Leicester City’s Russell Martin Aims for Promotion and Rebuild

Leicester City’s new manager Russell Martin wants the past left where it is – in the history books, not on his back.

A decade on from that 5,000-1 title miracle and three years removed from lifting the FA Cup, Leicester are preparing for only the second League One campaign in their 142-year existence. Back-to-back relegations have turned the King Power from a monument to overachievement into a case study in collapse.

Martin walks straight into that contradiction: a giant in name, a third-tier club on paper.

“Hopefully I'll be judged on the job I do here and not on my previous job and all that stuff,” he told BBC Radio Leicester. The line could apply to both parties. Leicester want a clean slate. So does their manager.

A reputation to repair, a club to rebuild

Martin arrives with his own scars. He guided Southampton to Premier League promotion a little over two years ago, his possession-heavy style winning admirers. Then came a bruising 123-day spell at Rangers that ended abruptly and noisily, leaving his stock dented and his methods questioned.

He has chosen to rebuild in League One, just as Leicester are trying to do the same.

“I know the club got relegated but, prior to that, that club had amazing success over a sustained period of time – like, huge – and of course maybe you get judged based on that,” he said. “We have to find our own way and then be judged on that, because I can't judge people on the last couple of years.”

This is not a manager promising to restore the glory days by copying them. He is asking for the space to construct something different, on and off the pitch.

New power lines at the King Power

Martin is the first big call of a new internal order. His appointment was the headline decision after James McCarron stepped in as sporting director last season, operating beneath chief football officer Jon Rudkin.

Rudkin and owner-chairman Khun Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha have carried much of the blame from an angry fanbase during the club’s slide. Years of missteps in recruitment, wages and planning dragged Leicester from European nights to a points deduction for historical spending breaches.

Martin, though, is not interested in pointing fingers.

“There was real honesty about what's gone on, but now there's real honesty and openness and willingness to move forward,” he said of his talks with the hierarchy. “I can't judge anything that has gone on before because I've not been here.

“You watch it from the outside, and people will make assumptions, but I've been really open to being surprised since I got here and people have been great.”

The message is clear: the inquests can carry on in the stands. Inside the building, the focus is on repair.

Promotion or bust

There is no ambiguity about the target. No soft landing. No gentle talk of “stabilising”.

“It's to get promoted, first and foremost,” Martin said. The second part of the brief is more personal to him: “[And] to play in a way that everyone understands and believes in, feels connected to and makes the fans proud.”

Style and substance. Results and identity. In League One, that is a demanding combination.

Leicester will be the scalp every team wants. The stadium, the history, the expectation – all of it will follow them to places they once visited only in cup ties. For Martin, that pressure becomes both a weapon and a test of his methods.

A squad stripped back

The rebuild has started not with a spree but a clear-out.

The summer has been dominated by exits, particularly among the highest earners and most recognisable faces from the double relegation. Denmark defender Jannik Vestergaard agreed to terminate his contract. Harry Winks, once an England midfielder and a symbol of Leicester’s recent ambition, has gone to Cagliari. Abdul Fatawu’s move to Ipswich Town brought in around £20m.

Those sales are not just about a fresh start. They are about survival within the rules. Leicester’s financial issues, and the points penalty for historical breaches last season, have forced them into tough calls, including the sale of 17-year-old Jeremy Monga to Manchester City.

Losing one of the club’s brightest young talents to ease the books underlines the scale of the reset. This is not a light trim. It is a deep cut.

Ten out-of-contract players were also released in an end-of-season purge, leaving Leicester in the unusual position of starting pre-season without a senior striker on the books. Patson Daka and Jordan Ayew were among those to depart, stripping the squad of proven front-line options.

For a club chasing immediate promotion, that is a stark gap.

Thin up front, thin on time

So far, only two signings have arrived since relegation, with Conor Chaplin the standout addition. The former Ipswich Town forward knows this division and what it takes to get out of it; he was top scorer when Ipswich went up from League One four seasons ago.

He cannot carry the load alone.

Martin is under no illusions about what must come next. “Ideally, we'd have two or three strikers,” he said. “We don't just want one of the same, and it's the same with wingers.

“Whatever we are looking at, whatever profile it is, it has to be right for us. They need to be desperate to come here and play, they need to be desperate to help us to be successful.”

That word – desperate – matters. Leicester cannot simply rely on their name or their stadium to lure players. The manager wants hunger, not tourists. Characters who see League One not as a comedown, but as a launchpad.

Finding a new identity in old surroundings

The paradox of Leicester’s situation is striking. A club that scaled the heights now has to prove it can handle the grind. Tuesday nights, tight pitches, teams who treat a visit from the Foxes as their biggest game of the season.

Martin’s philosophy, based on control, structure and bravery on the ball, will be tested in a division that rarely stands still for long. He wants a team that plays with clarity, that supporters recognise and buy into, that reconnects a fractured fanbase with the players on the pitch.

The past will always hang over this club. The title, the FA Cup, the European runs – they are stitched into Leicester’s story. Martin is not trying to erase that. He is trying to make sure it stops being the only reference point.

Promotion is non-negotiable. The manner of it, though, will decide whether Leicester are simply passing through League One or starting a more profound reset of what they are and what they want to be.