Phil Sumbler
It has been reported that Leicester City will make Russell Martin their managerial target should they find that they are relegated from the Premier League at the end of this season.
The Foxes go into their away game at Fulham tomorrow outside of the relegation zone on goal difference only and have four games to save their Premier League status which they gained back in 2014.
The incredible Premier League title in 2016 and FA Cup win in 2021 currently seem a distant memory and of course earlier this year they parted company with a former Swans manager in Brendan Rodgers.
Dean Smith is the man currently tasked with keeping them in the Premier League but with one point separating four sides between 16th and 19th at present, survival is likely to be dependent on at least four more points from their remaining four fixtures.
Retaining their Premier League status is clearly key for Leicester but it would also be natural that they have a contingency plan should the worst happen and they return to the Championship for next season.
Part of that contingency plan is reported to be Russell Martin with Alan Nixon of the Sun suggesting that the Swans boss will be the number one target should they drop out of the top flight at the end of this month.
Dean Smith’s contract runs just until the end of the season and whilst keeping the Foxes up will give him a good chance of an extension, relegation will surely see the end of his brief tenure at the club and that is when it is suggested that Leicester would turn to Martin.
Martin’s two years at Swansea has seen a top half finish thanks to a strong run of form at the end of the season and his philosophy has attracted interest from elsewhere especially as it is built on a relatively tight budget. Or tight in comparison to one that is likely to sit with a Leicester side in the Championship next season.
It’s difficult to know how much truth there is in this and it is quite likely that if the Foxes stay up we will never know anything more about whether there was any truth in the reports at all.
But for now we should focus firmly on the last game of the season against West Brom tomorrow and keep half an eye on Leicester’s battle to stay in the Premier League. Until we know the result of that battle we have no real idea what is left.
