The Situation
When Russell Martin reached out in February 2023,
he was a leader carrying the full weight of expectation.
At Swansea City, the team had won 3 of their last 18 games.
The pressure was relentless.
The emotional burden was heavy.
The results weren’t reflecting the work, or the man leading it.
Russell was on the edge, not of losing his job, but of losing himself.
This is where Drewe entered his world.
The Situation
When Russell Martin reached out in February 2023,
he was a leader carrying the full weight of expectation.
At Swansea City, the team had won 3 of their last 18 games.
The pressure was relentless.
The emotional burden was heavy.
The results weren’t reflecting the work, or the man leading it.
Russell was on the edge, not of losing his job, but of losing himself.
This is where Drewe entered his world.
The Intervention
Drewe didn’t arrive with positivity, slogans, or tactics. He entered with:
VASC: Vulnerability, Acceptance, Sweat & Courage
The emotional operating system that shifts leaders at soul-level.
The work focused on:
Reconnecting Russell to his identity
Breaking the internal patterns of fear and pleasing
Holding radical honesty as the baseline
Building emotional clarity into decision making
Aligning Russell’s staff to the same truth
Resetting the players’ courage and humility standards
The impact was instant.
Swansea went on a 10-game unbeaten run, and four months
later, Russell was appointed manager of Southampton FC.
The Intervention
Drewe didn’t arrive with positivity, slogans, or tactics. He entered with:
VASC: Vulnerability, Acceptance, Sweat & Courage
The emotional operating system that shifts leaders at soul-level.
The work focused on:
Reconnecting Russell to his identity
Breaking the internal patterns of fear and pleasing
Holding radical honesty as the baseline
Building emotional clarity into decision making
Aligning Russell’s staff to the same truth
Resetting the players’ courage and humility standards
The impact was instant.
Swansea went on a 10-game unbeaten run, and four months
later, Russell was appointed manager of Southampton FC.
The Crisis at
Southampton
When Drewe formally joined Southampton in September 2023, the club had:
Lost five games in a row
A fractured dressing room
A heavy atmosphere
A squad full of fear
A leader carrying too much alone
This was a club in emotional and competitive freefall.
The work began immediately.
Vulnerability with the leader.
Acceptance of the truth.
Sweat in daily habits.
Courage as the only standard.
This was not “mindset coaching.”
This was deep emotional realignment across Russell, the staff, and the players.
The Crisis at
Southampton
When Drewe formally joined Southampton in September 2023, the club had:
Lost five games in a row
A fractured dressing room
A heavy atmosphere
A squad full of fear
A leader carrying too much alone
This was a club in emotional and competitive freefall.
The work began immediately.
Vulnerability with the leader.
Acceptance of the truth.
Sweat in daily habits.
Courage as the only standard.
This was not “mindset coaching.”
This was deep emotional realignment across Russell, the staff, and the players.
The Intervention
Drewe didn’t arrive with positivity, slogans, or tactics. He entered with:
VASC: Vulnerability, Acceptance, Sweat & Courage
The emotional operating system that shifts leaders at soul-level.
The work focused on:
Reconnecting Russell to his identity
Breaking the internal patterns of fear and pleasing
Holding radical honesty as the baseline
Building emotional clarity into decision making
Aligning Russell’s staff to the same truth
Resetting the players’ courage and humility standards
The impact was instant.
Swansea went on a 10-game unbeaten run, and four months
later, Russell was appointed manager of Southampton FC.
The Crisis at Southampton
The Crisis at Southampton
When Drewe formally joined Southampton in September 2023, the club had:
Lost five games in a row
A fractured dressing room
A heavy atmosphere
A squad full of fear
A leader carrying too much alone
This was a club in emotional and competitive freefall.
The work began immediately.
Vulnerability with the leader.
Acceptance of the truth.
Sweat in daily habits.
Courage as the only standard.
This was not “mindset coaching.”
This was deep emotional realignment across Russell, the staff, and the players.
After Sweat & Courage
Coaching without masks. Players without fear. A team without limits.
As John stepped into the truth of who he actually is - a deeply sensitive, wildly competitive man - everything changed.
The masks dropped.
The pressure eased.
The players felt the shift instantly.
The Breakthrough
What followed became one of the greatest turnarounds in modern English football.
From September 2023 to February 2024:
25 games unbeaten
21 Championship matches unbeaten
Championship record broken
100-year Southampton club record broken
Promotion to the Premier League
Highest average possession in Europe’s top 5 leagues
Southampton played with courage, clarity, and conviction.
A team reborn because the leader was reborn.
Russell’s own press conferences echoed Drewe’s language every week:
This wasn’t borrowed language.
This was lived work.
In The Telegraph, Russell opened up about his childhood trauma, emotional wounds, and the personal journey he was on as a man and as a leader.
He didn’t mention any other coach or staff member.
Because this work reached a deeper place.
VASC gave Russell a new way to lead — not through fear or pleasing, but through emotional truth and conviction.
The Human
Transformation
In The Telegraph, Russell opened up about his childhood trauma, emotional wounds, and the personal journey he was on as a man and as a leader.
He didn’t mention any other coach or staff member.
Because this work reached a deeper place.
VASC gave Russell a new way to lead — not through fear or pleasing, but through emotional truth and conviction.
The Outcome
Southampton returned to the Premier League at Wembley in May 2024.
But the result wasn’t the real transformation.
The
Outcome
Southampton returned to the Premier League at Wembley in May 2024.
But the result wasn’t the real transformation.
The real win was this:
A leader walked back into himself.
A staff aligned emotionally, not just operationally.
A squad led by clarity, courage, consistency, and truth.
A club reborn in its identity and belief.
Drewe’s consultancy ended in June 2024,
having delivered what he always comes to deliver:
A leader transformed.
A culture rebuilt.
A record-breaking season grounded in emotional courage.
This is what VASC does.
This is Sweat & Courage in the wild.
