Martin was sold a dream and it's become a nightmare but to suggest he was totally naive to it is just plain silly.

 

He's not a total idiot. He would have well known but the money and potential for success was too good to turn down. 

[MaidstoneFox]

23 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

Of course it's well known.

 

Even a cursory Google of us would reveal a horror show. 

 

I'm sure Martin was sold a dream and it's become a nightmare but to suggest he was totally naive to it is just plain silly.

 

He's not a total idiot. He would have well known but the money and potential for success was too good to turn down. 

Indeed. I don't really have any sympathy for him. He's been around football long enough to understand the pitfalls of the profession and for that his agent no doubt negotiated a handsome contract and compensation for someone who is already a multi-millionaire.

 

He is already in a privileged position managing a great club that hundreds of out-of-work managers or aspiring ones would love to have. If for example, he was black and had just been sacked from two jobs in the way he had, would he have been given the Leicester role? I doubt it very much, I doubt he would have been given the Rangers job. So he should count his blessings and be thankful for what he actually has.

[trooky]

9 hours ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

I never wanted Martin to be appointed, more so because I wanted to see the club move away from the obsession with that style, however once appointed all I wanted was for him to be successful and prove the doubters wrong. During the summer o actually really warmed to him and liked what I saw and was reading in terms of the culture reset and raised standards. 
 

However since the season has started, there have been a fair few red flags which are caused for concern, especially our defensive fragility. 
 

However I also have some sympathy towards him, as I feel he has been massively let down by the people who hired him. In his interviews he continually refers to being excited by the project and working with the exciting young players coming through.
 

He clearly believed this was a long term project, which is what he needed after the disaster of Rangers, an opportunity to lay down his philosophy at a club that believe in it and that would give him the time and tools to make his philosophy work. 
 

Fast forward 3 months, the club is up for sale, at no point was Martin ever told this would happen at the time of his appointment and as reported by Tom Collomose he still is yet to be fully appraised of the situation, I actually feel for him, he is currently bearing the brunt of supporter frustration at the brand of football, one which he was specifically recruited to implement and he is taking this criticism at a club that effectively once in a preferred buyer position could sack him as his face doesn’t fit the potential new ownerships blue print. 
 

He has been thrown under the bus, sold a dream and project that in reality had he known the full picture and truth probably wouldn’t have touched it with a barge pole. Yes when the inevitable happens he will be paid off handsomely but in an environment where it can pretty much end someone’s career I do have some sympathy. 
 

Perhaps the chants about the football should be directed elsewhere than at Martin, whose appointment is another in this fascination and obsession of playing in a certain style. 

I'm not sure what dream there is to sell at Leicester City, everybody in football knows how shambolic the running of this club has been in the last 5 years. 

 

I have zero sympathy for him, he walked into this club with his eyes fully open and has been able to recruit 14 players. 

 

I don't like the man, but he has to succeed. I want to see the back of Top and Rudkin, the more successful we are on the pitch the quicker this will happen. 

[ARM1968]

I’m the instigator… (Russel M)

[Ian Nacho]

15 hours ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

I never wanted Martin to be appointed, more so because I wanted to see the club move away from the obsession with that style, however once appointed all I wanted was for him to be successful and prove the doubters wrong. During the summer o actually really warmed to him and liked what I saw and was reading in terms of the culture reset and raised standards. 
 

However since the season has started, there have been a fair few red flags which are caused for concern, especially our defensive fragility. 
 

However I also have some sympathy towards him, as I feel he has been massively let down by the people who hired him. In his interviews he continually refers to being excited by the project and working with the exciting young players coming through.
 

He clearly believed this was a long term project, which is what he needed after the disaster of Rangers, an opportunity to lay down his philosophy at a club that believe in it and that would give him the time and tools to make his philosophy work. 
 

Fast forward 3 months, the club is up for sale, at no point was Martin ever told this would happen at the time of his appointment and as reported by Tom Collomose he still is yet to be fully appraised of the situation, I actually feel for him, he is currently bearing the brunt of supporter frustration at the brand of football, one which he was specifically recruited to implement and he is taking this criticism at a club that effectively once in a preferred buyer position could sack him as his face doesn’t fit the potential new ownerships blue print. 
 

He has been thrown under the bus, sold a dream and project that in reality had he known the full picture and truth probably wouldn’t have touched it with a barge pole. Yes when the inevitable happens he will be paid off handsomely but in an environment where it can pretty much end someone’s career I do have some sympathy. 
 

Perhaps the chants about the football should be directed elsewhere than at Martin, whose appointment is another in this fascination and obsession of playing in a certain style. 

I can see where you're coming from but no sympathy from me. Everyone in football knows we're a basket case and he's earning millions for the privilege. 

[lcfc sheff]

No sympathy, but he isn’t to blame for what situation we find ourselves in and is also playing some youth players who are ultimately not experienced but very exciting prospects. Give him till 10 games in and assess

[fox_up_north]

The man is on a contract that will pay out handsomely if/ when it goes wrong.  He gets to live in a lovely part of the country with a glamour model and, crucially, has a full head of hair. 

 

No sympathy. Do the job, make it clear what you're trying to achieve and instill discipline.

[Foxin_Mad]

Martin is a man brought here by clowns to do a job. There are a couple of observations on this.

 

1. Getting rid of Martin wont fix the issue of employing tippy tappy managers, its more likely they employ a bigger clow with a foreign name next 'see Marti Cifuentes'

2. Martin weirdly is probably our best chance of some stability and rebuilding under what we have, he needs a bit of time, he needs this to work as much as we do. To be honest some of what he has done is 'exactly' what people have been crying out for so far. Defence is a concern but so far he is doing exactly what he has been tasked with. The obsession with Thomas, Souttar and Reid needs to end. 

