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Football365

7 September 2026

Football365

7 September 2026

How does Russell Martin continue to land jobs?

His newest setback is unfolding right now at Leicester City, where he has taken the pre-season bookmakers’ favourites down to 17th place, just one position below Mansfield Town.

At the weekend, Leicester were thrashed 4-0 at home by Oxford United, coming a week after Martin had told supporters who travelled to Milton Keynes to watch a 0-0 draw to calm down.

Leicester are drifting towards a third straight relegation and, according to our colleagues at TEAMtalk, the Leicester board – not exactly famous for making wise decisions – are already weighing up his future.

To show just how poor his recent managerial record has been, Martin has won three league matches since the beginning of the 2024/25 season – one each with THREE different clubs. Which brings us back to the starting point: how does Russell Martin keep getting jobs?

The whole foundation of his managerial standing rests on the 2023/24 season, when he won promotion to the Premier League with Southampton. Credit where it is due, that was an achievement worth marking, but once the wider context is considered, it becomes rather less impressive.

Southampton were not one of the three best teams that season. Champions Leicester finished 10 points clear, while second-placed Ipswich ended nine points ahead. It was only because of Leeds’ dramatic collapse that they finished just three points ahead of Martin’s Saints.

Leeds losing momentum meant winning the play-offs was never likely, so Southampton took advantage by beating West Brom and then Leeds to go up.

But Southampton conceded six more goals than Ipswich and 22 more than Leicester. Martin would tell us to focus on goals scored, but both Ipswich and Leicester scored more as well.

Martin openly describes himself as a disciple of tiki-taka. When he arrived at Southampton, he said his style was to “dominate the ball”. He has previously spoken of admiring the football played by Barcelona, Manchester City and Spain but, Russell, just compare their squads with yours.

You do not need a UEFA Pro Licence to work out that the expansive football he played with a relegated side in the Championship was never going to succeed in the Premier League.

The outcome was entirely predictable; Southampton were hammered. They conceded 36 goals in 16 matches and managed just one win, against Everton, before Russell was sacked.

So why did Rangers believe he was the man to move them forward? Perhaps the Ibrox board had looked at Vincent Kompany, who went down with Burnley and then prospered at Bayern, and thought Martin could follow a similar path, but Martin is a much more one-dimensional manager than Kompany. It is Martin’s way or no way.

Martin lasted only seven matches, drawing five and winning just one with a side that should be beating 10 of the 12 teams in that division. Celtic appointing Wilfried Nancy is the best thing that could have happened for Martin’s reputation.

Maybe it is the way he speaks or the ‘casual Fridays’ clothes he wears on the touchline, but Martin carries a reputation far bigger than anything he has actually earned.

Either Martin will be sacked or Leicester will go down; the real question is whether anyone else will be foolish enough to appoint him.