Swansea City hold contract talks with Russell Martin amid Norwich City links as Joe Allen, Jamie Paterson and Ryan Manning updates given

Martin spoke about Ryan Manning, Jamie Paterson and Joe Allen ahead of his side's trip to Bristol City

Swansea City have held talks with Russell Martin over a new contract for the head coach.

The 36-year-old put pen to paper on a three-year deal with the Swans when he arrived in south Wales last year. Victory over Cardiff City on Sunday lifted Swansea up to fourth in the Championship, the highest position they have reached under the current coaching staff.

And the club are now in the early stages of discussions with the Swansea boss over the possibility of a contract extension amid links to the Norwich City role, with Canaries boss Dean Smith coming under fierce criticism following a run of six games without a win at Carrow Road.

READ MORE: Joe Allen sees specialist as Rob Page hints at Wales World Cup squad surprise but injury blow confirmed

“They have a really good manager, Dean. I still know a lot of people at the club, a lot of good friends in and around the area, but that's as far as it goes. They’ve got a great manager in Dean," said Martin on the links to the managerial position at his former club.

“I've got no doubt that they'll pick up results again at some point soon so not really [paying attention to speculation]. We're in a job that we absolutely love with people we absolutely love doing it with. That’s the most important thing really.

“Our families are really happy. All the time it's like that, we’re happy and enjoying it here, then all of that stuff [speculation] is just noise.

“I’m sure it piques people’s interest because it’s a club I was at for a long time and Gilly [assistant head coach Matt Gill] is from there, but it’s exactly the same as when I was asked a few weeks ago about whatever job it was.

“We’re really happy here and I hope we're here for a long time, and I mean that. The club have spoken about potentially extending our stay and all that stuff so we'll see how that goes. We're more than open to that. We would like that.

“That’s up to the club to decide whether we’re doing a good enough job for that. It’s been 15 months of really hard work.

“I hope everyone can see we’re on the right path, hopefully early on in the journey together, but how well we do on the pitch will impact how long we’re here.”

Meanwhile, Joe Allen is not expected to play for Swansea prior to the World Cup break. The Swans have five more matches to play before the Championship schedule is halted for a month due to the tournament in Qatar.

Allen has been absent since sustaining a hamstring injury during Swansea's 3-0 triumph over Hull City in mid-September, and while he is set to be sidelined for a few more weeks, Martin believes the 32-year-old has a good chance of being involved in the global showpiece next month.

"All focus on us now is on taking the Swansea hat off. It's about getting him ready for trying to give him every opportunity to be ready for his country to play on the biggest stage, something he's played a huge part in getting them there," said the head coach.

"He's disappointed not to be playing for us and it's been a real struggle for him. It's been a battle for him. He's been desperate to get ready for Swansea and Wales. Now, we've had to accept, or almost push Joe into not trying to get ready for us. If we can get him ready for the World Cup and he does really well for Wales, he comes back to us in a better place anyway.

"It's been a huge source of frustration and disappointment for us. There's been some mistakes along the way with his injury which is frustrating. But he's on the right path now. The only positive is he has a chance of being ready for the World Cup for Wales."

Despite the blow with Allen, Swansea have received two significant boosts ahead of their trip to Bristol City as Martin confirmed both Jamie Paterson and Ryan Manning would be included in the matchday squad at Ashton Gate.

"We have Ryan Manning back which is great for us," he said. "Jamie Paterson is also back in the squad tomorrow which will really help us get through this tough schedule.

"We have good options now. I think pretty much everyone has been used in the squad in the last four or five weeks. We spoke about it with the lads, how important everyone is, not just the guys that start on the pitch, the people who come on to help us finish games.

"These next five games are going to be the same. We need to try and rotate a bit I would have thought and make sure we keep people fresh and adapt to every game in the best way we possibly can."

Kick-off in Bristol is at 12pm on Saturday.

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