Swansea City boss Russell Martin has been in the job at SA1 for a whole year and just loves being the top man at the club. As he blows the candles out on his first year at Swansea City let’s have a look back at some of his milestones.

Speaking this weekend Martin seems confident in what he has achieved so far and what is just around the corner. "It's up to us to make sure we are sitting here next year talking about two years in the job," Martin said. You never know what's going to happen in football, but are we happy here? Yes. Would we be happy to be here for a long time? Yes, one hundred percent”

Some Swansea followers will say the first ever double win in one season for either Swansea or Cardiff was the most memorable achievement. A 7-0 two game thrashing for Cardiff, and an absolute battering in their own back yard most certainly kept any detractors onside as the swans struggled to keep in the top ten in the championship.

Following that first home win against Cardiff last season the swans turned on the style in a second half against West Bromwich Albion that confirmed that Russell Martin’s way can work. In a 2-1 win the swans looked electric. Martin commented."Brave, such a strong mentality, they stuck to the plan and played with real intensity in the second half especially against a team who are really well organised, aggressive and hard to play against - which is why they are so high in the league. I think we deserved the win. I loved the courage the guys played with tonight. I think they're getting stronger and stronger physically, their connection with each other, with what we are trying to bring on the pitch in terms of the identity of the team”

Despite that win and the momentum gained from some very decent performances Martin was also plagued with attitudes from certain players which clearly didn’t help his desire for a ‘group mentality’ to be built over the season. However he persisted and despite losing the services of coach Luke Williams part way through the season Martin and Matt Gill have worked tirelessly for the swans cause.They now have their back room staff in place throughout the club, much of which has been supported by the swans hierarchy.

Another milestone was actually losing a player when Flynn Downes left Swansea City for West Ham. The numbers of that transfer certainly giving kudos to Russell Martin and his team for insisting Flynn came with them as a part of them joining Swansea. With compensation paid to MK Dons the swans immediately set out to capture Flynn. He excelled and revelled in his role within Swansea City’s midfield. Capturing the eye of many suitors he eventually made an incredible profit for the club when he moved to the premier league.

A seriously decent bit of business.

When the swans found their goalscoring feet with Joel Piroe and Michael Obafemi becoming a feared part of the team the defence started to shake, especially when leads against Bournemouth and Reading were thrown away. Identifying players to combat this issue we now see the highly rated Harry Darling at Swansea. In his first game on the weekend he immediately displayed his all round game scoring a belter to get the swans an away point. Nathan Wood joined as well from Middlesbrough and things, albeit early days look tighter at the back.

Obviously there are many more pointers to the good work that has been done, and of course many issues highlighted during Russell Martin’s first year in charge. We are almost certainly guaranteed to see more players leaving before the end of this month, and indications are more will arrive. Martin has overseen part of his desire for Swansea City to once again climb the league and be at the forefront of the battle to return to the premier league. It is taking time but every time there is an issue he addresses it. He doesn’t sit back and relax at any given turn, this gives Swansea City fans a lot of hope as this season progresses. There will be ups and downs that’s guaranteed, but progress is key and performances will improve.

And that’s the whole deal with Russell Martin, never sit back and be happy with what you have.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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