The Martin situation has been handled horrendously badly by successive managers

Previously at premier league level he was a competent right back. Perhaps not first choice for a team looking to push on but good enough for our first couple of seasons and certainly good enough long term as a back up.

I can't really recall if it was Hughton or Adams that first started playing him there but obviously his experiences with Scotland gave him a taste for it and when we got relegated he found himself in a position of strength as one of the influential "senior" players at the club and with a manager who needed the support of the dressing room. he started making public comments about being a centre back long term and started getting selected there.

With Adams you can perhaps excuse it but I am surprised Neil continued the folly (perhaps because we got away with it in the championship) but because it has gone on for so long I think we've also slightly (and perhaps temporarily) ruined him as a right back. His positioning in both roles is now not up to scratch. When playing centre back he gets caught the wrong side of his man and does not get close enough plus gets underneath the ball too much when crosses come in. When playing right back he now drifts into the centre and gives the winger too much space. He also looks mentally shot. I just feel that if the managers had been firmer with him and stopped this centre back experiment in its infancy then it may not have come to the point where a good club servant is being roundly slated every week by fans who are frustrated st his constant inclusion. It's not his fault, it's the managers who keep picking him and who have not been strong enough to tell him he's not a centre back.

Posted By: Jim, Jan 23, 19:39:45