Roy Keane slams his future son-in-law's former boss after poor performances saw him sacked

Roy Keane has hit out at former manager for refusing to deviate from his unsuccessful tactics. The Saints suffered relegation from the on Sunday to .

It marked a league record for the earliest relegation, with seven matches still to play. The following day saw manager , though the seeds of failure during Martin's spell at the helm.

Martin, who took over the managerial reins at in June 2023, guided them to the top flight through the Championship play-offs in 2024. But by December, after a humiliating 5-0 loss to Tottenham, he was sacked as the Saints languished nine points adrift of safety.

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He frequently came under fire for his unwavering commitment to playing out from the back - mirroring the approach of most elite clubs - which failed spectacularly as the team scraped together only one victory and suffered 13 losses out of 16 games with him in charge.

One player in his squad was centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis, the fiancé of legend Keane's daughter Leah. And after the Saints’ fate was sealed, Keane seized the chance to publicly call out his future son-in-law's former coach.

The Irishman said on the most recent episode of the podcast: "We can be critical of managers who stick to their guns – went down with Vincent Kompany last year. Russell Martin [who was at Southampton] is a good manager.

"They go up to United and lose 1-0 [in their first game of the season]. After the game he was interviewed about the goalkeeper giving away the ball – he got caught at the edge of the box.

“The interviewer picked out that mistake and he said, ‘But there were lots of other times we got out’, but you’re thinking, ‘That was the defining moment of the match!’ It doesn’t matter whether you got out 99 times, that was the moment that cost you – and that kept happening over the next few months.”

Harwood-Bellis took to on Monday to share his anguish at dropping down to the Championship, writing: "It's really hard to put into words how heartbroken and frustrated I am by this season. After the highs of last season, I'm so sorry we didn't manage to push on and perform like we know we're capable of.

"I truly believe in this team and I know we'll be back stronger. You fans deserve it. It felt important to come on here and say a huge thank you to those that stood by us all season. You've cheered us on no matter what, and please believe me when I say we've heard, seen and felt the support.

"Thank you, Saints. It's been hard to put into words how disappointing this feels, but we've got to focus on finishing the season as a team, together"

Martin recently opened up on his dismissal for the first time, telling : "I'm frustrated I'm not there anymore but now I know the journey must start somewhere else. [You have to] try and make sure that you're in a job long enough to see out your plans. When I signed a new contract in the summer, I was really hoping [to see it out].

"It's always tough when you get promoted to the Premier League, it's tough for any team, but I felt we had a lot of young players and we were trying to grow something. Am I surprised by it in football? No, not at all. Of course, I'm disappointed but it's been so much learning. I've learned so much so I feel we'll definitely be better for it.

"I see so many managers and speak to so many coaches who came in to watch us work. After they lose their job, they feel regretful that they changed too much of what they wanted at the very beginning.

“I don't feel we did that. I have disappointments over maybe making too many changes or adapting too much. The biggest challenge for me was convincing everyone they belonged there and without evidence of winning games, that becomes really difficult."

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