Leicester City FA Cup tie against Oxford City and Russell Martin’s reputation, Digi Mart USA News (Leicester, England): As evening falls, the Leicester City team coach will travel to the MGroup Stadium, where manager Russell Martin and his players aim to avoid a humiliating FA Cup first round defeat to sixth-tier Oxford City.
A giant-killing would make national and potentially international headlines, and for Martin it could be a defeat he may never shake off. The journey from the East Midlands to Oxfordshire is a sign of how far Leicester have fallen, just five years after lifting the FA Cup and only 10 years after winning the Premier League.
Martin’s managerial career, and perhaps more precisely his reputation, has experienced a sharp decline. He became MK Dons head coach in November 2019 at the age of 33, while still on the club’s playing staff.
In 2020/21, his only full season, MK’s possession figures ranked third in Europe per game, behind only Manchester City and Barcelona, and the club scored against Gillingham following a 56-pass move, a British record.
MK finished 13th that campaign, but Swansea City appointed Martin as their manager. After finishes of 15th and 10th in the Championship, he moved to newly relegated Southampton in summer 2023.
He led Saints back to the Premier League, via a club-record 25-game unbeaten run and a play-off final victory over Leeds United, and it emerged this week that he had been earmarked as a future Manchester United manager by the club’s director of football, Jason Wilcox.
His stock was never higher, but within six months it had crashed. Martin’s refusal to change his possession-based approach became a stick to beat him with as Southampton floundered.
He was sacked in December 2024 with Saints bottom of the table, having claimed just five points from 16 games.
Martin was then named Rangers boss in summer 2025 but lasted just 123 days, the shortest stint by a permanent manager in the club’s history, after fans turned on him amid poor results and PR problems. When Leicester appointed the 40-year-old in June, as they prepared for League One football following successive relegations, the appointment drew widespread derision.
Criticism grew after early-season defeats, most notably a 4-0 loss to Oxford United at the King Power Stadium. Martin has won just 15 of 53 games since leading Southampton to promotion, although he is currently enjoying his best run of form in that period, with Leicester taking 10 points from their past five matches.
Martin has become a lightning rod for criticism, and whenever Leicester drop points the criticism intensifies. After the Foxes twice let slip a lead to draw 2-2 at home to Stevenage last Saturday, comments on the club’s posts on X called for his removal, questioned his selections, tactics and substitutions, and described his approach as a possession obsession.
The criticism about tactical inflexibility is certainly valid, as his approach contributed to his downfall at Southampton and to some of Leicester’s poor results this season. Tonight’s game has all the ingredients of an FA Cup upset, with an underperforming club facing an in-form non-League side that is second in the National League North and includes several former EFL players, among them former Sheffield Wednesday and Watford winger Fernando Forestieri and former Bristol City and Oxford United striker Matty Taylor.
Oxford City’s ground holds 3,500 and has a 3G pitch. Leicester should be able to dominate possession, but if they come up short, Martin’s critics will feel vindicated.
If Leicester win without fuss, however, the narrative around Martin may begin to change, and a sustained promotion push could even earn him praise for reversing his and the club’s decline.
For now, Martin must avoid a defeat that could define his reputation.
