Remember those words ‘ It would take something very special to take us away from here ‘ Those words were used by Russell Martin when he was asked about the possibility of leaving Swansea City recently. Bizarrely that was reported as him saying he isn’t leaving Swansea. But of course we all know he would, because he said so. It’s in black and white.
The latest connections to the swans manager were put on social media by Alan Nixon of The Sun and we reported that initially on our forums. Then sitting back and reviewing this latest information you have to delve a little deeper.
Alan Nixon and now several other sources ( copying Nixon ) are reporting Norwich City’s interest in Russell Martin ‘should’ they sack Dean Smith. Poor form by Nixon indeed, however that type of journalism has been around for years. To come to that conclusion Nixon we believe has either had a conversation with the hierarchy at Norwich ( definitely not ) or he believes that Dean Smith is about to be sacked and has muddled his way through to this conclusion regards Martin.
If any of this story does have a semblance of truth then it would cost Norwich City as we have said before quite a few million to secure their ex player and his staff. That type of money wouldn’t frighten Norwich but the appointment should do. Martin has needed a lot of time to implement his football mindset at Swansea, much to the annoyance of some fans. The immediacy of todays success on demand culture would see Martin sacked at Norwich if results were not reflective of promotion. There is no way the canaries would go through a season rebuild and knowingly employ someone who would need a year of training and development to even look like success could happen.
And that wouldn’t help Martin’s stock at all.
Dean Smith on leaving Aston Villa was in a job within a week at Norwich City, and he knows how open he is to the sack at Carrow Road. Last weekend he said. "You have to want to do it because it is an industry where you are going to have so many ups and downs,” he said. "The wins are great and it is a good feeling when you go home. But the losses are so much harder. We lost last weekend and I did thirty thousand steps on Sunday. I have sat on a panel talking to up and coming young coaches and I remember one of the talks was about that first ever job interview, and what would you be saying. There was some talking about having a 10-point plan and I said, ‘Say what you have to, to get the job’. Learn about the people who are going to interview you, find out about them, and then your job is to survive. If you can survive six months, nine months, then you can start to build. If you go in with an idea this is my five year plan, you are lucky to get to nine months sometimes. "I think I am the seventh longest serving in the Championship now, and I have not even been here a year. You look at the successful managers in the English leagues and they are usually the ones with that longevity, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, David Moyes. Big names, big managers but they had longevity within their jobs.”
If a club employs a manager then surely as Swansea have done some vision and trust in the managers ability needs to be evident. Cardiff City are about to appoint their third manager of the season if Mark Hudson leaves as expected. That’s utter madness after twenty games of football. And that’s the warning above all warnings for Russell Martin. He is building something at Swansea City and the work isn’t completed. You surely wouldn’t walk away from building your dream house half way through ? Of course you wouldn’t because all that work would have been pointless, which surely now is what Russell Martin is thinking after so much work has been done ?
What do you think ?