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Episode 222: Ruben Martinez - Goalkeeping Coach
59 Plays12 hours ago
Southampton – We have a new goal keeping coach who has a vast amount of experience, and Zak has got the breakdown with a full scale profile!
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Transcript
Introduction and Technical Challenges
00:00:07
Zak
Hello and welcome back to Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. This is take three because I'm relatively sure the heat is melting our equipment.
00:00:20
Zak
Who knows?
British Weather and Football Chatter
00:00:22
Zak
Greg, as always, is joining me today, the usual host of our podcast. How are you doing, bud?
00:00:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it's hot, mate. I'm melting with the equipment. It's hot. Probably too hot. Just not be able to deal with it.
00:00:36
Zak
It is too hot to do anything. However, as we Brits love to talk about the weather all the time, how about we talk about something more interesting like football?
00:00:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes, let's do it. I'm excited.
Humor and Sports Partnerships
00:00:48
Zak
Good.
00:00:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'll tell you one person before we start, Zach, who is definitely struggling with the heat. don't if you saw the video of the first day back in training yesterday, but my man Will Still is is not built for it.
00:00:56
Zak
That
00:00:59
Zak
man needs some sun cream, bro.
00:01:03
Zak
He needs some sun cream. Whichever, like, you know, whoever wants to sponsor us for that would be for sure. We'll have an official sunscreen partner for Zalemburg To be fair, we have an official partner for basically everything else.
00:01:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, exactly.
00:01:19
Zak
Oh
00:01:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
And look, I respect it because it was definitely too hot to be out, especially to do football training yesterday.
00:01:26
Zak
oh yeah, 100%.
00:01:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
I was out at a theme park and that was a struggle enough. But but yeah, I really enjoyed the...
00:01:30
Zak
Went for like,
00:01:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was only like a minute long video, but just progressively watching him glow more and more................
00:01:38
Zak
yeah yeah Walks back in and it's sort of radioactive a little bit.
Exploration of Ruben Martinez's Coaching Career
00:01:43
Zak
Yeah, get Well, we aren't talking about him today, but we are talking about one of the members of his new backroom staff. So recently it was announced ah we had our full sort of list of start backroom staff, and a new name on that list was Ruben Martinez, who we didn't really know a huge amount, but obviously when we talked about it initially, Greg said he's been at a lot of clubs and looks like he's got a wealth of experience. So i thought...
00:02:09
Zak
how much experience does he have? Uh, so I decided to look it up and Greg, let me tell you, this was a difficult one to research because, uh, unlike usually where there's like pretty normal, sort of, if you know, you can find a profile of someone quite easily.
00:02:22
Zak
it's very much, not as much information on this guy. Also, I think that Rubens, uh, Martinez is very similar to like John Smith, uh, in Spain. So there's a bunch of different, yeah.
00:02:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
just like the commonest name. Let's
00:02:35
Zak
So, so it's been happened to make sure the information is correct. like there isn't like a there isn't even like a base source there isn't even like an easy source like a wikipedia right uh there is a german wikipedia entry for him that the kind of like dies after about halfway through his career this has been a lot piecemeal from a lot of bit of information i've tried to make sure it's as accurate as possible yeah we'll just we'll crack on shall we
00:02:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
do it. I can't wait.
00:02:58
Zak
Wonderful. So, Ruben Martinez was born on the 4th of March, 1977, and began his career in Barca's youth system. So, he is a Barcelona alumni. He played in the C team before making his debut in the B team in 1996.
00:03:14
Zak
His position, as obviously his he would go later on to coach, is goalkeeper. So that that's where he was playing. After he made his debut in the B team, the end of that season, Barca B were relegated.
00:03:29
Zak
But he did stay with them until they were back up in 1998, where he moved to third division, Leonisa. During that time, he made 21 appearances over a two-year stint, which isn't a lot.
00:03:42
Zak
But then we'll see, like, we know how goalkeepers are, right? Like, if you are not the first-choice goalkeeper, you're not...
00:03:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
You don't get game time.
