Martin

Tuesday’s 4-0 thumping of Bromley followed the 2-1 win over Doncaster which dampened the external noise.

Martin – a sometimes polarising personality with fans who have criticised his style and ability following a 17-game spell at Rangers last season – had been the target of anger following two wins in eight which left them 17th in League One and a point above the relegation zone.

Home defeats by Burton, Oxford and Peterborough were a world away from the Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid in 2017.

That has little bearing internally at the club and BBC Sport can reveal the Foxes were working under a transfer embargo for five weeks in the summer.

It related to the EFL’s Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) with an independent Club Financial Review Panel agreeing future Premier League distributions within Leicester’s SCMP calculation could not be used to increase their spending capacity.

It meant the club could not sign players until they brought money in, although it only disrupted the order of summer business.

Jeremy Monga and Abdul Fatawu were not sold until the middle of July and only after Monga left for Manchester City on 11 July were the Foxes able to bring in Conor Chaplin and Alex McCarthy five days later.

Four of the starting XI on Tuesday signed on deadline day and 66% of the players joined after the season started.

Leicester missed out on targets who were not willing to wait but Chaplin, McCarthy and Wes Burns were just three who were prepared to hold on to join Martin.

It is the relationships the head coach has built and something which has started to turn the tide at Seagrave.

Martin inherited a broken, expensive squad, which had lost the faith and connection with supporters and a dressing room which let egos get in the way and lacked work ethic.

In a different financial reality, it needed to be stripped back and, including loans and academy exits, 34 players left the club in the summer and 16 arrived.

Sources have told BBC Sport the atmosphere at the club has now markedly improved.

The £100m training ground is one of the best in the country – with a herb garden and golf course – but has been seen as part of the problem over the decline in standards.

Players have been allowed to become too comfortable but Martin has worked hard to change the culture and behaviours.

There is a blanket ban on mobile phones in the canteen and anyone breaking the rules is not fined, they run.

Players – and staff – have to run the length of the pitch and back in 35 seconds three times, with a 35-second break in between.

The same punishment is handed out for lateness, with Martin and his senior staff also adhering to it to set the standards.

Earlier this season players left tape and drinks at the swimming pool and were shown a picture the next day. The punishment was the same. Run.

MARTIN Freeman looked happier than ever as he made a rare red carpet appearance alongside his girlfriend Rachel Benaissa.

The Sherlock actor, 55, was joined by the French actress, 31, at the premiere of his new film A Long Winter during the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday evening.

The couple, who have been dating since 2020, shared a giggle as they posed together for photographers at the glamorous event.

Martin looked dapper in a dark suit with a patterned shirt and white T-shirt underneath, while Rachel opted for a blue striped shirt tucked into high-waisted black trousers and chunky heels.

The pair stood close together on the red carpet, with Rachel showing off her voluminous curly hair as they smiled for the cameras.

Martin stars alongside Outlander actress Caitríona Balfe and Fred Hechinger in A Long Winter, which follows a family preparing for the harsh winter months in the American mountains.

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The actor previously spent 16 years with his former partner Amanda Abbington, with whom he shares two children, Grace, 21, and Joe, 18, before their split in 2016.

Rachel, who has appeared in Normal People, This Way Up and Netflix film Irish Wish, has since become a familiar presence in Martin’s family life.

The actress previously appeared in a TikTok video shared by his daughter Grace, dancing alongside the family to a song from Martin’s festive film Nativity.

Martin has also offered a rare insight into their relationship, revealing on Jessie and Lennie Ware’s Table Manners podcast that the couple enjoy cooking together.

Speaking about Rachel’s love of food, he said: “She’s not a Cordon Bleu… she’s a massive cheese and wine w****,” before adding: “That’s what she would say about herself.”

He continued: “She says that about herself, ‘I’m a cheese and wine w****’. It’s not all she is, but no, she loves all that stuff. We like cooking.”

Marco Bezzecchi triumphed at the Indonesian Grand Prix, while Jorge Martin finished third to retake the lead from Marc Marquez in the MotoGP world championship.

Italian Bezzecchi made his move on pole-sitter Raul Fernandez with nine laps to go at a sweltering Mandalika International Circuit.

Fernandez finished second ahead of compatriot Martin, with the Spanish duo locking out the podium for Italian manufacturer Aprilia.

Ducati’s reigning seven-time world champion Marquez finished sixth, losing the championship lead he had taken for the first time this season by winning Saturday’s sprint race.

Fernandez and Bezzecchi had clashed and crashed out in that race, with the Spaniard needing to brake with his middle finger for the whole of Sunday’s race after fracturing his index finger.

Starting at the front of the grid, the pair negotiated the first turn and then surged away from the chasing pack.

Having initially looked comfortable, Fernandez began to fade and Bezzecchi seized an opportunity on lap 19 before putting distance on his rival.

The result for 2024 world champion Martin moves him up to 355 points at the top of the championship standings, with Marquez second on 353 and Bezzecchi third with 309.

There are five grands prix remaining in the 2026 season, with the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island the next meeting in the calendar in a fortnight’s time.

Irish taoiseach [prime minister] Micheal Martin said comments made by the Israel Football Association about the Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson are “unacceptable” and “should be withdrawn”.

Israel’s football governing body accused Hallgrimmson of “ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity” regarding comments made last week when he said: “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel, we’re not playing with Israel.”

The teams are set to meet twice in the space of a week in the Nations League, with Israel’s ‘home’ game in Debrecen, Hungary on Sunday, with the return fixture also in a neutral venue of Backa Topola, Serbia on 4 October.

On Monday, the Israel FA posted a message on X, saying: “We have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way.

“Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by @IrelandFootball team coach.

“We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, We’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”

While the Football Association of Ireland [FAI] did not respond, Martin did comment.

“They are unacceptable remarks and should be withdrawn,” he told reporters in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly.

“We’re very clear and I think [UN secretary-general] Antonio Guterres said it again this morning, he has never in his lifetime seen the level and scale of death and destruction as he witnessed in terms of the Israeli government’s war on Gaza in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attack preceding the war. Our manager is saying the exact same thing.

“Israel can’t keep denying what the world knows and what the world understands.”