Rob Davies
Swansea City have begun talks over a new contract for Russell Martin with his current deal running out in the summer of 2024.
Martin has enjoyed the best form of his managerial career in the past 10 games or so with the club on top of the form table and climbing from the lower echelons of the Championship to 4th place.
And the excitement is building ahead of the final run in before the World Cup kicks off with the promotion places pretty much wide open, even moreso after QPR’s loss at Birmingham City last night.
So for now it’s certainly a case of look forward to seeing what Martin and the team can deliver – can the Swans be involved in the promotion shake up come the business end of the campaign? Time will tell.
But it’s important to remember that not more than six weeks ago Swansea were 21st in the division and there was serious discontent after a below par start following on from a lower mid table finish last season.
Martin has undoubtedly had to deal with his share of issues since arriving in Swansea but he has been allowed to recruit a number of players to build his own squad of players.
But his record at the club would on average deliver just a slight over 65 points per season.
His stats in the league show 24 wins, 16 draws and 22 losses from his 62 games in charge. A win percentage of 38.7% – not bad in comparison to some of the recent managers at the club.
The question is can he sustain the club’s good form?
For me, the jury is out. Throughout his time we have generally seen good form followed by bad – if you remember we were dreaming of play offs after a good run in March/April last season but fell away badly, failing to win in the last six.
Everyone hopes that the more pragmatic style that Martin has introduced is the way forward as it’s clearly delivering results and the players look to be enjoying it too.
But despite the talk of interest from Norwich City, we should be careful as to agreeing a new deal for now. Football changes quickly and there was little suggestion of such a move six weeks ago – indeed the view from the fans’ forum was that the club weren’t really interested in offering Martin a new deal.
That was then and this is now. But let’s just wait and see where we are come the World Cup break and whether we can sustain this great form before tying a manager down for four or five years?
And this absolutely isn’t me saying I don’t rate Russell Martin – his recent form and some of his signings have been excellent but I would rather the club take time over the decision rather than act on a whim and perhaps regret further down the road.
What do you think? Should we agree a new deal with Martin now or wait and see with 20 months remaining on his current contract?
This is what he had to say on the matter yesterday:
“We’re really happy here and I hope we’re here for a long time, and I mean that.
“The club have spoken about potentially extending our stay and all that stuff so we’ll see how that goes. We’re more than open to that. We would like that.
“That’s up to the club to decide whether we’re doing a good enough job for that. It’s been 15 months of really hard work.
“I hope everyone can see we’re on the right path, hopefully early on in the journey together, but how well we do on the pitch will impact how long we’re here.”
I’d try to extend his contract now. Yes our form might dip and we miss out on the play offs again. But he is certainly improving our younger players and overachieving considering the budget he has to work in. And I for one think we have an excellent chance of promotion this year. And one more consideration, if we tie him up for a longer period we should be able to demand a bigger compensation package if he’s poached – Swansea have a History of not just moving on talented players but talented managers as well;!
I’m with you. See how it goes. Personally I think he flatters to deceive. He’s brought in his own players for the defence, but sometimes it looks like schoolboy defending. He doesn’t inspire me with his set ups defensively. I’ve never known us to take so many hammerings. Something’s wrong somewhere.
It’s Jekyll and Hyde mate. Things are definitely looking up but just got to wait and see!