Why Russell Martin’s appointment is the ultimate gamble for Leicester City

Although League One has become something of a graveyard for big clubs in recent years, there will be an especially notable scalp for clubs to aim to beat in England’s third tier next season: Leicester City.

Leicester suffered their second straight relegation – and their third in the last four years – from the Championship last season, the culmination of an embarrassing downfall just ten years on from their miraculous Premier League title win, and a mere five years from their maiden FA Cup triumph. Their descent has been both miraculous and fully deserved –  the consequence of years of mismanagement, entitlement, and a general ignorance of the financial rules and realities of the game. The chickens have come home to roost, and the Foxes now face the daunting reality of at least one season in the third tier while carrying one of the most expensive training facilities in the country, a wage bill that will comfortably be the highest in the division’s history, and a squad packed with players who no longer want to be at the club but may prove extremely difficult to move on because of their extortionate salaries. To put it mildly, promotion is really, really important to Leicester this season.

Since the sacking of Brendan Rodgers in April 2023, Leicester have had no fewer than six men in the dugout at the King Power, with only Enzo Maresca achieving his remit. Excluding the Italian, who spent one season at Filbert Way before departing to Chelsea, the average tenure of a post-Rodgers manager at Leicester has been less than five months. The latest man to take charge is Russell Martin, who brings with him a record of both success and failure, as well as a reputation centred around his distinctive brand of possession-based football.

Martin’s downhill trajectory and the search for redemption

Two years ago, it would have been unthinkable to imagine Martin in the third tier (although admittedly the same could be said for Leicester). Having shown promise at MK Dons and Swansea City, he had just guided Southampton to promotion at the first attempt, an impressive achievement for which he was rightly lauded, and Saints rewarded him with a new contract. Even Martin’s most ardent critics, of which he has plenty, would not have predicted quite how badly the next two years would unfold.

The football that earned [Russell Martin] his chance at the top level was also what cost him his job

As a Saints fan, I can tell you there were numerous mitigating factors behind the complete failure of our 2024/25 season, and no manager on earth could have kept us up. With that said, Martin was sacked in December after taking just five points from 16 games. Saints twice conceded five goals, scored only eleven, and were effectively relegated by the November international break. They also set a Premier League record for the most goals conceded through individual errors, something undeniably linked to Martin’s insistence on playing high-risk possession football with a squad vastly inferior to the rest of the league.

This was the style that had earned Martin the Southampton job despite achieving little tangible success in his first four seasons as a head coach. By his own admission, the Saints board had been “brave”, as he was far from a “sexy appointment.” In his final year at Swansea, only Manchester City and Barcelona completed more passes than Martin’s side, while no team in Europe averaged more possession than Southampton in 2023/24. From day one he insisted he would never compromise on his “principles”, regardless of the level, and after beating Leeds United in the play-off final declared he was excited to take on the Premier League “our way.” Martin stayed true to his word, but the novelty of losing by multiple, often self-inflicted, goals wore off quickly. Ultimately, the football that earned him his chance at the top level was also what cost him his job.

In the summer of 2025, Martin had two opportunities to rebuild his career: Leicester in the Championship, where he would be tasked with repeating his success at Southampton, or Scottish giants Rangers. Citing a desire for a new challenge, he chose the latter, believing Rangers’ domestic dominance would provide the platform to win trophies and compete in the Champions League.

Much like Leicester, he cannot afford a third successive failed season

However badly Martin imagined his Rangers spell might go, the reality was even worse. Rangers crashed out of the Champions League qualifiers 9-1 on aggregate to Club Brugge and won just one Scottish Premiership match under his leadership, despite their four closest competitors (excluding Celtic) combined spending roughly the same on wages as Rangers alone. The supporters, who had always been sceptical of his appointment, never truly warmed to him. When Rangers scored a stoppage-time winner at Livingston to secure Martin’s only league victory, the celebrations lasted only seconds before the crowd resumed chanting “Martin, get to f*ck”, as they had for much of the second half. The following week, he was sacked after requiring a police escort from the stadium, such was the hostility surrounding his tenure.

