It was always going to be a fight to keep Southampton in the Premier League, even before his poor transfer window.
The departure of the technical director Jason Wilcox, a great defender of the former International of Scotland Martin, Manchester United last year left the former chief coach without a crucial ally and vital support.
Southampton returned to the Premier League without replacing Wilcox enough, which left them without a key position and experience.
There was frustration with property as executive president Phil Parsons, who joined Dyson in July 2023, had a limited experience in the game and the club fought to move quickly enough to make the agreements last summer.
The objective of the season was to avoid the descent and build the value of the team, something they have done with the appearance of Tyler Dibling, even if it is unlikely that its valuation of £ 100 million will be achieved.
Martin had a game style based on the possession of a patient, something he had implemented since he became a MK Don manager in 2019 and continued in Swansea.
It was something that appealed to Southampton and why they were so determined to get him out of the swans after the decline in 2023, a movement that became bitter when Swansea took Martin to the courts.
“Every team we have had has been similar, but we have had to find a different way,” he said after losing to the wolves in November.
“In MK Dons we had two strong and powerful strikers, so we played two strikers and found a way of scoring goals. In Swansea we didn’t have any extreme, so we had to play defenders or midfielders.
“Last season we had so much attack power for the championship that we scored many goals.
“Now the boys are doing what they told us we could not in terms of having much of the ball in the Premier League, but there must be the same mentality that was last year.
“The style of play you have, the game is about overcoming your opponent and mastering your opponent, and we still do not do it enough.”
Style criticisms occurred when the Saints fought and the toxic atmosphere in St Mary’s during the last weeks, even when Tottenham scored four goals in 25 minutes in Martin’s last game, the situation made the situation unsustainable.
Errors happened too often. The tone was established by the error of goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to give Joelinton the winner in the victory of the 1-0 opening day in Newcastle in August, and perhaps it is naive to think that Southampton would have survived this season.
But if Martin had mounted the storm, difficult in a football culture that demands everything yesterday, perhaps it would have been the best person to set up a promotion challenge.
It may have reduced how psychologically healing were the squad and the descent club, and it is a fantasy suggestion, but the pedigree was there.
