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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Mathew Davies

Norwich City nosedive points to one thing for Swansea City and acting now is imperative

Norwich City's defeat to Burnley on Tuesday night means it's four defeats in five for Dean Smith's side.

Frustrations are growing in East Anglia, with no win in six and the Canaries now slumping to seventh place in the Championship.

It is by no means terminal for the Norfolk outfit, with more than two-thirds of the season still to go, but questions are already being raised over Smith's future at the club.

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Watching the game at Turf Moor showed two teams playing different games. The Clarets under Vincent Kompany are impressive viewing - their 4-0 smashing of Swansea City recently proved that - whereas Norwich were far more ponderous.

Burnley are now seven points ahead of Norwich at the top of the table but Smith remains bullish about their chances. “Listen I have come back from a bigger gap than this to get Aston Villa promoted in this league," he said. "That was only with 12 games to go.

“We saw in this league earlier in the season with the quality in our group you can go five or six wins on the spin. We need to get the big players back.”

The question remains, however, will he get the time to do it? This is where Swansea and Russell Martin unfortunately fall in. The 36-year-old represented Norwich for nine years as a player and will no doubt hold an affinity with the club who are reportedly keeping tabs on him should they dispense of Smith's services.

An easy - or some may deem it lazy - link perhaps but it does throw Martin's future in SA1 into the spotlight. For what it's worth - a great deal in this case - he has always maintained his happiness since he arrived in south Wales the summer before last.

"Would I? Yes," said Martin when discussing the possibility of signing a new deal at a recent fans' forum. "But I haven't been offered one.

"I'm comfortable with the length of contract I have. We love it here, we're really happy, we love the job that we're doing, so it's all good and we're really comfortable with where it's all at."

His current deal doesn't expire until 2024 but fans know the pain of losing managers before their time; it's happened with the likes of Roberto Martinez, Brendan Rodgers and Graham Potter, for example.

Getting the head coach tied down to a new contract is surely one of Swansea chief Jake Silverstein's main priorities. From his latest comments one gets the impression they hope Martin is here for the foreseeable.

"We want Russ to be here for a long time and I think we are early in the adventure of what we are building here with Russ," he said at a second supporters' event earlier this month.

“We are committed, whether with this manager or his eventual successor, to this style of football. We also think it's part of the foundation that makes Swansea special and unique. As I say, we want Russell to be here a long time and I think we can all see the growth in the players working with him and his staff.

"We are in the process of making sure the development teams are learning to play ‘the Swansea Way’ so that as they make their way through the youth ranks and eventually into the first team, they're not having to rewire their instincts in the way that footballers who grow up in other organisations have to when they come here and try to learn to play our way. We are deeply committed to this. Please be reassured."

Acting on their desire to have Martin as their long-term boss needs to be their next step. Norwich won't be the only ones looking at a manager who has overseen a club rise up the toughest division around playing a brand of football people admire.

The head coach is going places, no question. Swansea will hope it's with them.

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