The week that Southampton will finally get their man

It was almost a month ago that interest in Russell Martin was first reported and pretty much the same period of time that it has been said that he is making his managerial move to Southampton.   Since then discussions/stories about agreed compensation, non agreed compensation, player targets and Premier League status has dominated the headlines but hopefully this week all that will come to an end and Martin will make his move to Southampton official.

Whether the i’s haven been dotted and the t’s crossed can still be a point for debate if that is the way we want it to be but by Thursday Martin is expected (again) to be confirmed as Southampton manager on the three year contract that was confirmed in the press as agreed three weeks ago.

Matt Gill, Ben Parker, Dean Thornton and Matt Willmott will all move with Martin to the South Coast when the move is finalised and that will leave a clean slate for the new manager coming in to bring in his own selection of backroom staff.

Whether we will ever understand the full reasons for the delay in Martin making the move to Saints is probably unlikely and the same will be said for the actual amount of compensation the Swans will receive for their manager at the end of what feels one of the longest sagas we have ever seen on the change of a manager.

What is important though that it does come to a close and we can finally move on with the next stage of the Swansea City journey.   We will have learned plenty from two years of Russell Martin but by the end of the week that should be in the past and the future will be unwritten.

Let’s just hope that this week is the week that the saga closes off and we can move on ourselves with the appointment of the new manager and get on with the plans and preparations for next season – a season that is just eight weeks away from starting!