Martin wanted to add former Cobblers boss to backroom staff at MK Dons

Southampton manager Russell Martin has admitted he wanted to add former Northampton Town manager Colin Calderwood to his backroom staff while he was MK Dons boss.

The pair worked together during Martin's playing days at Norwich City, with Calderwood the assistant manager to Canaries boss Chris Hughton, where the defender was made captain of the side.

Calderwood had a decent managerial career of his own, leading Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and Hibernian before, most recently, Cambridge United.

Martin took over as manager at MK Dons in November 2019, building his backroom staff with the likes of Luke Williams, Matt Gill and Dean Thornton, but Calderwood was always on his radar.

Now in charge of the Saints, after two seasons at Swansea City following his departure from Stadium MK, Martin finally added Calderwood to his coaching staff at St Mary's.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, he admitted he had tried to bring the former Cobblers manager to both Swansea and Milton Keynes.

"We’ve spoken a lot even when he’s not worked with me," Martin said. "I tried to get him at my two previous clubs and it couldn’t quite happen for various reasons.

"We worked together at Norwich many moons ago when he was the assistant manager. I used to moan all the time to him and he had a brilliant way of being able to deal with that.

“He just has a great relationship with the players, and he’s a coach throughout my career who I’ve stayed in real constant contact with and discussed football."