During the summer of 2023, Southampton turned to Russell Martin to try and get them back to the top flight of English football at the first time of asking.
He had a lot to sort out, following an extremely disappointing 2022/23 Premier League campaign, which resulted in relegation.
The Saints had been in the top flight for ten years, but they struggled under three managers during the campaign that they succumbed to the drop.
Ralph Hasenhuttl may have managed to get some points on the board during the early stages of the campaign, but they were still in major relegation trouble when he left in November.
Unfortunately, his successor didn’t step up to the plate well, with Nathan Jones failing to thrive after leaving Luton Town for the second time.
Jones won just one of his league games in charge before he was sacked in February last year – and in came Ruben Selles who faced an uphill task in his quest to guide the south-coast side to safety.
An away at Chelsea in his first game gave Selles a platform to build on, but he was unable to capitalise on this victory at Stamford Bridge and the Saints went down with a whimper, even though they endured some bright moments during the latter stages of the season.
The fact they were able to go to Arsenal and take a point away from the game was impressive – but that didn’t count for much in the end – with the club finishing rock bottom of the table.
Russell Martin’s Southampton appointment was criticised last summer
Martin started his managerial career at then-League One side MK Dons and managed to do enough to earn a move up a division with Swansea City.
He hadn’t been able to take MK as close to the Championship as his successor Liam Manning did, but Martin made a decent impression at the Swansea.com Stadium and is still adored by some of their supporters.
Martin had been hired by Swansea after Steve Cooper guided them to back-to-back play-off finishes.
Andre Ayew and Connor Roberts left during the summer when Martin arrived, but the Swans added several signings to their squad to support their then-new manager.
Two of these summer signings were Flynn Downes and Joel Piroe – and both went on to thrive in South Wales – but Martin was able to guide the Swans to a play-off finish during his two seasons there.
With this in mind, some people were surprised when he made the step up to join the Saints last summer, and numerous people accused Martin of “failing upwards” – an accusation by his doubters who he went on to silence.
Leeds United games helped Russell Martin silence the doubters at Southampton
In the end, it was three games against Leeds United that turned out to be crucial in the end, the first of which came at St Mary’s.
At the time, the Saints had lost four league games in a row and the pressure was building on Martin, but a 3-1 home win against the Whites helped to ease that pressure and that game was the start of a 22-league match unbeaten run.
It’s important to note that the last defeat of their four-match losing streak came against Middlesbrough, who were majorly struggling at that point, so there were doubts surrounding Martin’s future at that stage.
The next meeting between Leeds and the Saints came when the latter were in a much better position, having secured their place in the play-offs already.
This was both sides’ final game of the regular league season – and Martin’s side dashed any hopes of Leeds securing automatic promotion with a 2-1 away win at Elland Road.
You also have to feel that this victory gave the visitors a psychological edge going into the play-off final, having done the double in the league.
And in the play-off final itself, the south-coast side were much better than the Whites, who were well below par at Wembley, with Adam Armstrong scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 victory.
Dan James was the only Leeds player to come away from the English capital with much credit – and the West Yorkshire side’s supporters were devastated by what they saw.
Martin, meanwhile, had guided the Saints to promotion and had beaten the accusation that he was failing upwards.
Silencing his critics would have felt just as satisfying as the win at Wembley itself – and regardless of what happens this term – Martin will be proud to have a promotion on his managerial CV.
Leeds, to their detriment, played a big part in that.
| Southampton’s record v Leeds United (2023/24 season) | |
|---|---|
| Games | 3 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Goals scored | 6 |
| Goals against | 2 |
