Southampton manager Russell Martin is confident that Gary O’Neil can turn Wolves’ fortunes around this season.
With the two set to play against each other on Saturday for the first time since they entered management, Martin spoke about his friendship with O’Neil when they were team-mates at Norwich from 2014-16.
“We stayed in touch beyond [playing careers] when he was at Liverpool and Bournemouth and I was at MK Dons and Swansea,” Martin said. “Not so much now because things get very busy.
“We were probably two of the moaniest players in training and having an opinion on the game so it doesn’t surprise me that we have gone on to this side of it. We spent most of our time arguing on the pitch but we got on really well. We used to have a lot of conversations around football.
“We’ve all got a different idea of the game but we all have clarity about what we want and part of that comes from them conversations.”
With Southampton 19th and Wolves 20th, both managers are under scrutiny and in desperate need of a positive result at Molineux.
Whatever happens, Martin is convinced O’Neil will have success in his managerial career.
“I look forward to catching up with him,” Martin said. “I had a lot of time for him as a team-mate and as a person. I think he’s done a brilliant job and it was brilliant that he got the opportunity at Bournemouth as a young English coach.
“He did great last season and I have no doubt that they will hit their stride this season because they have been unfortunate and had a really tough run of fixtures. I look forward to catching up with him after the match – but for 90 minutes all of the friendship goes out of the window.”
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