Phil Sumbler
Alan Nixon likes to create a football story. Many times he is accurate but many times he just adds words to a column to create something that is designed to spark discussion, interest and sometimes even panic in the mind of the reader.
Yesterday could be any of those points being made as he revealed in his column in the Sun that Norwich City could turn their attention to Russell Martin should they lose faith with Dean Smith in their desire to get out of the Championship and back to the Premier League.
Following their relegation last season many fancied the Canaries for that immediate return to the top flight but yesterday’s 2-0 win for the Swans over Cardiff has pushed them, for now, outside of the division’s top six.
That has led to some discomfort both in the stands and possibly even the boardroom as they consider whether Smith – recruited last season after his departure from Aston Villa – is the right man to lead them where they want to be.
Nixon reported that they could well turn to former player Martin should they decide that Smith is not the man although it is also rumoured elsewhere that there would not be any shortage of potential candidates should they decide a change is needed.
Martin will be making people sit up and take notice of the work he is doing in SA1. Yesterday’s win was the Swans sixth in their last seven outings and we now sit in fourth place in the table, just three points off the leaders QPR and Blackburn.
Had it not been for early season madness where we surrendered stoppage time points to Millwall, Stoke and Sheffield United the Swans would be top of the league now and Martin’s stock as high as it could be at this level.
So seeing his name linked would not be a surprise but the question is whether the relatively early stages of his managerial career would interest Norwich or not remains to be seen. In addition whilst it is accepted that Premier League interest may well turn the head of Martin you would have to wonder whether swapping one potential promotion push for another is what he wants at this stage of his career.
Martin is a driven and determined individual who seems set for a long and successful managerial career and we have to accept that whilst he is at Swansea – with our financial challenges – he will draw some interest from clubs elsewhere with Norwich being an obvious one.
Of course the whole article from Nixon is, at the moment at least, completely irrelevant given Dean Smith remains in charge but who knows what tomorrow may bring. And only then will we know what the purpose of the Nixon article was.
Of course we are monitoring him. He’s cheap. Delia only does cheap.
Just the Norwich connection that will crop up time and time again, especially with Russ Martin, he was well liked by the fans and respected and well thought of in the corridors of power. Too early in his journey for me, still cutting his teeth. Cannot see the board or should say Alas Smith & Jones will not want to pay compo, they jumped away from Cooper at Forest, when a free option in smiff became available.