SwansFan

He was like that with us. That bit about people looking at the score line and taking what they want from it, he said a similar thing when we'd won 3 times in 21 games last season. When he was asked about it, he referred to it as a 'lazy narrative'.

Yeah he did that a lot last season with us. Saying we were on top of a game when we were 2-0 down, saying we competed with a good team despite [enter excuse - injuries/tiredness/poor transfer window/young team/early in the process], dismissing goals conceded as being irrelevant because it was 'from a corner', 'a stupid mistake', 'on the break' etc. Absolute madman and chancer.

It's like watching us last season. How many goals have you conceded playing out of the back?

Not sure how you arrive at that conclusion when nobody seemingly knows exactly what the clause is. If it depends when the approach was made and it was made before last Sunday when you were still playing PL games then of course we should hold out for the full amount. If there are any grey areas or if everyone has to wait for weeks on end then presumably the clubs will find some sort of middle ground to allow everyone to move on quickly.

Grimes took most of our corners and free kicks for a couple of seasons and barely registered a goal or assist from them.

This is apparently what Swansea's ownership is like, which is why they missed out on players in the January window and came to a disagreement over any extension for Martin. Partly true I think although the club have always been this way. Even under previous ownership when Martinez went to Wigan we dug our heels in over compensation for the backroom staff to the point where Wigan had to cancel the press conference to unveil him just before it was due to start. From memory, I even think it was being shown on SSN. I am not sure we were ever really going to extend Martin's contract. Remember that he finished 15th in 21/22 and until the last 9 games of 22/23 we were looking over our shoulder at relegation, albeit it would have been unlikely. January was a farce although some rumours suggest that we had decided at that point that Martin wouldn't be here beyond the summer and so didn't want to give him any money which given the fact that he spent £1.6m on a GK and CB from MK Dons both of whom have basically been back ups, isn't that surprising. But in a nutshell, I think we are a nightmare club to deal with. If you read back to his appointment at Swansea, he did request that Swansea signed the Flynn Downes bloke - which they did, and Swansea subsequently made a tidy profit on that one only a year later. There were a couple he wanted apparently. One other was Ethan Laird from Manchester United who he had on loan at MK Dons. We did get him on loan but United recalled him in the January and sent him to Bournemouth where he barely played. Would love Matt Grimes. He's just what we need in midfield - aggressive, takes players on, great in the tackle and has a superb range of passing. Personally, that isn't how I would describe Grimes. He doesn't have the aggression or tackling ability. His range of passing is fairly limited (sideways, backwards and short, although he does occasionally go a bit longer... but rarely) and he doesn't really take players on. He is, however, one of those players who keeps it ticking over nicely, is always available to receive the ball, give off a short pass, etc. He splits our fans quite a lot. What I would say is that Potter raved about him yet didn't take him to Brighton. Cooper raved about him but didn't take him to Forest. Fulham were interested 2 years ago when he had 1 year left on his contract but apparently wouldn't pay £4m for him. It's all pretty conflicting. Manning is also almost a given: out of contact, knows the manager, most chances created, we need a LB Manning is a strange one really. He played wide left CB in a 3 in 2021/22 and did quite well there although did get sent off a couple of times. He didn't look as good at LB/LWB. This season he has really excelled there and was probably our best player. Defensively he isn't the best and Martin utilised him in an attacking role towards the end of the season. He likes getting forward and he has a good end product. Apparently he turned down a decent contract with us because he wants even more cash so he probably doesn't have a lot of options - probably the relegated clubs plus a few others and possibly the newly promoted PL teams... so I would say you have an excellent chance of getting him. Martin is a huge fan

He pretty much went straight into the side when he was signed (it may have taken a few weeks). He was eventually dropped for our other keeper (Steven Benda) and Fisher only came back into the side due to a season ending injury to Benda in January. Martin was pretty desperate to get another keeper in that window and kept talking about this failure even after we signed a back up on a free which suggests to me he doesn't have a lot of faith in him. In short, I'd be surprised if he signed him for Southampton, unless he was going as a back up.

Expect a lot of talk about 'process'. About how he came in at a time of change and he has had to instil something different in the players which takes time, etc. If you lose a lot of players and sign a lot of players, it'll play right into his hands. For instance, he came in just before our first game of the 2021/22 season and in February he was still bleating on about the lack of pre-season making a huge difference. He wasn't as unbacked as he has led people to believe. He spent £400k on the keeper he wanted, over £1m on Harry Darling (both from MK) and whilst most fans would agree we could have done with an extra couple of players in January, he has had more money than most teams at our level. He certainly hasn't had to come in and play kids from the youth team. Yes our squad is young but it is fairly experienced too as a lot of our younger players have been in the team for a while. Cabango is 23 but has 6 Welsh caps and 130 odd first team appearances for us at Championship level. I think it's a bit disingenuous to use his age as an excuse at this point. Obviously 20 year old Nathan Wood in his first proper season, fair enough. Joe Allen's record speaks for itself, Matt Grimes, Jay Fulton, Kyle Naughton and Ryan Manning have over 1,000 senior appearances between them, Olivier Ntcham played 80odd times for Celtic, including in Europe and went to last year's World Cup... so whilst it is a young side, he has had some decent players with plenty of experience.

