Martinez – I’m Happy To See The Swans Do Well

Roberto Martinez says he is happy to see the Swans doing well in the Premier League

Martinez left the Swans almost three years ago and tomorrow welcomes them to the DW Stadium for the first time as a Premier League club knowing that defeat for his side will see the Swans extend the gap between the two clubs.

But he also admits that he is happy to see their progress since he left and told the Evening Post “I don’t take any credit for the way those (Swansea) players have turned out — that would be very foolish

“But it does make me very happy to see so many of them doing well in the Premier League.

“I said when we got promoted from League One that many of the players were capable of playing in the top flight.

“Not too many people took me seriously at the time, but ten of them are currently playing in the Premier League with Swansea, while two (Jordi Gomez and Dorus de Vries) are there at other clubs.

“That has helped Swansea to develop a very strong core who know what the club wants and what the philosophy is, and they have a real footballing arrogance in the way they go about their business.

“I have never felt it right or normal or fair for me to keep in touch with any of the players at Swansea City,” Martinez added. “If I was out of work, maybe it would be a different story.

“I developed a very strong bond with some of the characters there — from when we were fighting for our lives, trying to stay in the Football League, to winning promotion, moving to the new stadium and changing the way of playing.

“That wasn’t an easy thing to do — now it looks a smooth and easy transition but it was tough to try to change the British mentality of playing with a target man, with two strikers.

“There were moments when we had to be very strong — and experiences like that develop strong feelings between a manager and his players.”