00:03:47
Zak
You just don't get games.
00:03:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:03:48
Zak
It'll be you know maybe a few cups here and there. then he moved to FC Zamora for the 2000-2001 season. After a season there, he then moved to Novelda CF, where he went on to make 61 appearances over two seasons.
00:04:05
Zak
So, you know, he's starting to increase now as more of sort of a... having a few more appearances over time and feeling like he's either not going to quite say first team, but maybe...
00:04:16
Zak
know, sort of 31 over a season. How many games? couple of games missed here and there. So then he yeah so spent two seasons there before moving to Hercules Alicante in 2003.
00:04:28
Zak
Once again, spent two seasons there making 68 appearances before his final playing move to FC Badalona in 2005. So this is the club he stayed at for a vast majority of his career, right?
00:04:42
Zak
stayed there for five years before eventually retiring retiring from playing in 2010 after making a total of 154 appearances for them. So it sounds like he was, you know, solidly their goalkeeper,
00:04:56
Zak
found his home of where he eventually wanted to be. And then Greg, he joined Oscar Garcia as a goalkeeping coach for the Barcelona's under 19 team.
Ruben Martinez and Oscar Garcia's Professional Journey
00:05:10
Zak
And I think I said in a take before, probably not this take, but you're going to learn more about Oscar Garcia today, Greg, whether you liked it or not, because it turns out, unfortunately, their careers are very, very intertangled. And, um, And,
00:05:24
Zak
it's It's a weird one. He definitely was a core member of his until probably the last sort of two, three years. So the the sort of history we're getting is going to be of both Ruben Martinez and Oscar Garcia.
00:05:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Alright.
00:05:40
Zak
Okay.
00:05:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Alright, now i am not good with names or remembering things, but is that the manager that Will still took over from the first time Will still was a manager?
00:05:53
Zak
Now, Greg, you you've come to ah your house a bit of a spoiler from the future. But yes, it is a is a ship's passing in the wind situation.
00:05:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh.
00:06:01
Zak
I'll get to it in a bit later.
00:06:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right.
00:06:02
Zak
Because some sources say that he worked under Will still. But a lot of the other sources I've said have him leaving alongside Garcia when Garcia was let go. so
00:06:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Interesting.
00:06:12
Zak
but But yes, he did. There's going to be a couple of situations like that, which are going make me wonder... what Martinez's contribution is and what my feelings are, but we'll get proper into the meat and the bones of his actual coaching career after a word from our partners at Bionique.
00:07:07
Zak
Rightio, so we are back and we are ready to dive into the coaching career of Ruben Martinez. So, he went back to his roots after leaving his long-time playing club of Badalona and went to become the goalkeeping coach of Barcelona's under-19s team alongside Oscar Garcia.
00:07:32
Zak
He was there alongside Garcia from July 2010 to June 2012, leaving alongside his boss, filming the first, but not the last time that he would move with him. So this is where I think you you mentioned this at least once, Greg, where he moved to Maccabee, Tel Aviv.
00:07:50
Zak
So this was his first sort of stint there. And he moved as ah ah initially as a goalkeeping coach during the one season that Garcia was in charge there. And they won the league. So they did all right. Can't, you know...
00:08:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Although, is that do they not win the league every year?
00:08:04
Zak
I...
00:08:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
last name That's a name I know, right?
00:08:04
Zak
didn
00:08:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
So...
00:08:06
Zak
Yeah, so it's kind of one of those things where like we're going to get to a few clubs that that are managed by Garcia, that that is kind of an expectation. by By a few, for some, it works out, and for some, it doesn't when he's in charge.
00:08:18
Zak
yeah, because of this, obviously his success, he ended up then going next season to replace Paolo Sousa at Brighton. So he actually has got championship experience as well. We're going to see the extent of, but he was a goalkeeping coach during this time.
00:08:35
Zak
They managed to finish sixth that season. So that was the season of 2013 to 2014. This is when Brighton were unable to get promoted and they lost 6-2 on aggregate in the playoffs to Derby.
