Roberto Martinez...time to step up

[Bianchi on Ice]

No im not advocating him as City manager but he deserves all the credit he gets for what he has done at Swansea and now wigan. i dont think any manager could do more with what he has there so time now surely for him to move up in the managerial world. He has already turned down mid table sides such as liverpool (sounds so good that)...mid table sides such as liverpool and villa so who would he go for?...i wouldnt rule out europe...spain obviously...

[Beefymcfc]

What is not to like about RM. He plays good football, has an eye for a decent player, comes across very well on camera and his loyalty is faultless. I'd like to see him at another club with better finances and a better infrastructure where he would be allowed to progress.

I honestly can't see him staying with Wigan next season, he's given them enough of his time and Whelan should allow him to leave.

[Dameerto]

He's been linked with Everton recently. If Moyes moved on he would be a good fit for them.

[freshie]

I could see him at Everton next season. Everton fans seem to be growing increasingly unhappy with Moyes and added to the doubt over his long-term future at the club could see him replaced with RM. A couple of good seasons with Everton could see him as a contender for some of the top Prem jobs

[bleedBlue]

What is not to like about RM. He plays good football, has an eye for a decent player, comes across very well on camera and his loyalty is faultless. I'd like to see him at another club with better finances and a better infrastructure where he would be allowed to progress.

I honestly can't see him staying with Wigan next season, he's given them enough of his time and Whelan should allow him to leave.

Great! Lets send him to QPR then?

[twosips]

Don't get the mass Martinez love in. Yeah he does okay at Wigan, but that's all he does. Okay.

They're truly abysmal for most of the season and then decide to turn up for a small portion of it. He manages a woefully inconsistent team.

[freshie]

Don't get the mass Martinez love in. Yeah he does okay at Wigan, but that's all he does. Okay.

They're truly abysmal for most of the season and then decide to turn up for a small portion of it. He manages a woefully inconsistent team.

With the lack of resources at his disposal, just keeping them in the Premier League season after season is a massive achievement.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Don't get the mass Martinez love in. Yeah he does okay at Wigan, but that's all he does. Okay.

They're truly abysmal for most of the season and then decide to turn up for a small portion of it. He manages a woefully inconsistent team.

What the fuck do you expect at Wigan?
And with the advent of FFP it will get even tougher.

[BadKompany]

Don't get the mass Martinez love in. Yeah he does okay at Wigan, but that's all he does. Okay.

They're truly abysmal for most of the season and then decide to turn up for a small portion of it. He manages a woefully inconsistent team.

How would Mancini improve them?

[Bluedays]

To be fair name one Wigan player who could play for a side like Newcastle Liverpool. They have no stars to win games. No gems or geniuses to make chances. He is a brilliant manager at making teams dig deep and get a brilliant result. However if they player badly or let in an early goal their quality (or lack of it) shows like against Liverpool. I believe he is one of the best managers in the bottom 10.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

comes across very well on camera and his loyalty is faultless.

Actually that isn't a view Swansea fans would share.

[MilnersJaw]

To be fair name one Wigan player who could play for a side like Newcastle Liverpool. They have no stars to win games. No gems or geniuses to make chances. He is a brilliant manager at making teams dig deep and get a brilliant result. However if they player badly or let in an early goal their quality (or lack of it) shows like against Liverpool. I believe he is one of the best managers in the bottom 10.

They had Moses, game change now for chelsea.

[twosips]

Don't get the mass Martinez love in. Yeah he does okay at Wigan, but that's all he does. Okay.

They're truly abysmal for most of the season and then decide to turn up for a small portion of it. He manages a woefully inconsistent team.

What the fuck do you expect at Wigan?
And with the advent of FFP it will get even tougher.

I don't expect anything more, i'm not saying he's doing shit. I'm just saying i don't think he's doing THAT well. People talk of Martinez as if he's ready for a top job far too frequently. He's had two jobs. Three seasons in the premiership where he's managed to keep Wigan up. Just. I don't think he's performing miracles. I think he's doing a decent job.

I think he's got a hell of a lot of proving himself to do at another mid-table club before even being considered for one of the top jobs. He's a good guy, and he has good ideals and all that, but a little perspective is perhaps needed...(I am aware that the OP wasn't considering him for the City position - that post of mine was more an initial reaction to the general consensus on him you read everywhere)

[john68]

Martinez has done a great job in the last couple of seasons by getting the pie eaters out of the shit in the last few games. That same shit, he put em in in the 1st place.

If he was so good in the last 6/7 games, what the fucl was he doing in the other 31/32 games. And if he'd found the way to sort it out at the end of the 1st season, why couldn't he contyinue to keep it sorted the following season....or this season?

Nice guy, affable bloke, pretty decent coach by all accounts and I hope he succeeds taggart....watching the rags struggle and panic to stave off relegation each year would be fuclin hilarious.

[Alioune DVToure]

To date, issues of style aside, which is the greater achievement:

BFS leading Bolton to a sixth-place finish and a Uefa Cup spot twice, and a league cup final once,

or

Roberto Martinez narrowly keeping Wigan in the league twice and leading them to an FA Cup semi?

[Nickyboy]

He comes across well in interviews - he obviously knows what he is talking about.

He tries to play football the right way.

Best of all he tried to highlight last season how the FA etc were scared of Fergie and he always got his own way.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Martinez has done a great job in the last couple of seasons by getting the pie eaters out of the shit in the last few games. That same shit, he put em in in the 1st place.

If he was so good in the last 6/7 games, what the fucl was he doing in the other 31/32 games. And if he'd found the way to sort it out at the end of the 1st season, why couldn't he contyinue to keep it sorted the following season....or this season?

Nice guy, affable bloke, pretty decent coach by all accounts and I hope he succeeds taggart....watching the rags struggle and panic to stave off relegation each year would be fuclin hilarious.

Pulling a season out of the shit in the last six or seven games but being a shit manager because he can't sustain that the following season? Which manager are we talking about here? You've changed your tune John.

[DoomMerchant]

To date, issues of style aside, which is the greater achievement:

BFS leading Bolton to a sixth-place finish and a Uefa Cup spot twice, and a league cup final once,

or

Roberto Martinez narrowly keeping Wigan in the league twice and leading them to an FA Cup semi?

Pretty much ends that debate. So all bottom half or small sides should play like BFS?

What I admire about Martinez is his insistence in playing the ball on the floor in the face of obvious statistical evidence that playing more like BFS may provide greater likelohood of survival or the odd top 10 finish or cup semi.

Laudrup you could argue as more successful already than Martinez but it's never that simple is it?

I believe Martinez is doing a great job managing the trajectory of his career. See one Sparky Hughes as evidence for what happens when you let the media bullshit and your own ego inflate your rise too quickly so that you believe your own bullshit. Its a hard crash grom a great height.

[BlueinBosnia]

comes across very well on camera and his loyalty is faultless.

Actually that isn't a view Swansea fans would share.

Actually it is. They were always resigned to the fact that they would lose him to Wigan if they ever came calling, and most, if not all, wish him well.

[Lev Bronstein]

The problem that he's had is that every year Wigan sell their better players. So he basically has to stat each season with a new team. I suppose that explains why they aren't so good at first then improve.

Overall though, his record in terms of league positions isn't that much better as Steve Bruce's, he just does it in a nicer way.

If you accept that Moyes has over-achieved then I'm not sure Everton would be a good move. . Maybe Fulham or WHU might be a better fit.