MARTIN EXPECTS WILCOX TO EXIT SAINTS
SOUTHAMPTON boss Russell Martin has admitted that the club’s director of football Jason Wilcox is likely to join Manchester United.
The former Blackburn winger left his role as academy director at Manchester City to join the Saints last summer and orchestrated the deal that poached Martin and his coaching staff from Championship rivals Swansea.
However, rumours emerged during Monday’s 3-2 defeat to Ipswich that the 13-time Premier League champions had made a formal approach to name Wilcox their new technical director, offering Southampton a compensation fee equivalent to a year’s salary.
No official announcement was forthcoming from either club, but Martin said on Friday that he believes the 53-year-old will depart St Mary’s.
“I have nothing but good things to say about Jason,” said the former Norwich full-back. “He is a good person and you never want to see good people walk out of the building.
“It has not been clarified what is happening because Phil (Parsons, CEO) and the ownership group have a job to protect our club as much as we can.
“There is still a lot of stuff legally that needs to be worked through by both clubs. But if he ends up going, which looks likely, I wish him nothing but the best.
“He has played such a big role in changing the culture here. What he does has enabled us to be the leaders we want to be. He has been so supportive and hopefully we did a good job for him.
“At the end of the day, Manchester United have a job to get the guy that they want. He moved down here from there, and I’m sure the relationship will continue beyond this. He is a good guy and, whatever happens, it will not affect the process we are working on.”