Michael Reeves
With Russell Martin’s appointment at Southampton expected to be imminent it is now widely expected that he will take four of his backroom staff with him to St Mary’s as he looks to keep his team together at a third club.
Martin bought four key people with him when he signed on with SA1 and it is expected that all four will remain with him as he makes the move to Southampton as the Saints eye up what they hope will be an immediate return to the Premier League.
Matt Gill, Dean Thornton, Matt Willmott and Ben Parker are all expected to follow Martin out of Swansea when the move is confirmed leaving the Swans with some additional compensation and, in theory, allowing any new manager to select his full backroom staff.
Gill joined initially as the club’s technical development coach but was promoted to the role of assistant head coach in June 2022.ย Gill was recruited to Stadium MK by Martin and followed him to Swansea when he was appointed in August 2021.
Thornton linked up with Martin at MK Dons in November 2019 before joining him at Swansea as goalkeeping coach whilst Willmott joined the Swans as head of physical performance having previously held a similar role at MK.
Finally, first-team performance analyst Ben Parker will be the fourth member of the team to follow Martin and he held a similar role at MK for two years before heading to Swansea.
The compensation package for Martin alone has been pretty clear for a few weeks according to reports but with the backroom staff now supposedly agreed we can move on with what seems to be a clean sweep and, of course, that part is not unusual when it comes to managerial changes.
The departure of the five will leave just Kris O’Leary on the first team staff until the appointment of a new manager.
Donโt think many fans could even tell you what the four of them did
I think the fans,would like to know what actually went wrong with the yanks and Martin.
We should claim compensation off Martin, for the total wasted wages on set piece coach Andy Parslow.
What a complete waste of space!
But shortsighted considering he improved goals from set pieces from last year by 600%, but you do you.
Martin the charlatan. Looking forward to seeing how saints fair next season..
Explain? Charlatan, why say that?
Good luck to them, hopefully it means that we can get ourselves sorted out at last! Please guys invest some money and get in a sensible management team!๐ค
great news their all a shambles.
martin saying for months he wants to stay.
Wont be given such a ludicrous run (3 wins in half a season) at southampton.
no confidence in board apointing right man and dont get me started on
the so called supporters trust (sold out 15% to americans now just 5% left)
Good luck to them? Shove off Mcleo
Wasn’t a Martin fan. Had a plan A and that was it, but what now ? We won’t be losing just a manager but several players too. Doubt piroe will stay either, and why would he. We have a board who are clueless and tighter than a ducks a**e. This coming season looks bleak.
This must be the longest drawn out management move ever with complete silence from every one involved. What a way to treat the supporters
As a Southampton fan what’s this man done ???????????
Really donโt know whatโs going on with the back room , we need investment in the team , as Martin has decided to go ,get on with it , letโs not have the s@me situation we had beforepre season we lost copper because of a lack of investment and ambition, COME ON GET IT SORTED ,with the likes of Leeds Leicester and Southampton, donโt think unless we get investment in the first team itโs another year looking over our shoulder for relegation .
I donโt think Southampton want the man, who in their right mind would?
Where is all this fake news about Russell Martin joining Southamton coming from? There has been no contact from Southampton and Russell will be discussing new contract terms with Swansea city in due course.