Ruben Martinez's Coaching Highlights and Challenges
00:08:49
Zak
So obviously Garcia left the club and and a pattern that we will see emerge throughout the rest of my notes... is that Martinez left with him.
00:09:00
Zak
Where they returned, Greg, very, very briefly for two months, and I'd have loved to have known the circumstances around this, to Maccabee Tel Aviv. So they went back to Maccabee Tel Aviv for a very short period from July to August in 2014, which is weird, right?
00:09:17
Zak
Because then they were announced as... ah Garcia was announced as Watford's manager, And Martinez became one of his assistant managers.
00:09:27
Zak
So this now transitions his jump from goal-peeping coach into just like genuine assistant manager for the you know clubs that he will be under Garcia with. So there was a bit of a problem. So i don't know if you remember that season for Watford. So this was the season that Watford got promoted.
00:09:44
Zak
They finished second in the league. Troy Deeney was their top goalscorer. So it's like prime what we remember Watford to be before they just became known for firing their managers. So one month into, not even a month into his tenure at Watford, Garcia got sick.
00:10:00
Zak
So for about two weeks, Martinez and I want to say... His, yeah, joint head became joint head coach alongside Javier Piera.
00:10:10
Zak
Right. So they they took over for a little bit while guess Garcia was sick.
00:10:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank
00:10:14
Zak
And then Garcia left due to illness, which was a bit like, oh, that's a bit kind of crazy. However, Martina stayed a part of this coaching setup, working under the new manager Slavica Djokovic under the season that Watford, obviously, as I said, won automatic promotion in the second place.
00:10:32
Zak
You'd expect, you know, promotion to the Premier League. He'd probably stay. He didn't. he yeah He helped get Watford promoted and then left to return to his old boss, Garcia, as an assistant manager RB...
00:10:47
Zak
Salzburg in Austria at the end of December 2015. So, yeah, he just kind of like left Watford and then immediately went to rejoin his old friend to to take his new venture in Austria.
00:11:00
Zak
Obviously, you know probably know a little bit about Salzburg, right, Greg? Obviously, I think Mane was from there.
00:11:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:11:05
Zak
are part of the Red Bull set-up. They are usually champions in Austria, and this didn't hurt have much of a difference here. So I've got some weird Saints links. So the way the the season they took over at Salzburg...
00:11:17
Zak
In the team was former Loni Takumi Minamino, previously the like Japanese international from Liverpool, and also Giletta Carr, who who like weirdly appears in in a few...
00:11:31
Zak
Of all the people, he's one of the ones that, for some reason, consistently... you know Like ships in the night, we constantly pass Giletta Carr whenever we do these, for some reason, and which I guess says more about how many clubs he's been at than anything else.
00:11:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. He's like the Peter Crouch of centre-backs in the modern era, right?
00:11:44
Zak
So...
00:11:46
Zak
Yeah, except solidly now part of that that Leon setup, I think.
00:11:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
He's played for everyone. Yeah.
00:11:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:11:54
Zak
But they finished the season as winners, which was really good. Kind of an expectation. there're you know They're a strong strong Austrian side. And then they stayed for the twenty sixteen twenty seventeen season, where they won the league and Austrian Cup again. during that time, and I don't know if this is his goalkeeper coach or the fact that there was other bits and pieces, conceded the lowest goals in Austrian Bundesliga history with 24.
00:12:19
Zak
And Garcia massively criticised the Red Bull team sort of set up because this was when the multi-club model really took off and a lot sort of the key Salzburg players then over went over to Leipzig.
00:12:32
Zak
So all of the sort of big players that you know that went to Leipzig were transferred from Salzburg.
00:12:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:12:37
Zak
So they basically lost everybody and they they kind of built a strike force around current Wolves type striker Wang Hee Chan and managed to kind of do really well, which which kind of shows some level of managerial pedigree.
00:12:49
Zak
right to deal with a situation where you've been entirely pilfered and still retain and not only that, do probably the best you've ever done. that was sort of interesting. I don't really know why he left.
