Russell Martin has arguably won over a few indifferent, or even unsatisfied, Leicester City fans after what is more of a controversial appointment than many involved with the club would like to admit. The new manager faces a significant challenge in swaying the collective opinion at King Power Stadium, where the weight of recent disappointment continues to linger heavily.
First of all, Martin is not a promotion specialist as many lazy journalists purvey, and misinformed supporters consequently believe. In actuality, the former Southampton boss has only achieved that specific distinction in one solitary instance.
While getting the Saints back to the Premier League was a momentous occasion, especially for their own fan base, it remains his singular success in navigating an English Football League Championship campaign, with no such accolades from League One. Irrespective, this is not being said to bash or lampoon the new City head coach, but merely to provide essential clarity regarding his record.
It is worth noting that acknowledging these inconsistencies does not mean Martin cannot eventually achieve this aspiration in the East Midlands. Secondly, the Leicester hierarchy have been repeatedly accused of ignoring fan sentiment, with various other rival managerial installations only serving to support that persistent claim.
Not ridding the club of the seemingly overall negative influence of Jon Rudkin, who continues to lead football operations, remains a severe gripe for LCFC's Blue Army fan base. Another awkward area for the Leicestershire faithful to navigate, almost like a footballing minefield, are the lingering, unwanted footballers currently cluttering the squad.
A few perceived bad apples have been discarded, such as Harry Winks and Victor Kristiansen, with Jannik Vestergaard surely destined to follow them out of the Filbert Way door soon. ​Though other perceived undesirables remain in LE2: Hamza Choudhury and Wout Faes are prime examples of those whom many fans wish to see the back of.
Russell Martin defends Leicester City men
Yet, in his own infinite wisdom, Martin strangely made Faes the Foxes captain for the Bristol Rovers friendly on Tuesday night. Faes played fairly well during that encounter, although the support would undoubtedly prefer a clean break as opposed to forgiveness, reintegration and promised reinvigoration.
Just look at how Winks managed to manipulate multiple previous managers in that regard to understand the skepticism.
​Nonetheless, Martin has also seemingly defended the remaining criticised stars of the Leicester roster, hoping to forge a cohesive unit; his public support for the players suggests a man attempting to build morale from within.
"They've been great. They've taken everything on board and are trying so hard to build what we want them to build, to bring the game that we want to bring to the pitch.Russell Martin - LCFC Live
"They're a good group to work with. It was the same when I went in at Southampton, after relegation, it's difficult, so you try and give everyone a clean slate. When I went to Saints, people from the outside were like, 'oh it's not a good group' - the same [happened] here.
"But the group we've seen so far, now they need to maintain it, they've been great to work with, honestly really good. Attitude and mentality. They've run so hard, they're training hard and they compete with each other so we just have to maintain that."
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