Roberto’s Lucky Shoes

Roberto’s Lucky Shoes

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Senor Martinez has enjoyed a blistering start since taking the manager’s role at the South Wales club, notching up 24 out of a possible 33 points to catapult the Swans back into playoff contention going into the last game of the season. Yet, whatever the result of tomorrow’s crunch game against Blackpool, the Spaniard has been an instant hit with fans and players like since his return from banishment to Chester by the former boss, Kenny Jackett.

Roberto revealed how the emotional pull of the Swans for him was the main factor in agreeing to take the manager’s position at the football club.

“I never wanted to give up football but once this job was offered to me, I had to come down and accept it. It was too special. I told Huw Jenkins that I would not have accepted the manager’s job anywhere at that time apart from this club”.

Apart from introducing training sessions at night and meals earlier in the afternoon for the players, Roberto said that the most important change since his arrival has been to encourage the players to stand up and be counted.

“Obviously every manager has his own natural way of managing the squad. The biggest change that I have introduced is probably changing the mentality of the players. I don’t want to be acting like a teacher and chasing naughty children around a football pitch to get them to listen to me. My style of management is very much about the players taking responsibility both off and on the pitch for themselves”.

The experienced Spanish midfielder, who was playing full time professional football up until a few weeks ago in League Two, also revealed that he decided to give up the love of his life to be able to take the manager’s role at his new club.

“Being out on the pitch and playing is the best thing that a person can feel but in big games, there is too much going on at the first team level to do both roles. One of the things that I didn’t want to do when I came to Swansea was to be player / manager because it would be too much for me”. But although Roberto will never be seen again playing league football, he said that Swans fans might see him in a black and white shirt on a few occasions next season.

“I would like to register as a player again next season and play in the smaller FAW games to help the younger players along and too encourage their development both off and on the pitch”.

Responding to press speculation that newly installed assistant manager Graeme Jones wasn’t the first choice candidate for the post, Martinez insisted.

“Graeme Jones was my very first choice for the assistant manager’s role at this club. That is mainly because I knew that he was 100% committed to this club. Graeme Jones is a person that I like and trust very much. On the football pitch, we have the same ideas about approaching a game and about how football should be played. Apart from being highly qualified, he covers many angles and I hope that he will be influential in introducing some good ideas for our youth players and youth team”.

It seems that developing and nurturing skilful youngsters in the Swansea setup is a priority for Martinez in the next few years. On the subject of two former Premiership youngsters who are training with the Swans at the moment, he said.

“Jamie Mullins has been training with us for a few days. He has just been released by Manchester United and we wanted to have a look at him and vice versa”.

He was far more enthusiastic about a young Welsh prospect, Matty Collins. “Maddy Collins is completely different. He is a young player that I rate as a welsh talent of the future. He could be available for us to sign in the summer. He’s been training with us for 2 or 3 weeks now and his attitude is perfect for Swansea. He’s been training at the Premiership level for a few years now and it shows in the training sessions that he’s been involved in so far”.

Roberto Martinez has overcome great obstacles in his promotion push since he accepted the Swans manager’s job but the hardest issue to deal with for the Swans boss has been the lengthy injury list.

“We do have a few long term injuries. And we do need to find out the reasons for that. We have a lot of talent in that injury room that should be in the dressing room”.

However, the greatest challenge for Martinez and the players will surely come tomorrow with the arrival at the Liberty Stadium of League One’s most in form team, Blackpool. The Swans boss was keen to keep the focus on the Swans performance on Saturday, despite the club needing a complicated set of results from other teams to sneak into the playoffs on the last day of the season,

“I think that because its such a big occasion, we need to relax but we also need to play the game. If you get the little basics right, we’ll be fine. We need to enjoy the game and enjoy the atmosphere because it will be very special on Saturday. But we also need to focus and concentrate on performing our roles out on the pitch. The players need to show heart and desire out there on Saturday”.

Whatever the result come Saturday evening, Roberto shared his thoughts on how the club could progress from now on.

“We need to improve as a football club on a daily basis across all areas of the club. And that’s not different to the playing staff. I feel that we need too improve the team in a few departments but if you look at the way that we’ve been playing, we don’t need to make many changes”.

On the future of Swansea’s star frontman Darryl Duffy, on loan from Hull City, Martinez talked about the discussions that both clubs are having about the player.

“Darryl Duffy is one player who’s future we have no control over. He’s here on loan from Hull and they have said that they will discuss Duffy’s future at the end of the season. Obviously it’s out of our hands but we would like to keep him. In a way, he’s proved Hull wrong because they keep sending him out on loan and he keeps scoring goals! Behind the scenes, things have changed. If you speak to Darryl, he’s very happy here and given the current form that he’s in, his dream is to become a Swansea City player”.

He shared his thoughts on a couple of possible transfer targets for the Swans in the summer that the local papers have touted recently.

“Seth Johnsen is one player that we will be keeping a close eye on in the summer. He is a very talented player”.

Martinez added that the Swans would be scouring continents this summer to bring in the players that Swansea need. “If we are going to bring players in to improve Swansea City, it doesn’t matter what their age is or where they come from or whatever. There is a huge continental market that we could exploit. It could always bring us a special player. The sums of money that are discussed in the UK are over-inflated and most are too expensive for us as a football club. But every signing that I bring to this club is too improve the team and it doesn’t matter whether I get them from here or abroad”.

Drifting into dreamland for a few minutes, Roberto revealed his favourite player that he would love to bring to Swansea.

“Personally, my ideal player would be Xabi Alonso. He really is a wonderful player. He changes the entire way that the game of football has been thought about for many years”.

On the eve of leading Swansea City into their biggest game in years, Martinez reflected back on the game exactly three years ago against Hull City where Swansea escaped relegation by the narrowest of margins.

“In those circumstances, it is all about heart and desire. Players like Alan Tate and Leon Britton were only sent on loan to gain some experience but that season ended up transforming the rest of their lives. The victory over Rochdale was a massive achievement for everybody. People don’t really appreciate how much it took and what an achievement it was to survive relegation playing the way we did. Usually, when teams are down the bottom of the table, they rely on long balls brought forward and they play very much route one football. Getting out of relegation in the way we did was a great achievement and it was definitely my best experience within football”.

Little did anyone know that the inspirational Spanish captain on that day would be the Swans boss three years later and be on the brink of leading Swansea City into the Championship.