Don't think we should get too carried away tbh. Done an excellent job so far and surprised us all but still fairly early days so let's see how it plays out over the next 6-12 months.
Tonda In
- Thread starter Saintmagic
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This for me. Despite the poor start he still has one of the strongest squads in the league that even the fans could see if played in the right system would do well.
Proper Russell Martin vibes of extending him this season
Think he's averaging just under 2 points a game which is roughly what I expected this season and very similar to two seasons ago (though the team was stronger then).
Don't get me wrong I've been impressed so far, especially with the Fulham/Coventry games and the fact he can clearly adapt, but I'm not ready to hail him as some genius just yet.
The big challenge will be how we do next season if we don't go up.
Or if we do go up
He’s clearly done well to turn round the mentality of the squad after the poor start, but that was the thing Martin did well too.
But yeah whatever happens from now til the end of the season he’s probably earnt the chance to be manager for the start of next season at least, unless we end up losing every game now til the end of the season or something
I've been thinking about this and I think SR record hampers him. In a normal club he would be seen as the Messiah, but as we have all been here before, we are more cautious.
The question he’s answered more than any other for me is what he would do if we had a slump - how would he deal with that? Well I think he’s proven he can handle that and he now seems to have the players on side and playing with a real desire. Something that I don’t think Will Still would ever have achieved.
This is his best achievement, everyone is now pulling in the right direction and the team spirit and identity is almost as good as Adkins' team.
He appears to be benefitting from having the experienced Ben Garner beside him. I hope that we go up and I think that we will do better than last time because we won't be playing suicideball for one and I believe we will have more wiggle room financially with incoming transfers now that the squad number has been trimmed.
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I agree that if we do go up, we'd do better than last time with perhaps 3 or 4 quality signings but that is assuming that SR get the signings right which is a long way from being a given.
I'm in 2 minds about being promoted though. Part of this is for selfish reaons in that there will be less Saturday 3:00pm games but mainly because I love the championship tbh and I find the prem boring in the extreme! Not sure I'd renew my ST.
For me there is always something to aim for and the sooner we return to being the South Coast top team the better (although it might take a few years). The other thing is that the odds of winning a cup are much higher with an overall better squad of players.
He's certainly done enough to show appointing him wasn't the disaster of a decision that some thought but he's only had the job a few months so it's a bit early for a contract extension. I'd think about that in the summer. The signs are good though.
…said Russell MartinPragmatism will get you nowhere
There's a reason why Bundesliga teams are keeping tabs on him. I would certainly look to initiate extension talks during the international break. If we keep saying "it's early days" it will reach the last year of his contract and then we're vulnerable to him being poached.
Yeah not to actually piss on anyone's chips but he hasn't actually achieved anything yet. 7th in the table with our budget isn't the world's greatest accomplishment
True, if we totally ignore the handicap that Still's utterly **** management created for him.
Only a dozen or so matches! Yes Still was ****ing awful but let's not forget that dreadful run over Christmas and the fact that he didn't beat the skates. He's doing OK
A dozen isn't an insignificant number though - around a quarter of the season. As for the bad run - he's clearly changed things since then to good effect. He's getting the best out of Downes and THB which managers before him failed to do. I'm not saying he's doing a blinding job but at the very least he's doing a good job. And he is only 33 and in his first manager's job. Considering that, I think he's been excellent.
If a club comes in for him that interests him, he'll likely choose to leave us regardless of whether he has 12 months on his contract or four years. We all know that there's no loyalty in football, and it works both ways.
Yes having less time remaining on his contract would mean we receive less compensation, but we're talking about a manager here rather than a player. The figures involved aren't the same as when a player's contract is nearing the end.
I'm very open to giving him a new contract in the summer if we continue our good form for the rest of the season but ultimately miss out on promotion. But I would be a little uncomfortable about doing it if we did get promoted. It would feel a little like history repeating itself - I wasn't comfortable about giving Martin the new contract, and shock horror he's sacked about six months later.
Yes having less time remaining on his contract would mean we receive less compensation, but we're talking about a manager here rather than a player. The figures involved aren't the same as when a player's contract is nearing the end.
I'm very open to giving him a new contract in the summer if we continue our good form for the rest of the season but ultimately miss out on promotion. But I would be a little uncomfortable about doing it if we did get promoted. It would feel a little like history repeating itself - I wasn't comfortable about giving Martin the new contract, and shock horror he's sacked about six months later.
The way Tonda set us up against Fulham does give me encouragement that he would make a much better fist of things in the PL though.