00:13:01
Zak
I don't know if it was the end of the contract or what, but it seemed really surprising that he would go after such a level of success. So don't know if it was a two-year contract. or you know But either way They ended up joining French team Saint-Antoine in 2017.
00:13:15
Zak
And that meant that Martinez went with him. So as you as you're starting to notice now, Greg, it's a profile of the two of them. Because wherever Garcia goes, Martinez is his assistant manager.
00:13:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
e
00:13:25
Zak
So unfortunately, for better or worse, it does also mean that their careers are intrinsically tied, right?
00:13:32
Zak
The results of his manager are going to be tied to him as the assistant. which I think you probably get away with a bit more if you were just the goalkeeper coach, but he was the assistant.
00:13:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:13:42
Zak
So that time in France, Greg, was incredibly short because he he only lasted until they only lasted until November. They resigned after they were beaten by rival Olympiacos Lyon, who we've just discussed.
00:13:56
Zak
They were beaten 5-0. And as they're like a rival, would be like, can you imagine if we lost to Pompey 5-0 on the fourth day of the season and Will still was still in charge the next day?
00:14:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, yeah.
00:14:05
Zak
right Right, e that was kind of that that was kind of the end for them, but they didn't they didn't end up employed for long. Because then in January 2018, they took over Olympiakos in Greece. So now you're starting to see where all of these like sort of... So now we've we've been to France.
00:14:24
Zak
We've been to Austria. yeah i We've been to the championship twice. you know it's we've we've been to We've been to Israel.
00:14:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Lots of well-travelled experience.
00:14:32
Zak
We've been to like loads of places. Yeah, and and it seems that like there seems to be a real big mix of like success and also doing absolutely terrible. And what we're going to start to get as well is maybe a season that's good and then sort of fired at the beginning of the season.
00:14:49
Zak
Yeah. Which, again, this is more of a reflection of Garcia. Martinez is just there. I'd like to think that Martinez has kind of helped the good parts of it, especially things like the defensive record at Salzburg. I think it's hugely important to bear in mind because you wouldn't do that unless you had a good shot stopper as well.
00:15:07
Zak
So, yeah. This, however, Greg, was another short spell, and they were gone by early April. Olympiacos finished third that season, which was the first time in seven years they weren't champion.
00:15:19
Zak
They bowed out of the Greek Cup and the Champions League, and it was the first time they hadn't won anything since 2010. So, obviously, that's one of probably the few Greek teams you are aware of, right?
00:15:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wow.
00:15:30
Zak
So, it wasn't
00:15:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
I know at least them and AEK Athens.
00:15:36
Zak
yeah You're right, you're thinking of the ones who were available on FIFA in the rest of the world category.
00:15:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
I
00:15:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
don't know what you mean, mate. What do you mean? What?
00:15:49
Zak
that So yeah, that was kind of, after that, there was a bit of a a bigger gap of unemployment, right? So this was 2018. And now we're we're headed into 2019, where he joined Garcia in a new venture at Kelta Vigo in Spain, which, yeah, was it was a really tough season for them.
00:16:06
Zak
They managed to, put their first season in charge when they took over in November, they managed to keep Vigo up by only one point. narrowly, narrowly preventing relegation. Okay.
00:16:18
Zak
and And I i found more strenuous sort of Saints links because these are very, again, it's very candle in the wind with Saints players and Saints
Ruben Martinez's Recent Roles and Impact
00:16:26
Zak
managers. They joined Vigo after the season, the both Bafal and Wesley Hoyt were on loan there.
00:16:34
Zak
If you remember, we sent them both on loan at the same season. what but We were just shipping off all the players to loan again.
00:16:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
e
00:16:39
Zak
So yeah, just just after that season. then obviously we go in they they go into the second season, and this is something we're going to see again. But we'll talk about that after a word from our partners at Zencastr.
00:16:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform, and Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:17:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:17:16
Zak
And we are back. So, when I left off, Celtic Ego managed to stay up one point. Happy days, right? so Not really, my opinion.