 

I think it needs 10 games to see whether its likely to work. Realistically start to bung together a run and we are in a much better position. The biggest thing is the mentality of being strong, we need to keep that and against Stockport it was better, it was also good to hold on and there are many times over previous years we crumble and lose that game 5-4 

[Spudulike]

We got away with it on Saturday thanks to a couple of decent saves, the crossbar and poor Stockport finishing. We did crumble in exactly the same way we have been for the past three seasons. We can't allow the fortune to mask the frailties and give praise for 'holding on'. We got lucky this time. Nothing has changed.

[ourla]

Not sure Martin was "sold" anything.

 

As a club we were clearly on the floor.

 

As a manager he was clearly on the floor.

 

It was a punt at best on both fronts.

[Marky mark]

Have I missed something this week 

he’s claiming he’s treated differently 

 

facts 

he’s been sacked more times then he’s won games in the last 3 years 

have we said hurty words 

or 

have we stated facts about his style of play etc 

the man’s a fraud 

who likes the sound of his own voice 

[Broof]

On one hand it doesn't suprise me at all that the board have lied through their teeth and sold him a dream, and I feel bad for him that he's fallen for it. I bet he had a lot of hope going into this season and it's probably already pretty apparent that there was actually little to be hopeful for in reality.

 

On the other hand, if he didn't already know the kind of slimy creatures he was getting into bed with then it truly shows a shocking lack of diligence on his part. Almost every manager has publicly insinuated that they have been deceived by our board, almost every mention of our distinguished DoF by ex players is dripping in disgust. He surely reached out to people privately who would have been even clearer in their opinion. And I'm also reasonably sure that his contract is significantly better than anything he could've got elsewhere.

 

Adding it all up, I want to have sympathy for him but just can't bring myself to. He knew what he was getting into, he's made a bad bet, and he'll be rewarded for it with money and punished for it with (a lack of) future job opportunities. 

[Chelmofox]

3 hours ago, Foxin_Mad said:

Martin is a man brought here by clowns to do a job. There are a couple of observations on this.

 

1. Getting rid of Martin wont fix the issue of employing tippy tappy managers, its more likely they employ a bigger clow with a foreign name next 'see Marti Cifuentes'

2. Martin weirdly is probably our best chance of some stability and rebuilding under what we have, he needs a bit of time, he needs this to work as much as we do. To be honest some of what he has done is 'exactly' what people have been crying out for so far. Defence is a concern but so far he is doing exactly what he has been tasked with. The obsession with Thomas, Souttar and Reid needs to end. 

 

I think it needs 10 games to see whether its likely to work. Realistically start to bung together a run and we are in a much better position. The biggest thing is the mentality of being strong, we need to keep that and against Stockport it was better, it was also good to hold on and there are many times over previous years we crumble and lose that game 5-4 

We were saying this all last year, even in the Rowatt area. Just needs a run of results. They never came. We have mentality issues when it comes to winning games. Even on Saturday, last 30 mins we were not playing like we believed we would win.

[Dan]

We're already massively playing catchup. He's got to go on a seriously good run to convince me.

[Dan]

27 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

We were saying this all last year, even in the Rowatt area. Just needs a run of results. They never came. We have mentality issues when it comes to winning games. Even on Saturday, last 30 mins we were not playing like we believed we would win.

The last two times we've won before Saturday, excluding Blackburn as it was the final day, there has been an air of relief that we would get back into gear and kick on, both followed by a presentable home fixture.

 

Comfortable losses and ultimately collapses on both occasions. The wins are the anomaly.

[Wymsey]

53 minutes ago, Dan said:

We're already massively playing catchup. He's got to go on a seriously good run to convince me.

Actually think he will.

Decent signings made tbf.

[sm1]

He just can't organise a defence, he's never been able to throughout his managerial career. That won't change here with him dead set on starting Souttar and Luke. We know how this story ends as much as we want him and us to succeed.

[cityfanlee23]

One thing I said in summer was that if RM was appointed, we would at least be in the market for and promoting young players who can pass a football. 
McCarthy is the mystery here, but I've seen positive signs from quite a few players individually that give me confidence that this can be turned around, whether that be under RM or under someone else. Similar to the Puel situation, regardless of what people thought of Puel, he left the squad in a far healthier and more dynamic position than he inherited, and that led to Rodgers being able to come in, tweak a few things and make the most of the players Puel signed for his own style. 

It's really early says, but Aluko, Page, Braybrook, Howell, Alves, Joseph and Riis all look like they have something good to build upon this season, Lundstram looks a decent addition. Then we have O'Hora and Kangasniemi who could form a decent partnership, Chaplin and Cullen with a bit of form would be very good at this level. BDCR for his flaws and his god awful finishing has been getting himself into really smart positions, again with a bit of form he might contribute a fair few goals this season. Bristric has not been able to perform In front of goal yet, but we looks better with him in the team which is always a good sign. 

I definitely hate far fewer Leicester City players, and feel more optimism for the squad going forward than I have done in recent years. If someone whether it be Martin or someone else can get a tune out of us, the quality is there. 

[Legend_in_blue]

Until we have a settled back line, the results will be inconsistent.  Apart from the GK situation, which is a major flaw, he's not exactly had a great set of players to pick from pre transfer window across the back line.

 

Let his signings start regularly at the back, give it some time, and see what happens.

 

He deserves time.  The owners on the other hand do not.

 

In an attacking sense, there's little to worry about until someone attempts to poach Page.