Redundancy and love - how Motherwell shaped Portugal manager Martinez


Roberto Martinez opens the door to a busy barbershop in Motherwell and sits down shyly. He doesn't have an appointment, but he ends up getting lucky and the barber - perhaps confused by the lack of hair to cut - calls him before starting work. There's still no sign of recognition as to who he is, so imagine the reaction of staff and other customers when the casual conversation escalates to the point of asking, 'What do you do, mate?'. The answer to that question was that the Spaniard was taking a break from overseeing Belgium's golden generation of Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and others. Perhaps this is something Martinez will enjoy on his trips back to Motherwell, just outside Glasgow. After all, the west of Scotland has a habit of bringing you back to reality, whether intentional or not. It is also the birthplace of his wife, Beth, who he met during his year-long spell playing for Lanarkshire, an experience that was "very good because it wasn't good", the Portugal manager revealed in 2014. Anyone plugged into Motherwell's social media algorithm might be used to a fair bit of Martinez content appearing in their feed. During the 2018 festive period, he was photographed with one of the chefs at the Moorings Hotel. In 2021, an image circulated of him watching local club Motherwell Phoenix training. "It's not every day that Roberto Martinez shows up and watches your training session and shows genuine interest," they posted at the time. The Spaniard was midway through a six-year tenure as Belgium manager at that point. Under Martinez, Belgium celebrated three consecutive years as FIFA's top-ranked nation, but he failed to guide a star-studded team to major honor. However, he led them to a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and the quarter-finals of Euro 2020. They lost to the winners of the tournaments - France and Italy. Those six years with Belgium came after guiding Swansea City back into the second tier of English football, winning the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic and securing a fifth-place finish at Everton. But it was nine months at Motherwell that shaped Martinez. It was there that he met his future wife, with whom he raised two children. There was no romance on the field, however. The former midfielder failed to live up to expectations after arriving from Wigan in 2001. He made sixteen appearances, only eight of them as a starter, until his dismissal - along with 18 other players - when the Fir Park club went into administration. "Motherwell was a very good experience because it wasn't a good experience," he recalled. "As a coach, it helped me immensely. Being able to understand a dressing room going through administration was, at the time, very painful, but it made me the coach I am now. As a whole, I really enjoyed Scottish football. It wasn't a success from a personal point of view at the time, but it became one of the biggest football lessons in my development as a coach." Martinez also had to deal with relegation at Wigan, a sacking at Everton and a shock World Cup group stage exit with Belgium before resigning in 2022. Did any of these hurt as much as being sacked as a player? Well, thatit certainly played a role in his resilience as a coach. The Portugal boss, who is out of contract this summer, is once again overseeing another generation of world-class talent with huge expectations. Martinez has missed just six of his 40 games since being appointed in 2023. Portugal won the Nations League last summer, beating Germany in the semi-finals and Euro 2024 winners Spain in the final. Can this be translated to the World Cup? They were knocked out by France in the Euro quarter-finals two years ago but traveled to the United States with one of the strongest squads in the competition. Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo and Nuno Mendes are among his defensive options. Then there are midfielders Joao Neves, Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, Pedro Neto and Rafael Leão in attack. Not reaching the final stages would look like yet another missed opportunity for Martinez and his elite squad, and they will be looking to improve on their opening Group K draw with Congo when they face Uzbekistan on Tuesday (6pm BST) and then Colombia.

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