Championship fans make disastrous Russell Martin claim gladly Saints never did | OneFootball

Showing the no-confidence in Russell Martin has been tipped as Southampton's best way to start their Premier League campaign but that could've easily went wrong horribly.

A crumbling Premier League start is a well-known recipe for inviting on-field disaster, and Southampton will also unwillingly nod into it. But could the Saints have navigated an even more nightmarish journey is a thought which has been left ignored all this while.

At first gaze, it can be confusing because where would Southampton have stuttered further even before headlining their campaign.

According to a possible scenario mentioned by The Not the Top 20 podcast, Southampton could have negatively outperformed themselves by sacking Russell Martin after the promotion itself.

Giving this strange take, EFL Analysis quoted the podcast hosts saying: "I've said at points this season that Southampton should have turned to Russell Martin and Russell Martin should've turned to Southampton after the play-off final and said thank you and goodbye."

Offloading Martin earlier would have done more Premier League harm than good

Hearing these words, Southampton fans will remember the infamous hindsight perspective which always provides the wisest opinion.

However, the only downside is that hindsight doesn't arrive during decision making and every bad call later gets criticised harshly. Only a few days ago, Paul Merson slammed the Saints for moving on from Russell Martin way sooner than he deserved.

Further, had the West Ham game maintained Southampton's downward Premier League slump, Ivan Juric's dismissal would also have been blamed on the club's part.

Hence, showing Martin the exit door during the pinnacle of his St. Mary's success would have very well translated into an even horrible relegation than the current one. If you disagree with this notion, then you must acknowledge that never giving up coaches like Gary O'Neil are pretty hard to find.