Good morning.
Roberto Martinez, then. I have watched with what I can only describe as ‘some considerable confusion’ the adulation of the Wigan manager reach fever pitch.
How the hell did this happen?
Let’s start somewhere near the beginning and let’s stick to the facts of the matter, eh? As a manager he’s been accused of achieving much and being a rising star. SO what has he actually done? Well, to say he’s won nothing might be harsh, but it’s undeniably true. But he’s only been in management since 2007.
And so to the first myth. How many times have you read or been told in worldly wise manner that he ‘built’ Swansea? This week I’m hearing it with the frequency of time checks from Alan Partridge.
Tony Bennett said that he never left so much as an umbrella in San Fransico. All Roberto Martinez left behind at Swansea was a forwarding address. Here’s a list of the current Swanse City squad:
Gerhard Tremmel, Michel Vorm, Neil Taylor, Steven Caulker, Ferrie Bodde, Danny Graham, Scott Sinclair, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Josh McEachran, Leroy Lita, Luke Moore, Darnel Situ, Joe Allen, Kemy Agustien, Mark Gower, Curtis Obeng, Ashley Richards, Scott Donnelly, Lee Lucas, Ben Davies, Joe Walsh, Daniel Alfei , Casey Thomas, Jordan Smith, Gwion Edwards, Kurtis March, Rory Donnelly, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Ashley Williams, Angel Rangel, Alan Tate, Leon Britton, Andrea Orlandi, Garry Monk and Federico Bessone*.
The names in bold are those who played there at the same time Martinez was the manager of Swansea City. *Bessone was a free transfer brought in by Roberto in 2008 who then left but was then brought back by Brendan Rodgers.
Next up, his track record as the Wigan manager.
His first season in the Premiership was a memorable one for Spurs fans, of course. We beat them 9-1 . That game wasn’t exactly a blip for them. Chelsea also did them 8-0. They escaped relegation on the last day of the season though, by beating Arsenal 2-3. Hurrah.
His second season was almost identical in every respect. Walloped by all and sundry. Yanited beat then 4-0 …but then so did Blackpool. They escaped relegation again on the last day of the season by beating Stoke.
So by contrast, this season was indeed a runaway success. Why because, Martinez woke up sooner and the relegation he had courted for months on end was swerved a few weeks ahead of schedule.
His apologists will presumably now be found with underpants over their head and a pencil shoved up each nostril mumbling phrases like ‘limited resources’, ‘toughest league in the world.’
I have no kind words for you.
Don’t think we should worry ourselves about who the next Spurs nanager will be. Mr Redknapp isn’t going anywhere this summer. For Levy to get rid of HR after a top 4 finish would be considered by most to be lunacy.
Personally would love to see Martinez at the Lane. Agree with Daytripper, if if gets the Liverpool job fully expect them to be above us next year.
My fear is some of the up and coming young managers get better jobs this summer. We are left on 2 pts from 8 games next season, no decent manager becomes available. We have a choice between Pleat or Dowie.
Oh and were playing 3 at the back with one centreback. :-p
In defence of Roberto Martinez, he’s a pretty smart cookie… I like his reasoning and explanations in this piece: can you imagine HR saying something similar (in a million years…)?
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/05/16/wigan-stay-up-after-a-switch-to-3-4-3/#more-8687
WHO GIVES A *&*$% ABOUT MARTINEZ OR WIGAN?!
Roberto Martinez’s mum?
I have known Mike Kilbride since I was a freshman and he is one of the most amazing and dedicated people I have come across in my college career. As the Director of Knight-Thon, he has done WONDERS for the philanthropy and has truly taken it to a completely new level. I have had the honor of working with Mike in SGA this past year and he has been such a positive asset to the Peterson/Andrick administration. SGA is LUCKY to have people like him around and I am so excited to see the big things that he will do for UCF in the year to come.
Martinez did confess that he loved Wigan though.
Its difficult to get Harry’s to confess to anything as his attention is always focussed on Tottenham.Redknapp was always looking up and looking to replace Horatio Nelson in Trafalgar Square.Head and shoulders above the bird shit.
I agree though that Martinez is the flavour of the week.
Maybe we should look at someone that speaks better English than Harry…Capello.