Russell Martin has signed a new contract until 2019

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Stands back and waits..................

[Number9 272]

.

[Tired 102]

Good stuff. He is clearly well thought of at the club and is still a good player and a great professional to have around.

[Clint 221]

How many managers is that now? Surely they can''t all be wrong? I''m sure a large number of our fans will think so!

I think this is good news and Farke''s comments did suggest that he may not necessarily be a a certain starter despite being club captain.

[Woodman 92]

This thread is going to be brilliant, I''m off to get some popcorn...

[ec-p 98]

Happy for him to stay as back up but not sure that he should still be captain, thought maybe Naismith might have been given the nod.

[Guest]

Good squad player still. As mentioned, not sure he is one of the first on the team sheet but definitely a match day squad player.

[Highland Canary 76]

Presumably, the contract awarded is entirely consistent with the board''s corporate strategy.

[Branston Pickle 3,696]

Good stuff - we need guys like Martin as much as the Maddisons. Rarely lets us down despite the opinions of some on here, and clearly Webber and Farke can see this. We obviously need more depth in defence, but keeping what we have can also be key.

[Rich T The Biscuit 562]

I''ll go first.

Been a great servant but this is not a forward step, appreciate we need some stability but he is no longer good enough to play week in week out so I hope this is some kind of back up and supporting role.

If we go in to the season with him still being first choice we can right off another season.

We needed change and progression and he is no longer up to the challenge!

[JF 694]

Good stuff. Anyone who knows him will know how important it is to have him in the dressing room and around the squad. Not convinced he will be a regular starter but his attitude is spot on

[hampton canary 24]

Club captain is presumably different to team captain, because he is certainly not the leader you want on the pitch.

[king canary 7,680]

Pretty much echo rock the boat.

I''m happy if he''s a backup/squad player. If he remains a first choice centre half I''ll be concerned.

[Captain Birdseye 0]

Unbelievable honestly he has had a shocking couple of seasons

My expectations were already low for next season and now they are in the relegation zone

Sausage eater out Messiah back

[KeiranShikari_2 0]

Another year of dodgy backpasses and failing to win headers awaits us.Obviously hugely important to the squad though even if he''s not that good at his football job.

[Lessingham Canary 99]

Great news !! gives him the opportunity to finish his badges, so by the end of the contract will be ready to take his place among the coaching staff at Colney ;-)

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,613]

Will be on reduced terms in return for a slightly longer contract. Immediate wage reduction is an important goal and this helps towards that.

He is a an acceptable defender at Championship level but hopefully won''t be first choice in a back 2. I would be interested to see how he does in a back 3 though, which I have a feeling is the way the club are moving.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

Might be an indication that Klose is off? and the club needed to maintain some stability in the defensive side of the squad.

[Feedthewolf 4,894]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]Will be on reduced terms in return for a slightly longer contract. Immediate wage reduction is an important goal and this helps towards that.

He is a an acceptable defender at Championship level but hopefully won''t be first choice in a back 2. I would be interested to see how he does in a back 3 though, which I have a feeling is the way the club are moving.[/quote]Looked much more solid in a back three in the Prem, IIRC. Pinto is a natural RWB, we just need the LWB because Toffolo clearly isn''t it. Wonder whether he might even consider Josh for that role, in the same way that Conte converted Victor Moses into an excellent RWB in a 3-4-3 last season. Stranger things have happened.

[pliff 4]

[quote user="Yellowbeagle"]Might be an indication that Klose is off? and the club needed to maintain some stability in the defensive side of the squad.[/quote]

Defensive stability with Russell Nartin what planet are you on?

[Yellowbeagle 0]

[quote user="pliff"][quote user="Yellowbeagle"]Might be an indication that Klose is off? and the club needed to maintain some stability in the defensive side of the squad.[/quote]

Defensive stability with Russell Nartin what planet are you on?[/quote]

I didnt mean it as he''s the best defender but to overhall the entire defensive side of the team in one go is asking for trouble. Hopefully the new players will mean he''s on the bench. The fact he can play right back as well (imo where he should be aiming to play) is handy when we''re cutting the budget.

[percy varco 201]

Part of our defensive problem. Not the solution.

Had his go.,time for a change. Very Little old Norwich to me. Shame. Rewarded for being a good guy

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

I''m not surprised by this at all.

We need to retain some familiarity, stability and experience moving forward. Russ gives the squad all of that, regardless of footballing ability.

I''m relived Webber appreciates this. If we could sort out the retention of Howson, then between him and Russ we have two good pros who can help the younger players flourish.

[Crafty Canary 508]

If I was Highland I''d say you couldn''t make it up!

[hogesar 9,760]

Good news.

He''s a good player and he was our best CB last season, makes sense that out of all of them we prioritise him being retained.

On top of that he''s clearly well respected and anyone who''s spoken to members of our squad privately outside of the media tend to echo that, something they also do to the media saying that.

If you then re-enforce that by saying it''s clear a decent run of managers and coaches have all deemed him good enough and you''d have to imagine it''s probably some of our more ignorant fans who thought Ryan Bennett was destined for great things who have got it wrong here.

Then, to finish everything off, he''s a great club ambassador, loves it here and does a fair bit for the community.

Literally nothing not to like here.

[Essjayess 307]

Defence needed a major clearout close season, we got that early with Bassong, Bennett, Turner and Whittaker leaving. If any one of the old guard defence was going to stay, Russ was going to be the one. Yea we all know he is not one of the greatest defenders this last couple of seasons, but he is much more than that for the club in general. Overall the plusses outweigh the minuses, so well done Russ, besides, we may well need him and Naismith to add some wisdom to the much more youthful side that we seem to be expecting, just hope they and Wes can keep up with so many younger legs out there.

[Mr Apples 1,334]

I''m just glad Farke has successfully identified, and filled the role of club scapegoat for the foreseeable future. It''ll take the pressure off the other players and provide whingers with a familiar face (so they don''t have to think too hard).If Naismith stays that should fill the vice scapegoat position and we have a variety of candidates for young scapegoat.The future is bright.Apples

[Commando Canary 0]

Absolute joke, we are going for a squad overhaul and this liability is given an extension.

All this club loyalty nonsense, he is the weekest link and has been for a couple of seasons at least...

He will be found out, just a pity Farke didn''t study the reason we''ve leaked goals.

Farke says ''club Captain'', Martin says Team Captin, I hope the latter is mistaken!

[city4eva 215]

lets just build a team round RM and plummet down another division.He should have been the first to leave

[andyc24_uk 63]

Solid Championship backup to Pinto at RB and allows us to loan the younger players out; No problems from me with keeping him around as cover - but he''s lower end of league 1 standard at CB at the best - I hope under Farke we never see him in the middle again unless we''re throwing him on as an additional defender late on to protect a lead.