00:17:30
Zak
Probably expected to do better.
00:17:32
Zak
And in the at the beginning of the...
00:17:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't know if the context, right? Staying up by one point to some teams is a huge win. Staying up but point to Man United is a disaster, right?
00:17:38
Zak
I think that there was... i
00:17:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
So it's...
00:17:42
Zak
They performed under expectations, right?
00:17:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:17:44
Zak
they're not They weren't expected to sort of...
00:17:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:17:46
Zak
start like I think they weren't expected to be down that low. And I think the next season after Garcia has left, spoiler, they they won promotion. All this time, by the way, Martinez is the assistant manager.
00:17:59
Zak
think he would technically, Calte Vigo, whilst as the assistant manager, was also maybe the chief analyst. So I think he's like...
00:18:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay.
00:18:07
Zak
Do you know i mean? Because obviously sometimes what you actually have is assistant manager and then other places it's like workplaces, it's deputy manager and other places it's like joint coach. They're all meaning kind of the same things. It really depends on the South.
00:18:19
Zak
It's like how we were talking about how Spores is head of global operations or whatever, but also kind of not.
00:18:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:18:25
Zak
He's kind of basically just in charge of Southampton.
00:18:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:18:28
Zak
Very, very sort of similar vibes. It depends on what's what's going on. But again, as the spoiler of the fact that he leaves, Greg, is because he was he was gone in November 2020 after only winning one of their first nine games.
00:18:42
Zak
Which, you know, imagine a manager only winning one of their first nine games and immediately getting low getting let go in this day and age, Greg, eh?
00:18:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
If only...
00:18:52
Zak
but Nowadays, you you get at least 30 games before they get rid of you because the league is the most important thing. We jest, obviously. So... He was unemployed again in a pattern that quite often repeats itself.
00:19:07
Zak
Garcia became a head coach and he ah was joined by Martinez as a assistant manager. This time at Stad Rems, who are another link to Southampton, with that being one of Will Stills' clubs, as you alluded to, Greg. Yeah.
00:19:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:19:21
Zak
So, their first season, they finished 12th. not too bad, fine. I don't think you hugely expect to do great in a league that has like PSG and Lyon and other kind of teams like that. But also this is the second time they've been in France. So, so we're really getting about now, right? We've been to Spain. We've been to Greece. We've been to France. We've been to Austria.
00:19:42
Zak
We've been to England twice, specifically the championship. We've been to Israel. well We you know that we've been proper knocking around. We've got, at this point, we've built up a wealth of experience. Um, However, we are part of the backroom staff of a you know a manager who yeah seems to do right his first season. The second season seems to be the killer.
00:20:03
Zak
Or in some cases, it's just, you know, he he he ends up in charge of like Salzburg, where... it's It's, you know, there's an expectation you'd win. But also, I very much think that's why they brought him into Olympiacos, right?
00:20:15
Zak
So there's an expectation. And at this point, Martinez is very intrinsically tied to Garcia because everything he's doing. That is going to change, by the way. Not for a huge amount of time, but it will change.
00:20:26
Zak
However, for the time being, we're still talking about his time at REM. So their second season started again, had a similar story occurred, Greg, where they had one win in 10. which meant that he was replaced by Will Steele in October 2022.
00:20:40
Zak
And that was the season that Will Steele took charge, made a name for himself by, you know, sort of having that massive unbeaten run. That was around the time, I think, with all the coaching, and football manager nonsense that we've we've seen before, which, you know, we're already starting to understand is not the entire be-all and end-all of his career.
00:21:00
Zak
And this now marks the split from where him and Garcia move moved on from one another. I don't know if it was an unhappy end to the relationship or they just decided to part the course.
00:21:13
Zak
i'm I'm not really too sure. But either way, you know, this is this is how it ended up. Garcia continued his part of a good first season the poor second, root in in another club he went on.