Martin’s move to the King Power this Summer is not purely an act of footballing philanthropy, rather it is a necessary step down in order to resurrect his own reputation. Much like Leicester, he cannot afford a third successive failed season – the potential impact on the foreseeable futures of both club and manager do not bear thinking about. Whilst it may be another new environment for the former Scotland international, however, Martin will continue managing in his own distinctive way. Although he admits to many personal failings in all of his roles and believes he has “learnt a lot” through his failures, Martin nonetheless will continue his rigid commitment to possession-based football on Filbert Way, refusing to bow to public pressure to compromise on his footballing ‘principles.’

Why Martin may be the right fit for Leicester 

This could well prove to be exactly what Leicester need. Much of last season’s squad was inherited from the title-winning side under Enzo Maresca, who averaged 62% possession, a figure bettered only by Martin’s Southampton. Yet, firstly under Marti Cifuentes and then the infamously pragmatic Gary Rowett, Leicester had frustratingly little of the ball. They were unable to replicate the control the squad had previously enjoyed and ultimately suffered in both boxes. Without sustained possession, Leicester failed to get the best out of star wingers Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi, while their already misfiring strikers had far fewer chances. At the other end, a cohesive defensive structure from both set pieces and open play appeared foreign to these players, and Leicester’s lack of identity made them far too easy to beat.

Martin’s style may benefit Leicester on the pitch, but so too could his personality and management off it. After perhaps the most galling period in the club’s history, this is a club on the floor. “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” became Leicester’s defining chant during the run-in, owner Khun Top was confronted by supporters after relegation was confirmed against Hull City, and a week earlier Harry Winks told fans to “f off” following defeat at Portsmouth.

Leicester are in dire need of such a man [like Martin]

Even before the toxicity of the season’s final weeks, supporters had been difficult to please. Marti Cifuentes was sacked in January despite sitting six points outside the play-off places because that was deemed unacceptable. Steve Cooper, who had Leicester performing above expectations and outside the Premier League relegation zone, was effectively hounded out by fans who never wanted him in the first place, paving the way for the popular but untested Ruud van Nistelrooy, who won just two league games in six months. Even Enzo Maresca was booed at Home Park in April 2024 with Leicester still top of the Championship, many supporters frustrated by the perceived slowness of his possession-heavy football; hardly an encouraging precedent for Martin.

With the exception of Rangers, whose supporters opposed his appointment from the outset and arguably never gave him a fair chance, every fanbase has taken to Martin. His trademark fist pumps after victories never fail to get fans onside, and despite acrimonious departures from MK Dons and especially Swansea, he remains fondly remembered by fans of clubs where he won no major honours. Swansea’s travelling support even sang Martin’s name as his Southampton side thrashed them 5-0. At Saints, despite widespread calls for his dismissal by the end, supporters remained behind him longer than many would have expected, while the club described his sacking as a “reluctant” decision because of the connection he had built.

Leicester are in dire need of such a man; since the departure of Jamie Vardy last season and the failure to sign loanee Jordan James permanently this Summer, there is no club hero at Leicester. Most of last season’s squad are tainted with past failures and possibly may never be truly forgiven. The sole exception, star academy prospect Jeremy Monga, has been sold to keep the lights on. Martin then is the obvious contender to rally the fanbase, which, make no mistake, will be necessary to sustain the levels needed to achieve automatic promotion back to the Championship.

Even more important than Martin’s ability to get the fans onside will be whether he can get the players to believe in him. At both Swansea and MK Dons he built squads that would run through walls for him. His personal charm persuaded England international Aaron Ramsdale to join a club almost everybody expected to be relegated, while former player Matt O’Riley was so keen to reunite with Martin that he was prepared to leave title-winning Celtic and reject Brighton and Champions League Atalanta, only for Southampton to fail to agree a fee. Even as the atmosphere in the stands turned toxic, the players stood by Martin until the bitter end, having previously rallied twice when he came under pressure to spark a 25-game unbeaten run and eventually promotion at Wembley. Such was his influence that, a year after his sacking, several senior Southampton players reportedly told the board they wanted him back, despite him inheriting a bloated, unhappy squad carrying what Martin himself described as the “scar tissue” of relegation.

