Southampton news: Russell Martin on his playing career and becoming a manager

More from Southampton manager Russell Martin, speaking on a special episode of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily podcast: “I did my first badge at 17 in college and I coached on a Saturday morning.

“I often think career coaches who skipped playing can figure out what works, what doesn’t, what they like and what age group they want to specialise in. I missed that, but I was playing and getting real experience in other areas that I can now relate to players.

“My coaching bits had come from coaching kids at Norwich’s academy and I remember I was hammered on the team bus when I had my laptop out doing courses.”

On if he knew he would have a successful playing career: “I never felt that comfortable, it sounds crazy. It was my third season at Wycombe where Paul Lambert came in and the first few games he basically slaughtered me in front of everyone and said ‘you’ll never play for me’ and I got converted into a right-back, which I never played, and then I played every game for two years from that point and was used as a utility player, since I played every position.

“Paul then left and I went to Peterborough, then Norwich back with Paul. So much of football is timing and opportunity and who knows – without Paul I wouldn’t have got to where I got to, but I’d like to think I repaid the faith he showed me and we had a great time and went to the Premier League together.”

Listen to more on BBC Sounds