Russell’s bitterness to Swansea

[LeonWasTheDog's]

He’s not wrong though, is he? He was badly let down when he was here. Last January was a f****** disgrace of a window. The summer before wasn’t much better.

 

[A4Jack]

He’s not wrong though, is he? He was badly let down when he was here. Last January was a f****** disgrace of a window. The summer before wasn’t much better.

Is it any wonder when we were in the middle of that shocking run?

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

Is it any wonder when we were in the middle of that shocking run?

Because of course, the best thing you can do for an already struggling coach is give him absolutely zero support in the next transfer window :roll:

 

[LeonWasTheDog's]

Is it any wonder when we were in the middle of that shocking run?

There is that. If I’d given him money for Fisher and Darling, I’d be reluctant to give him more too :lol:

That window was an utter farce though. Shocking stuff.

 

[Cooperman]

He’s not wrong though, is he? He was badly let down when he was here. Last January was a f****** disgrace of a window. The summer before wasn’t much better.

What? We signed twenty odd players for him. This only stopped because it became obvious that his process was flawed.

 

[LeonWasTheDog's]

What? We signed twenty odd players for him. This only stopped because it became obvious that his process was flawed.

He was obviously referring to January, which however way you look at it was a clusterf***. Not only because we failed to add much needed reinforcements but also because of the hit to moral and resulting hangover in performances.

 

[Swanjaxs]

Some would say Martin shouldn't have still been in our employment last January...

 

[Cooperman]

He was obviously referring to January, which however way you look at it was a clusterf***. Not only because we failed to add much needed reinforcements but also because of the hit to moral and resulting hangover in performances.

I’ll put it another way then. It’s a good job that we didn’t allow Martin to waste any more of our valuable resources.

It clearly still hurts him.

 

[guthrieintherain]

They sell a few as well 137million quids worth this summer.

 

[J_B]

It's a valid view that Martin shouldn't have been given any more money to spend.
I would contend that if the owners' thought so little of him they should have sacked him.

 

[Cooperman]

It's a valid view that Martin shouldn't have been given any more money to spend.
I would contend that if the owners' thought so little of him they should have sacked him.

They didn’t need to pour more good money after bad. Martin was capturing an audience through his personality and charisma, this would inevitably lead to a job offer.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

I'm astounded at the levels of cognitive dissonance that need to be applied for you to believe that our owners decided in the January window that Martin wasn't for them, but then instead of doing what normally happens in those circumstances ie sack the coach in question, oh no, they decided they'd just leave him there, and punish an already struggling squad even further by letting 5 players go and bringing no one else in to help.

If you believe that to be the truth, then I've got nothing to offer you. You must be mentally ill.

As bad as our owners are - and they are bloody awful - they're not that psychotic. Hell, they're not even clever enough to be that psychotic.

It is absolutely mental that anyone could think they deliberately planned a long, slow death for Martin. Tinfoil hat stuff, that.

 

[Neath_Jack]

The owners were going to make that Karlan Grant chap our highest paid player in January, it fell through because of another West Brom transfer, not because the owners didn't want to back him. The owners were about to offer him a contract extension, until Saints came in for him.

And I'm one that wanted Martin gone in that 23 game run, and wasn't bothered whether we offered him a contract extension after the good run at the end of the season, I felt he did deserve another go but wouldn't have lost any sleep had he been sacked. A Grown up if you like.

 

[Cooperman]

I'm astounded at the levels of cognitive dissonance that need to be applied for you to believe that our owners decided in the January window that Martin wasn't for them, but then instead of doing what normally happens in those circumstances ie sack the coach in question, oh no, they decided they'd just leave him there, and punish an already struggling squad even further by letting 5 players go and bringing no one else in to help.

If you believe that to be the truth, then I've got nothing to offer you. You must be mentally ill.

As bad as our owners are - and they are bloody awful - they're not that psychotic. Hell, they're not even clever enough to be that psychotic.

It is absolutely mental that anyone could think they deliberately planned a long, slow death for Martin. Tinfoil hat stuff, that.

I assume this is in response to me.

Bringing mental illness into the argument isn’t a good look.

The five that we lost in January were Finn Stevens (almost certainly recalled as his development was being stunted), Brandon Cooper and Garrick who both went to FGR, Obafemi (who Martin wouldn’t use for whatever reason) and Ogbeta. Hardly a game changer in our quest for promotion.

As for the planning of a slow death, we were neither going up or down. There was no point in throwing more money around at that particular time. Ironically the thing which stopped the season petering out was Martin overcoming his stubbornness in terms of tactical approach.

Bottom line, you’re right in that you’ve got nothing to offer.

 

[cadleigh]

I assume this is in response to me.

Bringing mental illness into the argument isn’t a good look.

The five that we lost in January were Finn Stevens (almost certainly recalled as his development was being stunted), Brandon Cooper and Garrick who both went to FGR, Obafemi (who Martin wouldn’t use for whatever reason) and Ogbeta. Hardly a game changer in our quest for promotion.

As for the planning of a slow death, we were neither going up or down. There was no point in throwing more money around at that particular time. Ironically the thing which stopped the season petering out was Martin overcoming his stubbornness in terms of tactical approach.

Bottom line, you’re right in that you’ve got nothing to offer.

Spot on. The Board made a stupid error (not for the first time) in offering a three year contract to a relative rookie who was (I believe) not even our second choice for the job. By the half way mark it was clear that they had lost faith in him and he was looking for an exit strategy - ideally one that saw him failing upwards. But with 18 months of his contract still to run, a potentially horrible price to pay for putting him on gardening leave, and raw memories of the same thing happening with Cooper (how little they learned from that experience…), turning off the money taps last Christmas was their way of (at best) forcing his resignation or (at worst) at least repeating another Fisher debacle. Sound strategy for getting out of a hole of their own making. Of course, none of us could foresee Martin reacting by ripping up his own playbook, as a result of which his actually fairly decent squad could go on a run which made him marketable again, saving the Board from having to put him on garden leave for the last year of his contract.