Martin said: “I’d like to thank the university for having me in to talk to students on a wide range of courses about my experiences in football and in business. I really enjoyed it, especially the questions from students at the end.
“I hope to come back again at some point in the future and look forward to building a strong relationship between the university and The Russell Martin Foundation, where we hope to create some work experience and job opportunities for the students.”
The talk went down well with students, who were keen to ask questions about Martin’s leadership and management philosophies, as well as his thoughts on the future of the sport.
Samuel May, a first year Sport and Exercise Science BSc(Hons) student said: “Football hasn't been a sport I've always gravitated towards, but regardless of this fact I was locked in to what Russell had to say from start to finish, and so was everyone else.
“My advice to anyone who's passed up the opportunity to attend these types of guest lectures in the past, is that even if it's something different to what you're interested in, you'll be surprised as to how much you can learn & use in order to continue moving forward.”
Dr Alex Channon, Course Leader for BSc(Hons) Sport Management, said: “Russell’s experiences neatly mirror many of our students’ ambitions, and the theoretical ideas he discussed were demonstrated brilliantly by practical contexts which they can clearly relate to. It was a great addition to the semester’s content for many of our students.”