Swansea City manager Russell Martin spoke with BBC’s football focus which was broadcast on the weekend, and gave farther insight into his journey in management to date. It was quite revealing.

First off Martin was keen to say how much of a welcome his family and team have had in the last ten weeks or so. “The club staff have been incredible in their support for us, their acceptance of us, because we are a little bit different sometimes. What we are asking the guys to do on the pitch can be deemed little bit extreme, but I feel we are getting to where we want to get to culturally and in terms of performance as well. I believe we made the right choice, MK are in great position, they are doing brilliantly which is fantastic for us because we love those guys. Hopefully we can make this a success as well.”

It’s true, Russell Martin, his coaching staff and families have all enjoyed been one hundred percent accepted in to the Swansea area, and have been welcomed with open arms. They have felt that warmth and the welcome has clearly put the minds of all of the new swans staff at ease. What fans need to understand is that when a manager and their families are settled, they are happier and things go more positively. That may be lost on some. But transfer that in to your own life, think about it. It isn’t surprising that certain clubs and fans lose so many managers for unsuccessful reasons - when after three losses they are shouting for them to be sacked.

It’s hardly inspiring for any one trying to do a positive job.

That could happen here, it could happen anywhere, but especially here. Take a view of fan behaviour and their ridiculous expectations at times, even at Swansea if you are not too sure. Surprisingly for some Brendan Rodgers and Graeme Potter have been invaluable to Russell Martin, in fact a serious catalyst that endorses his current football mindset. Martin explained. "We really believe in a certain way of how we want the team to look. The vision of the team is to dominate the football and try to play a style of football that will improve players, and give players a real purpose as to why we do it. Brendan Rodgers has been great, he’s been in contact with me during this to say ‘I’m here if you need anything’ which is amazing. Graham Potter the same, because they’ve been here, they understand it. I share similar values on football to them, they are doing it much better than me and at a much higher level but you hope to emulate that one day. Having their shoulder to lean on and their ear for a bit of advice has been incredible.”

Swansea City fans should feel a warm glow that Brendan Rodgers still feels a great affection for the swans and continues to want the very best for his old club, in fact the club that made him. Alan Tate spent time with him as well just before his departure to Nottingham Forest.

Russell’s colitis journey
We all know to some extent of Russell Martin’s food choices and his desire for a healthier life for himself and all those he comes in to contact with. He has business interests well away from football that reflect that. But why he has such interests has never been answered that fully. Especially recently. ” I was struggling with colitis. I was playing every week in the Premier League but feeling terrible. Being on the toilet 20, 30 times a day, I’ve got no shame in saying that at all, I’m an ambassador for Crohn’s & Colitis UK and I speak to a lot of people who struggle with it. “I just look into everything and that was the last frontier really, the diet, to try to see if that had an impact and it had a huge impact on me. “From that you start look at the other benefits of it, one of them is sustainability. It’s about helping the environment. “At Swansea they do it already. There’s mixed recycling, lots of stuff like that. I was on about it all the time at my previous club, making sure we actually did the recycling. "I got a text from Bradley Johnson recently because he read an interview I’d done. I used to pester him all the time about turning the tap off when he was brushing his teeth at the training ground. He said ‘Oh my god, that was me’. We can all make a difference, I’m not perfect at it, but I’m really conscious of it. I need to get better, I think most people do."

Everyone who comes in to contact with Russell Martin, be that journalists, lovers of the game or enthusiasts of his forward thinking football style all come away with the same thing. We are dealing with an exceptional person with qualities that few managers possess, especially as they have grown older and too used to dipping in to a clubs coffers to save their own skin. Martin is of a different generation, and a completely different culture. And even the most impatient and demanding swans fan can see that now.

Surely ?

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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