Redundancy & love - how Motherwell made Portugal boss Martinez

Under Roberto Martinez, Belgium celebrated three straight years as Fifa's top-ranked nation, but he was unable to guide a star-studded team to a major honour.

He did, however, lead them to a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and the last eight of Euro 2020. He lost to the eventual tournament winners on both occasions - France and Italy.

Those six years with Belgium came after guiding Swansea back to the second tier of English football, winning the FA Cup with Wigan and securing a fifth-placed finish at Everton.

Now Portugal boss, he is again overseeing another crop of world-class talent with huge expectancy.

But it was nine months in Motherwell as a player that shaped Martinez. It was where he met his future wife, with whom he has raised two children.

There was no romance on the pitch, though. The former midfielder failed to live up to the hype after arriving from Wigan in 2001.

Sixteen appearances, just eight of which were starts, then redundancy - 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 manager it has helped me immensely. Being able to understand a dressing room undergoing administration was at the time very hurtful, but it has made me the manager 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 has become one of the biggest footballing lessons in my development as a manager."

Read Nick McPheat's article in full here.