00:21:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:21:24
Zak
can't remember where he went to after that, but because but he he did the very similar sort of thing that he always does. i think you I think Garcia went on to Belgium, if remember rightly. But Martinez, who obviously we are far more interested in, ended up returning even more to his roots and became a part of the national setup as a goalkeeper coach.
00:21:44
Zak
that's So he went from being the assistant manager for all these different clubs to bringing it back to goalkeeping. And he joined the under-19 Spanish setup in 2023. So helped with the Spanish under-19s.
00:21:56
Zak
And then after a year, made the jump to the under-21s. and then was a under-21s goalkeeper coach for Spain from 2023 to 2024. And he did a bit of work for the senior squad from 2024 until August, before going back to the under under Spanish under-21s, where, according to few of the sources I've managed to find, he's kind he was...
00:22:18
Zak
Still work with the other 21s right up until he joined us. I don't think he's doing both jobs alongside each other. At least that's not been stated anywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes they do do that. And obviously we've all off season for the international.
00:22:30
Zak
yeah. so yeah He spends about two, three years away from Garcia.
00:22:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right.
00:22:37
Zak
But other than that, it's basically just his assistant for a vast majority of his career so far. Which is like, you know, so I've got a list of things I've got this says, because usually this would be the part I'd go off and have a look at their weird agents.
00:22:49
Zak
No idea. I feel like at this point, his agent is just Garcia. So... ah so but What does this say about him as a person? Well, we've got wealth of experience, Greg.
00:23:01
Zak
As I said, we've been around around the world this point.
00:23:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
vast quantities, right? Well-traveled.
00:23:05
Zak
Extremely well-traveled. That's both good and bad, because he's had some really, really good seasons. You know, he was at Watford when they got promoted. He's had some really bad seasons.
00:23:17
Zak
Four months at Olympiacos, not even a month in France in his first world.
00:23:23
Zak
importantly he also won helped win promotion without garcia and he was an assistant manager at that point so he knows the championship he's been in the championship twice he's tasted both victory with watford and defeat with brighton uh especially you know six two aggregate loss to derby it's got bite a little bit he's also loyal almost to a fault like But then also showed that he was able to step out on his own and has started step out and doing his own thing now.
00:23:51
Zak
And also importantly, he's made strides in the national squad. It's always good when we've got international experience. i think that's always helpful when you've got football from different perspectives. We've already seen that with Trollope being sort of in the Welsh setup is we're starting to build a wealth of players and coaches that have had both international and club playing experiences across the breadth of Europe.
00:24:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Not just that, though. Youth as well, right? Being part of youth setups is going to be a huge part of the role.
00:24:14
Zak
Yes.
00:24:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
and look look I think that it feels good. It's great to have that much experience. Nobody's going to go through a career without ups and downs. I don't think you can read too much into it.
00:24:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know How much of that can be attributed to his fault as assistant manager, who knows, frankly. let's be honest. I mean, it's it's hard to put any value on that unless you're actively a part of the setup.
00:24:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
But it's head of experience to bring into the coaching team. And, you know, in the same respect, you don't know in our setup how useful a goalkeeping coach is, whether that means he's also part of the, you know, the wider coaching group for the tactical discussions and whatever.
00:24:47
Zak
Yeah.
00:25:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's just, it's a lot of experience and good work with youth. mean, Spain's youth are particularly good, right? Off the top of my head, that something looked like dings a bell with no factual backing up.
00:25:12
Zak
yeah
00:25:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
But like...
00:25:14
Zak
Well, you've got to have, you know, you've got to have like Barca and Real Madrid's academies, right?
00:25:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:25:19
Zak
So, yeah, I think that's one of the key things for me is also remember he's not being brought in as an assistant manager. He is being brought in as a goalkeeper coach.
00:25:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:25:26
Zak
He just happens to have all of this experience. So the fact that we're going to be working with younger players is a bonus. The fact that he's worked with younger players on an international level means he's worked with good younger players, which is good.
00:25:38
Zak
there is a level of experience and age there that can help Will still. You've got an experienced backroom that, you know, if he needs the advice of other coaches, you know, you've got an extremely well-traveled assistant.
