A good chance he'll be taking Smallbone on as well I would guess.
The continuing brave, fun adventures of Russell Martin
- Thread starter Osvaldorama
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I think Smallbone would have interest from Championship teams.
He'll probably do alright there - he can get a club out of L1 and do well in the championship with the right players but he's no good in the PL yet.
That won't fit with his own perception of how good he is though and that's the crux of it all for me - he thinks he's a lot better than he actually is and he's stubborn enough to be blind to it too.
Maybe dropping back to L1 and working back up will change that and there is a quality manager in there but as with players - once they are gone they are gone and should never come back.
That won't fit with his own perception of how good he is though and that's the crux of it all for me - he thinks he's a lot better than he actually is and he's stubborn enough to be blind to it too.
Maybe dropping back to L1 and working back up will change that and there is a quality manager in there but as with players - once they are gone they are gone and should never come back.
It was because Martin knowingly walked us straight back to the championship and refused to alter a single thing in order to help the club.
Probably depends which Champ team. Can still see Leicester being more appealing than about half the Champ despite being in L1, as long as they can pay reasonably well which could be the issue
He did what he thought was best to keep us up, he was just terribly wrong.
The idea that he priotiised our playing style despite knowing it would fail, just to make himself look good, is just wrong. He has played that way his whole career, its one of the reasons we hired him.
He isn't a bad bloke. He is just way too stubborn and unwilling to look inward and realise he doesnt know everything.
Completely disagree, he knew we didn’t stand a chance from fairly early on. He was too proud and stubborn to admit his style would not work.
He doesn’t like tories though so that’s one positive for him.
There is no way he knew what to do to improve things, but refused to do so and accepted getting sacked to prove a point.
Why would he do that? Look what it has done to his career, he is now in league 1.
Definitely agree he is too stubborn. But he genuinely thought what he was doing was right, which is why he will keep making the same mistakes, like he did at Rangers.
He wanted to showcase his football. He failed miserably in the PL and got the rangers job. It’s worked for several managers (kompany springs to mind).
He could have easily made us more competitive and less tippy tappy, we may still have got relegated but we would have ground out the odd win.
Second worst PL team in history, I just can’t forgive that.
Kompany is the only example i can think of where a manager has been relegated and then got a better job.
Martin was becoming a laughing stock, there is no a chance he refused to make us more competitive because he somehow thought it would further his career - because everyone knows full well results are the only thing that do that.
Im not saying to forgive him his role in us being the 2nd worst PL side ever, but it wasn't some weird intentional act like people are making out. Why is it so hard to believe that he is just crap?
Yes, his stubborness was his biggest fault by far and anyone can come across as a twat in the pressure of post match pressers/interviews after constantly losing.
To his credit though, he never threw the players under the bus and usually took the blame.
He was popular with the players and his man management was his best trait but perhaps he was a little guilty of blurring the manager/player relationship by being too matey with them.
To his credit though, he never threw the players under the bus and usually took the blame.
He was popular with the players and his man management was his best trait but perhaps he was a little guilty of blurring the manager/player relationship by being too matey with them.
Because he's an arrogant berk. Now he's had the chastening experience at Rangers he may have lost some of that arrogance but I doubt it. But even though he failed badly with Saints in the PL, his style still got him the Rangers job. He could easily had amended his tactics if he wanted to. He didn't because he wanted to be the next Guardiola. His career aspirations came way before the best interests of the club. ****.
Don't agree he took the blame. He was very clever at making it sound like he was taking the blame without actually.
Fraud of manager and **** of a man.
He was very popular with the players though.
I find it funny how fans can take things so personally with players and managers, I wouldn't call anyone associated with Saints a **** except maybe for Redknapp. They are only employees after all.
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Probably because he didn't work them too hard and gave them loads of time off.
I don't think anyone believes Martin deliberately sabotaged us. People don't like him because he was capable of adapting and getting the team to play differently (he did it in the play offs) and refused to. Then you have the stuff like blaming players for not being brave enough and doing interviews after he was sacked where he claimed the problem was that he changed his approach too much.
Just seen your edit, is there not an argument that he himself made it personal when he blamed the fans that time?
I don't really consider it properly personal anyway. If I saw him I wouldn't engage him in any way.
