Jenkins 'Bitterly Disappointed' With Martinez

Huw Jenkins is 'bitterly disappointed' with Martinez's decision to leave the club, but says their relationship will still be 'intact'.

The Swansea City chairman also told BBC Sport that he thought the Spaniard would be here for the long-term, but says they just couldn't compete with the lure of Premiership football.

Jenkins said:

'He wanted to take up the opportunity of testing himself against what the Premier League had to offer,'

'That's what he based his decision on in the end.

'He's a very ambitious man. Sometimes when you take on ambitious managers, that type of thing does come.

'They are going to be eager to move on, eager to develop their career and sometimes that's the nature of the beast.'

The chairman also commented on what has angered Swansea fans probably the most - the fact the Martinez said he'd only leave if he was forced to.

Roberto often spoke about his loyalty to the club and criticised players who weren't - the likes of Lee Trundle and Andy Robinson who decided to move on.

Jenkins added:

'I think he certainly made those statements,'

'You mustn't forget he's a young man learning his way in the game and perhaps looking back or in the future he may be a bit more careful about how he says things.

'But I'm sure he did say them in good faith from his heart as he felt at the time.'

'We've got a great relationship that we've had not only for the last two-and-a-half years he's been here as a manager but as a player.

'I think when we get to these situations you've got to take into account the personal feelings of who you are dealing with, whether it is a player or manager, and you've got to deal with that accordingly.

'You can be assured our relationship will be intact after this.'

Jenkins wouldn't reveal how much compensation they will receive from Wigan but the figure is in the region of £1-2 million.

Not only did the fans believe that he'd be here in the long-term to meet his initial plans of getting us into the Premiership, but Jenkins did as well:

'I'm bitterly disappointed,'

'I felt that after last season just missing out on the play-offs we would bring a few players in, adjust a little bit and really look forward to another challenge to see if we can get into the play-offs at the very least.

'I think all our supporters were fully looking forward to that. It's obviously a big blow to us.

'I thought when he signed his new contract with us, he would be here at least three to five years and we could see where the club had gone over that period, and whether he stayed with us longer would be down to his wishes.

'That's how I felt and how I thought was going to be the case.'

'The club is greater than any man and I just want everybody to get fully behind whoever is in charge, but most importantly fully behind the club 100% and keep us going forward.'

One thing I think us Swansea fans should do is compliment Huw Jenkins in the way he has conducted himself this week in dealing with Martinez's departure - something he couldn't prevent.

He's got the club's best interests at heart and he was part of the board who chose to take a gamble on him 2 years ago, which kick started his managerial career.

Who knows where Martinez would be now if we didn't appoint him as manager?

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