00:25:52
Zak
You've got a now recently retired player. You've got the stability in Karl Martin of somebody that's been at Southampton forever. And now you've also got an older coach who's done been there, done it all, and will also hopefully try and, you know, teach shot stopping to Bozzuno.
00:26:06
Zak
Yeah.
00:26:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
we We can only hope.
Optimism for Ruben Martinez's Future
00:26:09
Zak
so So where I'm at is I think it's actually actually a really good signing. And considering, you know, it's just, it was fascinating to me. i didn't realise sort of how how big this guy's career was. You kind of just hear like, coach.
00:26:22
Zak
And, yeah you know, realising he was an assistant to quite a prominent manager. You know, I knew of Garcia from his short period of Watford. I remember... him being I remember like the the the news story about him being ill.
00:26:33
Zak
like I don't know why I remember that.
00:26:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:26:34
Zak
And obviously just Troy Deeney having his absolute like amazing season at that point. right so So I kind of knew about it, but it's the fact that he's also been in the championship before. So if what we're worried about is Will Stills' lack of championship experience. We've now got a bunch of guys around him who know what that's like.
00:26:51
Zak
So yeah, I just think it's it proves more to me that we are doing better with the hiring than we think we are. And obviously it's quite easy to dismiss lots of the stuff Sports Republic has done. And And I understand why, because of last season.
00:27:05
Zak
However, you know, when you do some digging and some research into it, you're like, oh, they've actually made some quite like good hiring choices here. And, you know, you've got a goalkeeper coach who's worked an international level and also has done bunch of stuff all around the world with various different clubs. So, yeah, I'm kind of, I think it's, it was far more information than I expected to get out of,
00:27:28
Zak
yeah all of this research and took me significantly longer than some of the other episodes just trying to dig out all the information.
00:27:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:34
Zak
So fascinating. And I hope that it just means that we can have some trust in this back room to, you know hopefully put a really decent season together. So,
00:27:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, wait, look, I'm excited. Look, what a great profile again, Zach.
00:27:45
Zak
yeah.
00:27:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
You continue to outdo yourself with the wealth of information you provide. I feel better educat educated than ever about Saints' backroom team and the system we're going to approach and deal with.
00:28:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
just It's just building up the excitement, mate, honestly. I'm so ready. So ready for the first day.
00:28:08
Zak
hey
00:28:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:28:10
Zak
but Once again, mate, it's ah this is the best use that I'm ever going to get out of my history degree. yeah yeah say
00:28:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
I appreciate it.
00:28:17
Zak
as a As a software developer, I'm really, really glad I spent three years studying, I don't know, Cold War, Communist Europe.
00:28:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
you
00:28:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah ah and I'm grateful that you're putting your abilities to a much better use in investigating football.
00:28:30
Zak
Thank you, mate. I appreciate that.
00:28:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
One episode. Brilliant. Well done.
00:28:36
Zak
Awesome. um So once again, thank you for joining us, everybody. We'll be back tomorrow to probably talk about the kit launch that might or may not be happening. I think we're all pray we're all pretty under the impression that it's a kit launch, right, Greg?
00:28:50
Zak
going be really weird if they pull out a signing.
00:28:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:28:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mate, there's some potential for some grade A trolling here, sure.
00:28:57
Zak
Oh, 100%. But it'll be over the way. Very exciting. So I think we might be talking about kits.
00:29:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:29:04
Zak
If not, who knows? If it's not Kit Launch you're probably going to get an episode about kits anyway. So just embrace it.
00:29:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:29:13
Zak
But thank you all for listening. I hope I helped teach you something today about our backroom stuff. Give us a like, give us a comment, all that fun stuff all over on all the socials. Facebook, X, Blue Sky, YouTube, TikTok.
00:29:27
Zak
All of those things. It's it's it's going to be something funny from this episode, hopefully. So yeah, thank you very much, everybody. i wish you a cooler rest of your week and we will see you in the next one.