Swansea City fans will get their first taste of life under Russell Martin at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
The 35-year-old will oversee his first week of training at Fairwood before making the trip to Ewood Park this weekend.
So what exactly can the Jack Army expect under the new regime?
We spoke to Toby Lock – sports editor at the Milton Keynes Citizen – to find out more from the manager’s time in League One.
What can Swansea fans expect from a Russell Martin team?
TL: Expect a style of play that leaves your heart in your mouth more often than not.
Modern teams like to ‘play out from the back’ but it might frighten a few supporters in the early stages.
You’ll see a few mistakes, you’ll get a few people wondering whether it’s too extreme, too unnecessary, but he’ll ask you to ‘trust the process’ and he won’t budge from it.
READ MORE: Russell Martin aims to make Swansea City signings in ‘next week or so’ as transfer talks held
How do MK Dons fans view him after his time at the club?
Negatively. They feel like they’ve been duped, to be honest.
When the dust settles, until a new manager comes in here and starts to get a few results and the club moves on, Russell Martin will be a sullied name at Stadium MK.
In a few months, if things go the right way at Stadium MK, his groundwork for the club might be appreciated a bit more but at the moment, the wounds are still fresh.
What were the positives and negatives of his tenure as manager at the club?
The overwhelming positives are the identity the club has again.
For a long time, they were known to have a nice attractive style of play, and a few managers took the club away from that sense.
He came in and brought about something identifiable again, whether it was extreme or not, people knew it was MK Dons playing and this was their way.
The club is on the up, the squad looks excellent heading into the new season, and if anything, his departure has galvanised them.
The negative of his tenure is certainly the way his departure played out.
Martin favours a back three. How does he generally set up a side?
A back three, with wing-backs who don’t really do the back part!
A tricky number 10 and a bold anchor in the midfield who doesn’t mind being surrounded by players keen to snatch it off him.
It’s a scary style early on, but once everyone is used to it, it’ll only be the opposition fans and media who look at it like that.
READ MORE: How Swansea City could line up at Blackburn Rovers as transfer hint emerges
What are the requirements of being in a Russell Martin team?
Confidence on the ball at all costs.
If you’re nervous on it, you won’t last, and that counts for the keeper too – expect to see him 30 yards off his line playing in a sweeper role.
When it works, it’s brilliant to watch, it’s thrilling. When mistakes creep in through nervousness or unease, that player will be exposed.
It might be considered overplaying, but when it works, it’s so frustrating to play against.
Goals might not come until latter stages of games when they’ve run a team to death and they have nothing left.
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He’s already mentioned Swansea’s academy since joining the club. How much faith does he like to put in youngsters?
He loves blooding young players, and some of Dons’ best moments last season came from players who really established themselves as first team players.
David Kasumu and Matthew Sorinola were two last season who were bit-part players under the previous regime but Martin game them a shot and both became top names on the team sheet.
Sorinola has since moved on to Belgium where he’s at a top club, and Kasumu skippered the side on Saturday against Bournemouth.
If they’re good enough, they’re old enough.
Do you believe he has sufficient contacts/pulling power to attract transfer targets?
I believe so, certainly at League One level anyway.
Swansea will obviously be swimming in a different pond to Dons when it comes to the sort of players they attract, but bringing in the likes of Andrew Surman, Josh McEachran, Cameron Jerome and Richard Keogh to the club last season, he can attract in strong Championship calibre players.
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