Thornton is an interesting character. Engages with fans a bit on Twitter. Doesn't like it when the keeper is criticised. As soon as they keep a clean sheet (irrespective of whether the keeper actually makes any decent saves), he'll be tweeting those who have been critical in quite a smug manner as if it somehow one clean sheet makes up for the 3 times in the previous month he's chucked the ball into his own net.

I suppose I am slightly biased in as much as I really don't like the bloke. I find him like a smug, used car salesman.

Piroe is brilliant. Probably the most composed and best finisher I've ever seen at the club. Apart from possibly Michu. Someone earlier in the thread brought up his 2021/22 stats where he scored twice as many as his xG. Take a look at the video of him for that season if there is one available because so many of his goals were fantastic. He didn't start this season off that well and for the first time did start missing some good chances but he put that behind him. He is one of those players who when he gets a sight of goal you expect him to score. In a team that actually creates chances, he would be deadly.

I would echo all the thoughts of Wyn. It is definitely very often possession for the sake of it with very little being created. There were games when we'd have around 70% possession and a handful of shots on target. I think we played Stoke at home and had 3 shots on target in the second half (we were losing at half time) with 73% possession. Russ would come out after that and say that we outplayed them. His time with us has been characterised by good runs of form and bad runs of form. It seems like once we've got going, we've looked excellent but then we've had a poor result and gone on a bad run and gone back to old ways. I think last season we were pretty much top of the form table, then bottom and then top again. We were looking really good up until a couple of games before the World Cup, then went on a run where we won 3 times in around 20 league games but then finished off with 7 wins and 2 draws from our last 9. There was no real reason for any of this - no injuries to key players coinciding with bad runs of form, etc. He is also very very stubborn both in terms of moving away from a formation and having his favourite/non favourite players. One player he may well go after who is out of contract is Joel Latibaudiere. He is a bang average championship squad player imo but Martin absolutely adores him for his attitude, etc. If he's starting more than a dozen games for you though, you'll probably be in trouble. He is one of Martin's disciples. As is Grimes. The club is full of bullshit slogans, etc. which he trots out on a regular basis. Courage and Bravery was a favourite of his, despite us being bottom of the league for blocked shots, blocked crosses, etc. You would rarely see players put their body on the line so presumably he was referring to the suicidal passing around the back that he insisted on, despite the fact we must have conceded half a dozen goals at least from it last season. It's always stuff like them being True to Themselves, Playing their Own Game.. blah blag. Management speak central. He is also very, very good at the PR game. I've never seen so many dressing room/behind the scenes videos since he came in. It's as if he is also in charge of what goes out on twitter. All playing into a narrative. Wyn mentioned the crap keeper, Andy Fisher (who he signed from MK Dons) - he probably made a major gaff every other game and as soon as he kept a clean sheet Twitter was full of compilation videos of his (very routine) saves from the game. The propaganda from the club has been extraordinary at times. We posted a video before the first home game of last season against Blackburn with Russ talking about us keeping the ball in that match and running them ragged. "At some point, guess what? They're not gonna be able to run anymore" We lost 3-0. And we lost up there later in the season to an injury time winner. He messed up his substitution windows against Birmingham this season and we played the last 20 mins with 10 men (at 2-1 up). I don't think he knew the rules. We fell apart and lost 3-2. He has also had a good relationship with the local press. I am guessing he uses his charm to cuddle up to them. Whilst we were on that run of 3 wins in 20odd games, he was getting questions about when he was signing a new contract. Anyone else would be getting questioned on his future. The one time someone did aim a slightly critical observation, the mask slipped a bit and he was quite nasty. It seems like he has an ideology of how football should be played and if you don't agree with that, you're wrong. He seems to look down his nose at goals we've conceded from a corner or a long ball, etc. Almost like it somehow doesn't count. He is very much your modern manager - loves stats, big on players mental health, big on the players enjoying it being the most important thing. At one point he said during a press conference "I am trying my best but that's not enough for some people" - well, it's a results business, Russell! He is big on it being a "process" yet doesn't define what that process is. Given how much he has chopped and changed here at times makes me think it's just a way to buy him more time. Interestingly, the fanbase seems to be (generally) split between the older and the younger fans in terms of Martin's popularity. The 20 somethings think he's some sort of god. If you're old enough to have enjoyed Martinez or Rodgers you think differently. He could do well for you purely on the basis that you're probably going to have a great squad. Alternatively, he could be gone by Christmas. The fact that he has been given a shot at a job like this staggers me quite frankly given his record. I am personally glad to see the back of the insufferable prick. My only concern is who we'll get in to replace him.