Im just not changing my vote as I want to remember it as a slice of humble pie. I thought he was out of his depth. Turns out I know nothing about football
I never wanted him out immediately although I did waver briefly in September and voted to give him until the next break simply because those 4 games were so shockingly bad.
Unpopular call but he goes end of the season. Can't be doing with another season of crab football* *before the usual suspects start, no I haven't any idea who to replace him, I just know he's not for me
As long as we don't drop out of the play-off spots he will be here next season, but in the reasonably likely event we don't go up I'm not sure how long he will last with the much degraded squad that will follow which will be more in line with the Swansea side he left or worse, he will have far less to work with for sure and will be expected to deliver more with it. I don't think the fan base will have any patience with a degraded squad next season, they will expect promotion regardless and will be right on the backs of everyone (Russell Martin, Players, Sports Republic) for anything less than perfection even if our squad is ****, could become pretty rotten around here very quickly. Given who we are due to lose this summer should we stay in the Champ, I am honestly more concerned we will be fighting at the wrong end next year, but that's just my inbuilt Saints pessimism.
I don’t think he’s brilliant, but it does show how much dross it was last year managing us too, in that he’s a significant upgrade.
Basically all of the worries at the start of this thread are still there. Yet for a period in the middle of the season we looked first class. Confusing.
Before I commented I decided to think where RM started. A dressing room in disarray, morale thru the floor, players wanting to leave, players leaving who wanted to stay, no settled squad let alone a starting 11. He fixed it all to be fair. the football was negative, leaking goals and nothing but sideways and backwards passing. He has made a good fist of transforming this. This season compared to last has been night and day. I don’t know to be honest with the football, it feels like we are saving ourselves for extra time in a 90 minute game for much of it. I don’t think he deserves this thread tho. It’s an insult in my opinion given what he has done. Reflects badly on the fans.
Everything seems a bit gloomy right now because of the natural disappointment of missing the top 2 and the most recent results are freshest in the mind. The bigger picture is that we have scored 87 goals in all comps only failing to score in a game 3 times all season (today was the first time in the league for 32 games!) but we really need to get back to keeping regular clean sheets again and that means keeping KWP at RB with THB and Janny B in the middle (if Jack has to play it should be at LB). plus playing Charles at DM if Flynn is missing. Russell has made mistakes for sure but the positives outweigh the negatives right now and I still think he is a very good man manager and the team spirit is still ok. I think we have a great chance in the play-offs if we stick to the defence above as we will score goals.
Wilcox leaving might force the hands of the owners. RM is his man, his choice as manager and if we fail to get promotion then the owners may blame the style of play and bring in a DoF who will oversee change. And, if we do go up, without a major upgrade in players I can’t see this style of football keeping us in the Premier League for more than one season.
His goal has always been promotion. Most of us don’t think that’s likely via playoffs, but it’s possible. If he achieves it then he has met expectations, by the skin of his teeth, and should stay. He’s done some great things at the club given our position after last season, though I have grave doubts about how his team would do in the PL. I would expect him to be gone before Xmas with us languishing in the drop zone.
My opinion of RM has not changed since very early in the season. Whilst I give him great credit for reuniting the dressing room and implementing a new system of play that the team has clearly bought into, I cannot bear the thought of watching this style of play for another season. Possession is great, but not when 80% of it is in and around your own penalty box, I would guess more than 50% of our passing is backward and the thought of us somehow gaining promotion this season fills me with dread for what would be waiting for us next season.
This thread is , I suspect, going to go the same way as the Ralph Out thread. Plenty of people displaying confirmation bias, ie those who want him out will find evidence (or state opinions as facts!) to support this, those who like him will similarly find enough evidence to support that. Very few will budge. My personal view is he’s done okay without excelling. Off field I was impressed how he turned the morale and togetherness of the squad around and, for a while at least, got the fans feeling a connection to the team again. Om-field he’s a little one-dimensional and he’s trying to do it with a squad that wasn’t originally created to play that way. You’d think over a few transfer windows that should improve, but we know that while stylistically he might bring in more suitable players, in pure quality terms this likely goes down if we stay down. I think it is also worth noting with 7 games to go he is 13 points off where Nigel Adkins’ team finished at in 2012. Ultimately I’ve said all along my target for the season was 90 points. In all likelihood this won’t now be enough , but if you hit 90 and don’t go up that’s bad luck on being up against superior opponents(in my opinion) rather than underachieving. So if we get to 90 I’m happy for him to stay regardless of final promotion or not. If we go up through the playoffs he’ll stay anyway. And if we don’t go up (and don’t hit 90), I’m open to us looking elsewhere but don’t see it as essential. (I suspect the nature of our situation defeat would be critical here as to fan reaction…. Limp and lifeless = OUT, valiant but unlucky = Stay) In some ways I’d be more worried about him staying if we do go up…..
IF we go up … we have to do a Hughsies”. Will be as bad as Ralph & possibly worse but I would get it. Shame.
I’m not a Martin out at the moment. I’ve enjoyed a lot of the football played this season but in all honesty we are just about where you’d expect this squad to be. However I do think most managers would get us at least into 4th. Would Marsch, Cooper etc have done any better? Possibly. I think if the end of the season turns into a damp squib, which the signs are saying it may well do, then I think we could do better than Martin for next season. We will still be one of the favourites for promotion next season which would be tempting for a manager like Steve Cooper, if there’s a project in place. Other out of work ambitions to get to premier league managers may well be available as well? Until then I’d say knowing how Sports Republic have been so far, Martin has a 9, hopefully a 10 game audition. Personally I think it will be Wembley or bust.
