IN A RUSS
Inside Russell Martin’s emotional journey from living next to a bookies with an abusive dad to Premier League manager
Meditation is also credited with helping the manager to achieve results
RUSSELL MARTIN has spent his life proving people wrong.
From growing up with an abusive dad to being told he was not good enough to make it as a pro.
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Ending up as a Premier League skipper and international footballer, Martin squeezed every last drop of talent out of his system.
There were question marks when Saints appointed him on the back of relegation and being forced to sell £140million worth of players.
So Sunday’s 1-0 win over Leeds — which sparked joyous celebrations on the south coast — was particularly sweet.
It saw Martin get one over on Daniel Farke, the manager who banished him to Norwich’s Under-23s before terminating his contract.
It also made Martin a Premier League manager at the age of 38.
He has long been a trailblazer. He was Peterborough’s youngest captain at 21, took over as MK Dons’ boss at 33 and became manager at Swansea at 35.
Last summer, he arrived at a club in turmoil after a wretched season in which Southampton went through three bosses — Ralph Hasenhuttl, Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles.
Some fans wanted him axed after four straight losses in September.
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Russell Martin's managerial career
MK Dons (2019-21): 80 games, 30 wins, 19 draws, 31 losses - 37.5 win %
Swansea (2021 - 23): 99 games, 36 wins, 27 draws, 36 losses - 36 win %
Southampton (2023-present): 54 games, 30 wins, 11 draws, 13 losses - 55.5 win %
But Martin never deviated from his strong principles of possession-based football and his team went a club-record 25 games unbeaten.
For much of this season, Southampton had the highest possession percentage of any team in Europe’s top five leagues.
Inside Russell Martin's amazing journey from living at bookies with an abusive dad to Premier League manager
That is Martin’s way. In March 2021, his MK Dons team set a British record 56 passes for a move leading to a goal — scored by Will Grigg.
He stubbornly demands improvement on his gameplans, rather than resorting to any Plan B, and says: “If it doesn’t work and I get sacked, at least I get sacked doing something I believe in.”
The second youngest of four brothers, Martin grew up in the Hollingbury area of Brighton.
Late father Dean was violent towards mum Kerry and had stints in prison.
The family home was lost to his gambling debts — and he moved them next door to a bookies.
Little wonder that Martin dislikes gambling sponsorship in football.
Through his dad, Martin qualified to play for Scotland and he won 29 caps.
But one of his nans was Italian and cooked pasta for the boys when food ran out at their dysfunctional home.
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Martin is proud of that heritage — his children have Napoli shirts and regularly go on holiday to southern Italy.
He excelled at school where he was head boy and took A-levels in history, PE and drama.
The Brighton fan, with a soft spot for Spurs, was turned down by a string of professional clubs.
Starting at non-league Lewes, he cleaned windows and pub toilets in the mornings with his uncle and did shifts at a Spar supermarket across the road in the evenings.
He got his break under Tony Adams at Wycombe before moving on to Peterborough and Norwich — whose manager at the time, Paul Lambert, has been a huge influence on his career.
He was a Canaries stalwart, captaining them to a play-off final victory over Middlesbrough in 2015.
But Farke brought about a bitter end to an eight-year spell in Norfolk. He was loaned to Rangers before being shown the door.
After a brief spell coaching at Walsall, he managed MK Dons and Swansea — where he overcame a rocky spell that left him one game from the sack — before landing the job at Southampton.
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Martin has remained very much his own man throughout.
Now vegan as he suffers from ulcerative colitis — an inflamed bowel — Martin also meditates, has read up on Buddhism and was a member of the Green Party before becoming disillusioned with politics.
Every day at Southampton he has an ice bath, uses a cryotherapy chamber near his home and swims in the sea at Hove — all year round.
At the age of 30, he set up the Russell Martin Foundation to help youngsters in Sussex.
What started out as a football academy now also helps kids struggling in mainstream school.
Martin told SunSport: “Two of my brothers did not finish school and something like this would have made a huge difference.”
Here is a man making a huge impact on and off the pitch.
At his post-match Wembley press conference, a shattered-looking Martin said: “For them to give me the job in the first place, I felt like I had to do this to validate it.
“I am so pleased for them because it wasn’t an exciting appointment for them.
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“It’s up to us to prove ourselves in the Premier League next season.
“The style is something myself and my players believe in. I won’t change and I love what I do.”