Russell Martin appears to be the frontrunner to be the next Leicester City manager, tasked with driving the Foxes back out of the third tier after back-to-back relegations
Russell Martin has been linked with Leicester City(Image: Anna Gowthorpe/Shutterstock)
Russell Martin looks to be the frontrunner to become Leicester City’s next manager.
The Telegraph reported on Saturday the 40-year-old is in ‘advanced talks’ to takeover at the King Power Stadium.
If he is appointed he will be charged with returning the Foxes back to the Championship at the first time of asking. Dwelling in the third tier of English football is not a sustainable financial model for any club let alone one that has scaled the heights City have.
The prospect is one that has divided fans and come with health warnings from those at his previous club Rangers. Martin lasted just 17 games before his tenure was washed away in a tidal wave of criticism about his playing style.
Wherever Martin goes, his reputation as a ‘philosophy’ manager will accompany him, one which characterises him as coach with very fixed views on how football should be played. Build-from-the-back and play-through-the-thirds, no matter what.
As a rule I’m suspicious of managers with strident philosophies because it feels a little like the possession-based tail is wagging the dog whose main purpose is winning games of football. Martin has argued that is exactly what he is trying to do and that is best achieved by dominating the ball. If you’ve got it, they can’t score.
That belief has followed him through his coaching career, at MK Dons where his team tried to take the ‘energy and soul’ of opponents. A 13th placed finish didn’t set too many hearts racing but it did feel like the club was moving in the right direction with a clear style of play.
Swansea certainly thought so and a club that has seen the likes of Brendan Rodgers, Roberto Martinez and Graham Potter ask their teams to play in a similar way, there was congruence to the appointment.
In his first season Martin finished 15th, in his second, which started with grumbles both online and in the stadium, they were tenth, three points off the play-offs.
Once again, it felt as though the team was starting to make an impact even though the manager had fired a remarkable broadside at the club’s board after a poor January transfer window.
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In the summer of 2023 Southampton, who had missed out on Enzo Maresca, decided they liked what they saw and offered him a three-year contract. In the opening game of the season the Saints set a league record with 477 successful passes in the first half alone. Even then it took a late winner from Che Adams to beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1.
Once they were in their stride Martin’s side went 25-games unbeaten and as Maresca’s City won the title, the Saints came through the play-offs, beating Leeds at Wembley. It wasn’t all roses and champagne, there were periods in the campaign when supporters’ nerves became frayed.
Back in the Premier League Martin lost 13 of his 16 games and was dismissed, refusing to compromise on his principles. Faith or blind faith? That’s in the eye of the beholder.
Two things are clear from Martin’s career in England. Firstly he can build successful teams capable of challenging for and winning promotions.
Secondly things seem to take time to bed in and stages when not everything goes smoothly, it is during those periods when supporters and directors are expected to hold their nerve.
Will that happen at City? Maybe. Maybe not. Because even as it seemed obvious to most the Foxes were going to be promoted under Maresca, there were still times when his style grated and some fans were restive.
Perhaps more mystifying than the link with Martin is Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha’s contention that Maresca’s team embodied ‘the identity of Leicester’, to me Martin O’Neill and Claudio Ranieri’s overachievers were more what I associate with the ‘identity’. But that might be a generational thing.
Appointing Martin could well pay dividends but just as his football is, it’s a balance between risk and reward.
At Rangers there was no time for that balance, all that mattered was winning.
City might be able to be more patient in League One and against lesser opponents they might have more scope to tolerate the learning process. But in reality that process simply has to culminate in promotion.
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