‘Approach It With Fresh Energy’ – Martin After City Appointment

All News

Men

Women

Internationals

Interviews & Features

Heritage

Photos

‘Approach It With Fresh Energy’ – Martin After City Appointment

Russell Martin says he is ready to attack the challenge head on after being appointed Leicester City Manager on a three-year contract.

2026-06-15T20:45+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

7 Hours 9 Mins Ago

‘Approach It With Fresh Energy’ – Martin After City Appointment

Russell Martin says he is ready to attack the challenge head on after being appointed Leicester City Manager on a three-year contract.

Sam Jones

2026-06-15T20:45+01:00

‘Approach It With Fresh Energy’ – Martin After City Appointment

Russell Martin says he is ready to attack the challenge head on after being appointed Leicester City Manager on a three-year contract.

Sam Jones

2026-06-15T20:45+01:00

‘Approach It With Fresh Energy’ – Martin After City Appointment

Russell Martin says he is ready to attack the challenge head on after being appointed Leicester City Manager on a three-year contract.

Sam Jones

2026-06-15T20:45+01:00

‘Approach It With Fresh Energy’ – Martin After City Appointment

Russell Martin says he is ready to attack the challenge head on after being appointed Leicester City Manager on a three-year contract.

Sam Jones

2026-06-15T20:45+01:00

The 40-year-old’s extensive CV includes managerial roles in the Premier League, Football League and Scotland, following a distinguished playing career at varying levels of English football.

Speaking about his ambitions coming into the Football Club, the former Southampton manager is excited by the prospect of starting anew and creating something special at King Power Stadium, with work beginning in earnest to prepare for the start of the 26/27 campaign in League One.

“I'm very happy to get it done and just really looking forward to getting started properly, meeting everyone, and then getting out on the grass and working with the players,” Martin told us in his first interview since taking charge this week.

“I've had a bit of a break, so this one was always going to be about how I felt about it, the process and the people I've met, James [McCarron], Jon [Rudkin], the Chairman. It's been really fantastic and it's just really exciting.

“I think it’s a chance to build something here with big energy and build some connections with what we're going to try and do. The excitement, and the feeling I had about it all, was the biggest attraction, feeling that it's going to be a really amazing experience.”

Discussing his approach to the game, Martin explained how his thinking is firstly built on the mentality of pulling together in order to achieve the desired outcome, before the focus shifts to on-pitch matters.

He continued: “The energy that we have together, fans, players, staff, it's going to take a huge amount of energy, a big team effort. It's going to take everyone. I think that can be so powerful. If we can build that and build something that everyone really believes in and feels proud of, then we can have a really exciting season.

“My job is to bring that energy myself, to convince the players to bring that energy and the staff around everyone else. It's not about me, it's not about one person, it's not about anything else and us being together and just aiming and heading in the right direction, in the same direction, and giving everything.

“The only thing I'm ever going to ask from the players and the staff here, and of myself, is to be all in and give everything I possibly can, and for them to do the same when on the training pitch, when on the pitch at the King Power, when we are having to fight and compete for the supporters, for the Football Club, that we give everything, all the time.

“If we do that, we have a real chance of achieving something.”

Martin added on his philosophy: “It’s to be aggressive, with and without the ball, to dominate as much as we can, and to be exciting, to be attacking, to want to score, to have desire to score, desire to defend. It's very much going to be about spirit, about a team fighting for each other and for the people in the stands.

“We have to build that first, to be really competitive, to work more than anyone else, to work so hard for what we're going to try and achieve. And then after, we can start adding and fine tuning bits.

“But first, we need to be a machine that is together, that fights together, that runs together, that works together, and hopefully people in the stands and everyone will see that and feel that, and then we can start adding the exciting stuff after that.”

In the more immediate term, Martin is savouring the opportunity of getting the players back in at Seagrave for pre-season to outline what is expected and return to his passion for coaching.

“We're going to go straight to work,” the ex-Swansea City Manager stated. “We’ll be really clear with the players about what the expectations are going to be from us as a group of staff, about what it's going to look like, about what we're going to aim for, about what's going to be really important to us as a group, on the pitch and off the pitch and how we behave every day.

“And making sure we build a culture at the training ground that is really clear, is really demanding, hopefully in the best way, where we care about what we're doing and the people that are doing it and then work, real hard work, so we're ready for the first game to compete and show what we're going to be about.

