Martin leaves Southampton after seven years following Still sacking

Goalkeeper Coach Rubén Martinez, Assistant Analyst Clément Lemaitre and First-Team Coach Martin have all gone too. Martin and Lemaitre had both worked with Still at Reims and only joined Southampton in the summer, but Martin had been there for seven years and worked under five permanent managers (Ralph Hasenhüttl, Nathan Jones, Russell Martin, Ivan Jurić and Still.

He first joined the Academy in January 2019 as a Professional Development Phase Coach and was then heavily involved in the coaching innovations that were driven by former Director of Football Matt Crocker. 

In 2021, Martin was appointed Under-18s Game Coach, after Crocker introduced the dual roles of Game Coach and Individual Coach for the 18s and B Team.

The idea was that the Game coach would prepare and manage the team for matches, while the Individual Coach would focus on the development of players. 

Then, in July 2022, Martin was promoted to the first team under Hasenhüttl as an in-possession specialist. Crocker, who was previously Head of Coaching for the Football Association, had introduced specialist coaching at both Academy and senior level.

These roles were scrapped following the arrival of new owners Sport Republic in January 2022. Martin’s brother Callum is currently U18s Assistant at Southampton, having joined from Cambridge United in June. 

Meanwhile, Under-21s Head Coach Tonda Eckert will take charge of the senior side on an interim basis following Still’s sacking. The 32-year-old German arrived this summer from Genoa, where he was Assistant.

He knew Southampton Technical Director Johannes Spors and Assistant Technical Director Elliott Stapley from their time together at the Italian club. Genoa was previously part of the 777 Group, where Spors and Stapley held senior roles prior to joining Southampton.  

In a statement, Spors said: “Will is a great person who gave everything to try and improve performances and results.

“Ultimately that process has taken longer than any of us would have liked. By making a change now we believe it gives us the best chance of turning things around this season and climbing back up the league table.

“I would like to thank Will, Rubén, Clément and Carl for their efforts and wish them well for the future.”