It’s always interesting to see how certain managers are perceived, and it’s hard to think of many who are thought more highly of than Roberto Martinez while also achieving very little.
In fairness, he did win the FA Cup with Wigan but they were also relegated, while his time at Everton eventually ended with him being sacked.
He’s now in charge of Belgium and has some genuinely world-class players at his disposal, but they’ve never looked like they truly believe they can win anything and a major final has eluded them.
Martinez is a manager who will get the team playing some good football and every now and then they will play good teams off the park, but they also tend to be weak in defence and that hinders any search for silverware.
A report from The Mail has now suggested that he could be a target for Newcastle United as they look to replace Steve Bruce, and it would only take £2m to free him from that Belgium contract so that would be cheap, but you also have to wonder if the Magpies want to go for the cheap option at this stage.
There’s also an interesting reunion with Graeme Jones on the table as the now-caretaker manager of Newcastle has worked as an assistant to Martinez in the past, so that would allow for some kind of continuity.
Clearly, he would be an upgrade on Bruce, but Champions League Football simply needs to be the aim for the new owners as soon as it’s possible, and it’s hard to say that Martinez is the man to deliver that.