Russell Martin: Swansea City boss rejected chance to speak to rival club

Russell Martin was named Steve Cooper's successor as Swansea head coach in August 2021

Russell Martin turned down the chance to talk to a club about their vacant managerial job earlier this month.

Head coach Martin led Swansea to a 15th-placed Championship finish in his first season in charge.

He is believed to have been on Watford's radar before they appointed Forest Green's Rob Edwards last week.

"The chat with my agent was do I want to be part of the process, is it something I would be interested in? The answer was no," Martin said.

Former Norwich City defender Martin has overhauled Swansea's playing style in his maiden campaign at the helm, with their form improving significantly in the final third of the season.

The 36-year-old signed a three-year deal at Swansea.com Stadium in August 2021 having impressed the Welsh club's owners in his first managerial role at MK Dons.

Speaking at a Swansea fans' forum on Tuesday night, Martin said: "We are just really grateful to be here. Our families love being here and we love being here.

"We have been supported incredibly well since we have been here, which we will always be grateful for.

"My agent rang me two weeks ago and said there's a club that would like to speak to you. I said I had absolutely no interest because we are really happy here.

"I think we are early on in a project we feel really passionate about. We left our old club early to come here, but it is probably one of the only clubs we would have done that for because of the Swansea way, the environment and the playing style.

"We are really excited to get to work in pre-season and carry on."

Martin is close to strengthening his backroom team with the addition of an experienced coach.

Matt Gill is to be appointed assistant head coach on a permanent basis having stepped into the role following Luke Williams' departure in February.

The new man will work alongside Martin and Gill.

Swansea are also edging towards naming a replacement for Mark Allen, who left his role as sporting director last month.

"We will replace Mark - I am [working] on that one," said Swansea chief executive Julian Winter.

"Hopefully we will get some news on that fairly quickly."

Allen's successor will not be a direct replacement as he will have a different title and set of responsibilities.