Championship rivals interested in hiring former Southampton boss Russell Martin

Championship rivals Bristol City are interested in hiring former Southampton boss Russell Martin for the next season.

Next month, Southampton will complete the second anniversary of gaining Premier League promotion under Russell Martin during the 2023/24 season. The Saints started inconsistent back then also, but pulled a 25-game unbeaten streak across all competitions to return on track.

That included 22 consecutive unbeaten games in the Championship. Putting into perspective, it’s almost half of the league season in the second tier. Honestly, Russell Martin goes way too underrated nowadays among Southampton players and fans for the Premier League promotion he successfully carried out at the first time of asking.

Russell Martin’s coaching struggles after Southampton promotion

Most of that is down to his awful Premier League campaign with Southampton. As if leading a Saints side to only 5 points in 16 league games wasn’t enough, a 4 month long terrible Rangers spell ruined Martin’s coaching reputation even further.

He had a premature end to a 2024/25 season as a manager and the same followed in 2025/26. That obviously tells Martin has his eyes set on taking a fresh job for the summer. He will aim to prioritize going to a club in need of a new identity and willing to hand him the cash needed to sign players to his liking.

Bristol City interested in hiring Russell Martin

Fortunately for Russell Martin, he might be in for an attractive Championship job. According to a Football League World report, Southampton’s Championship rivals Bristol City are interested in hiring Russell Martin.

During the March international break, Bristol City pulled a surprise move to sign former England manager Roy Hodgson out of nowhere. Of course, he wasn’t going to be a permanent boss at Bristol City in the long term, given he has over 50 years of management under his belt so far.

Russell Martin is almost half of Roy Hodgson’s age. Although Martin has accomplished only a tiny fraction of what Hodgson has, his second tier career has jetted off to a good start. Martin was decent at Swansea City where he was tasked to put the club inside the top 10.

At St. Mary’s, Martin ticked the Premier League promotion which was what Southampton needed. Bristol City will most probably ask for something close to a top 6 finish which is within Martin’s reach.

Other Championship clubs that can hire Russell Martin

Neither Southampton nor Swansea City which Russell Martin managed earlier, need him in the dugout right now. The same goes for Martin’s former club in his playing career, Norwich City. That said, Bristol City are a good proposition for Martin to consider but not the only option he will get over the summer.

Mid-table teams like QPR and Watford can turn to Martin. Both clubs actually had a good start to the season, looked on track to push for a playoffs entry but eventually fell out of the picture. From next season, there will be six playoffs spots up for grabs upto the eighth place in the table.

That leaves QPR and Watford with a good chance of luring Martin to oversee their playoffs qualification aim. Birmingham City and Wrexham are also quite ambitious Championship clubs at the moment. Both of them have enough transfer funds to outspend the rest of the second tier clubs and the thought of Premier League football lies in the back of their minds.

Honestly, Russell Martin might appeal to them for his Southampton promotion exploits. At the same time, Birmingham City and Wrexham will have a long list of proven managers on their shortlist if they part ways with their current bosses in the first place. Let’s wait to see where Russell Martin ends up.