Martin is therefore facing perhaps the toughest dressing room of his managerial career

The squad he inherits at Leicester is similarly disillusioned. Many players joined when the club was competing for Europe, and arguably one of the major factors behind the 2023 relegation was a belief they were simply too good to go down. James Maddison infamously dismissed relegation talk as “rubbish” in March before Leicester collected just seven points from their final 12 matches and finished 18th. Much of that overpaid core remained in 2024/25 and, aside from Jamie Vardy, rarely displayed the desire required for a relegation battle. Leicester ultimately went down by thirteen points, and only improved once relegation had already been confirmed.

That same sense of entitlement resurfaced last season. Leicester’s squad openly expected to win the Championship: Stephy Mavididi promised they would “have some fun” with the league, while Jordan James declared in December that “if you think Leicester can be in League One you have lost your mind.” When a points deduction dropped Leicester to 20th in January, owner Khun Top still assured supporters that “next season, we promote.” Even with relegation looming, it barely seemed to register as a genuine possibility.

Effectively, Martin is therefore facing perhaps the toughest dressing room of his managerial career. Not only must he unite a bloated, overpaid squad with several players wanting to leave, on a scale greater than anything he encountered at Southampton and incomparable to MK Dons or Swansea, he must do so at a club where expectation, from the boardroom to the stands, is to walk the league. That prevailing sense of entitlement means he is unlikely to be afforded much patience if results do not arrive immediately, and that is a major cause for concern.

Patience is key (but far from guaranteed)  

Famously, at Southampton, Martin lost four games on the trot, including 5-0 and 4-1 defeats before the record-breaking 25 unbeaten run. Ultimately the fans stuck with him, gave him time and believed in the project. I was there when Saints got their first win of that run, a long-awaited St Mary’s victory over Leeds United, and the fans were behind the side and the manager from the first kick. Martin’s name was sung from the concourse even with Saints sitting in the bottom half. Martin also started slowly at Swansea and MK Dons, and whilst the circumstances surrounding his appointment at both clubs do provide context for that he himself acknowledges his style of football takes time to implement and that his sides may not reach their full potential until several months into the season.

The slightest signs of failure will bring immediate scrutiny

If this is the situation at Leicester, will the King Power be as patient as St Mary’s was? As Swansea? You’d think not. Despite the fact that Martin is dealing with a huge level of squad turnover, off-pitch uncertainty, a toxic culture, and a squad primarily consisting of players who don’t want to play for the club, this is a fanbase who do not want to hear it. There will be no excuses, and whilst the players will be identified as a core part of the problem Martin will not be spared the anger of the fans should Leicester be sitting outside the promotion places after even the first month of fixtures.

This is a club that demands, almost out of desperation, not just promotion but an emphatic title win that makes a mockery of League One. Martin’s task is to oversee a complete transformation, creating not only a dominant team capable of winning the division but one that restores belief beyond this season. He is unquestionably capable of doing that, but while Martin may feel he is dropping well below his level by taking the Leicester job, many supporters do not see him that way. He will have the opportunity to win them over and turn Leicester into the division’s standout side, but the slightest signs of failure will bring immediate scrutiny. If it works, it could be beautiful: a new generation of Foxes fans rediscovering hope after years of false dawns. What Leicester will want to ignore, however, is how easily it could unravel. If it does, things on Filbert Way will become toxic very quickly.

Appointing Russell Martin is a final roll of the dice that could revitalise both club and manager after a miserable 24 months for each. If it fails, the consequences could be severe. A season in League One would have seemed inconceivable for both Martin and Leicester just two years ago, but they should be acutely aware that things can always get worse.