By Gareth Vincent
South Wales Evening Post

Roberto Martinez began learning the manager's trade as a toddler and has it in the blood to continue his success as Swansea City boss.

So says the man who has known him longer than any other - his father.

Roberto Martinez Snr was a football manager who had spells in charge of Spanish sides Lleida, Balaguer and Castellsera when his son was a kid.

These days Martinez Snr watches on with pride - and offers the occasional piece of advice - as his son makes a name for himself in the Swansea dugout.

"When I was a manager, Roberto was probably too young to start thinking about wanting to be a manager himself," says the 75-year-old.

"But football was around him all the time, it was around the whole family.

"He would always follow me and take an interest in what I was doing, like any boy with their father, and my work was football.

"I think he might have listened to what I was saying even at that early age."

Martinez Snr remembers the time when the Swansea manager's job came up 18 months ago.

The younger Martinez, then just 33, was playing regularly for Chester City and still had 18 months to run on his Deva Stadium contract.

Though the pull of a return to Wales would ultimately prove too strong to resist, Martinez's decision to hang up his boots was not one he took lightly.

"I never told Roberto to keep playing and I never pressed him to become a manager," Martinez Snr adds.

"What I did know was that he was doing well as a player - even when Swansea came in he was enjoying his football because he always loved playing.

"I knew - and I told him - he could keep playing for many years.

"But I think he made a good decision to follow his desire to be a manager.

"He has a talent for it and he knows British football very well."

Before becoming a manager, Martinez Snr played for Spanish lower-league sides Algeciras and Arenas.

"I think it is probably in the blood," he said.

"Being a manager and being a player are very different things.

"When Roberto was a player it didn't matter that much if he played well or badly because he was just one player.

"But as the manager there is pressure from everyone, it is all on him.

"To succeed, sometimes, it is about knowing how to deal with that pressure and I think that's where Roberto might things come naturally.

"I was a strong manager and I think he might have got a little bit of that from me."

Martinez also gets the odd tip from his old man - although he does not need much parental guidance.

"We talk about football because that is what we both love," Martinez Snr added.

"Sometimes he will tell me what is happening and I will always try to pass on some help through my experience.

"But Roberto has his own mind and his own ways of dealing with things.

"He has his own way of being a manager and it is looking like it is a good way."