“I can't wait. I think the thing I’ve missed the most being out of a job is being on the grass with the players. I love coaching, I love working with players and it’s what I have a passion for, being on the training pitch with them. It's the best bit of a job, and I'm excited about that.”

With plenty of experience in the dugout at a relatively young age, Martin feels refreshed following his recent break from the game, having a chance to reflect but also take on board new ideas which will be of benefit during this next chapter as Foxes Manager.

“I'm still only 40, so I still deem myself as a fairly young manager, but I feel quite experienced,” he stated. “I've learned from everywhere I've been, different clubs, different places, different challenges, and this is different in its own way.

“I have to really respect that and respect this Football Club and what it's been about. I've spoken to a lot of people about it, people who have worked here, people that played here and they all say the same thing - people are brilliant, the Club’s fantastic.

“If we can get the energy going in the right place and shift the energy from where it's been, which I'm convinced we will, then we have a chance to achieve something brilliant. That's why we're all here and I hope I can just put my spin on that and our spin on that quickly over the next few weeks.

“It's really important to approach it with a fresh energy. It's gone, whatever's happened in the last couple of years. This Club has proved, and in recent history, it's capable of amazing things, incredible things.

“Hopefully we'll now be able to add to that in our own way, in our own story, to achieve something really brilliant this season.

“I have big energy and I felt really ready to come back. I've watched football in a lot of different countries, I've been all over Europe watching football and spent a lot of time studying lots of different football. It's been really good for me.

“I think the previous break I had from the game, I genuinely wanted a break from the game because I've been 20 years playing and managing, but this one, when I finished in October, I almost had a bit of frustration, so the energy's been about making sure for my next job I'm ready and try to improve as many things as possible, pick up things from different coaches, different teams.

“I spoke to a lot of people, presented myself on a few coaching things around the country, just because I have a real passion for coaching and meeting people there as well and taking different things from different people. It's been great and I hope to show that.

“I feel I'm in the best place I ever have been to go and deliver something that people feel connected to it, people feel proud of, and a team that wins, and that's why we're here. We need to win. And we need to win in a way that we want to win it.”

As we head into a new period, Martin’s message to City fans is clear: that he’s aiming to produce a team that will make the Blue Army proud again, but also, and crucially, a successful one.

“I hope to bring them a team that they can be really proud of, that they feel connected to in the way that it works,” he concluded. “I think the fact that the Club's already sold 22,500 season tickets, we are going to need everyone, and the fans will be the difference.

“I think this season, with so many games, we are in a position now where a lot of teams will be excited to play against us and see it's a big challenge and we need to make sure we're up for that and we need to live up to that.

“The supporters and the energy, having played against Leicester in League 1 when they won the league many, many moons ago, I feel really old. I’ve played against them in the Championship here as a manager and as a player, played against them in the Premier League here. I felt that energy as an opposition, as an opponent. So now I'm really excited about feeling that in the dugout here.

“We have to make sure the players give everything they possibly can to give the supporters, who are the most important people at every football club, because they've been here long before me and long after me they'll be here, something to be proud of.

“That's my job, to give them a team that wins and one they feel they can really go on a journey with.”

LATEST HEADLINES

Russell Martin Appointed Leicester City First Team Manager We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Russell Martin as Leicester City’s new First Team Manager.

7 Hours 9 Mins Ago

Leicester City Statement: Gary Rowett & Callum Davidson Following the appointment of Russell Martin as our new First Team Manager, we can confirm that Gary Rowett and Callum Davidson will leave Leicester City upon the conclusion of their contracts this summer.

7 Hours 9 Mins Ago

Huth On The Great Escape, Title-Win & Europe Centre-back Robert Huth, a mainstay in Leicester City’s Premier League 2016 title-winning side, spoke to Club Historian John Hutchinson about his distinguished career in football.

12 Hours 14 Mins Ago

Third Leicester City Pre-Season Fixture Confirmed Our pre-season continues to take shape with the addition of a fixture away to League Two side Bristol Rovers now scheduled for Tuesday 14 July.

15 Hours 54 Mins Ago

LATEST PHOTOS

LCFC Legends 0 All Star XI 0 (4-2 Pens) Images from our 5000/1 Anniversary Match on Filbert Way as our Legends faced an All Star XI.

30 May, 2026

Walking Football At King Power Stadium

12 May, 2026

Blackburn Rovers 0 Leicester City 1

02 May, 2026

City's Blackburn Preprations

30 Apr, 2026