“I am sure it will be interesting..” – Russell Martin sends Swansea City message ahead of Norwich City reunion | OneFootball

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Football League World

·8 December 2022

“I am sure it will be interesting..” – Russell Martin sends Swansea City message ahead of Norwich City reunion

Article image:“I am sure it will be interesting..” – Russell Martin sends Swansea City message ahead of Norwich City reunion

Swansea City head coach Russell Martin insists his full focus is on his side ahead of facing former club Norwich City at the weekend.

The Swans are back in Championship action following the World Cup break as they host the Canaries at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday. They go into the game sitting eighth in the table, level on points with sixth-placed Queens Park Rangers and will be looking to return to winning ways after a five-game winless run, albeit four of those were draws.


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For Martin, it will be an emotional reunion with against a club he spent nine years with, scoring 17 goals in 308 appearances. He was part of three promotions during his time in East Anglia and captained the side on many occasions.

With Dean Smith under pressure at Carrow Road after a poor recent run of results, a report from The Sun last month claimed that Martin was under consideration should Norwich have decided to make a change.

But it looks as though the Canaries have decided to stick with Smith for now at least and Martin admits that while it is a club which will always hold fond memories for him, he is only concentrating on securing all three points against them.

“I have been back previously for a pre-season game with MK Dons, but that was it,” Martin told the club’s official website.

“I am sure it will be interesting when we go back there as I will know a lot of the people around the club, but I don’t know how much that is the case for this game.

“When we go back there, I will know the people on the door at reception, and there are still people in the playing squad who I know and played with, as well as a lot of staff I worked with.

“I loved my time there, and I love some of the people there that I had great relationships with, but that chapter of my life is done.

“My kids were born in Norwich, we really enjoyed living there, but the day you leave you have to accept it is done. Nothing stops because you leave, you realise that very quickly.

“I loved my time there, and I will never be anything other than grateful for the time I had there. I will look forward to seeing the people I know but that is as far as it goes.

“The focus has to be on what we are doing here. We had a good week in Scotland, which was really helpful.

“We are in a good place. We love the group we are working with here and what they are giving us.

“They are showing that courage and willingness to run for each other and to play. The group is growing all the time.

“We are trying to work on solutions to new problems we face, we are clear in what we want and how we are trying to achieve what we want to achieve and the challenge is to transfer that work from the training pitch into the performance against Norwich.”

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Article image:“I am sure it will be interesting..” – Russell Martin sends Swansea City message ahead of Norwich City reunion

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The verdict

Martin’s comments will be a huge relief to Swansea fans.

The 36-year-old is doing an outstanding job in South Wales and has built a side that looks extremely capable of competing for the play-offs this campaign.

It would have been easy to fear the worst when Martin’s name was linked with the Norwich job as it may have been difficult for him to turn it down given his affection for the club.

But Martin knows that he has something good at his current club and the Swans could go above the Canaries with a victory this weekend.

Reaffirming his commitment to the project will give a boost to both the players and fans as they look to maintain their top six push.

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