David John Martin (born 3 June 1985) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Burgess Hill Town.

Football career

Early career

Martin was spotted at the age of 10 by

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

before moving to South East London based

Slade Green Slade Green is an area of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies northeast of Bexleyheath, northwest of Dartford and south of Erith, and east-southeast of Charing Cross. Historically Slade Green was part of th ...

and then

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

. Martin's time at Dartford proved productive, scoring 14 goals in 68 appearances and attracting the attention of

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

, who he joined for £25,000 in January 2007. Martin made his debut for

as a substitute in a 1–0 win over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

Roots Hall A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

in February 2007, but only spent a year at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

, where a thigh strain and managerial changes meant he was restricted to just 14 appearances—primarily as substitute—before making the switch to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

for an initial fee of £50,000, rising to £100,000 depending on appearances.

Millwall

Martin made his Millwall debut in the 2–0 defeat away to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 9 February 2008, before scoring a goal in each of his next two games: a 2–1 victory over

and a 3–0 win over

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and finishing the season with 11 appearances and two goals. Martin's first full season at

saw him become a fixture of

Kenny Jackett Kenneth Francis Jackett (born 5 January 1962) is a former professional football player and manager, who is currently Director of Football at club Gillingham. A skilful left-footed player, able to play in defence or midfield, Jackett was cappe ...

's first team, missing only three games (all through suspension) as Millwall reached the League One Playoff Final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, where they lost 3–2 to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. His form attracted interest from

side

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, but Martin remained at Millwall for the 2009–10 season and played 21 times in the league, scoring three goals. As he was entering the final year of his contract, Millwall offered Martin a new deal, which was rejected, prompting Jackett to state "We haven't been able to get Dave to sign a new contract this year, so unfortunately halfway through the season we have to take what we can because we would lose him for nothing in the summer. From our point of view there is an offer of a contract on the table for the player. It obviously hasn't been accepted and he isn't going to sign it, so the next thing is after that if there is a bid then reluctantly we will take it." An offer from Championship side

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, who he had impressed when playing against in both ties of the clubs FA Cup Third Round meeting, followed, with Derby boss

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was c ...

attempting to sign Martin in a £150,000 deal at the end of the January

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

. Although the deal fell through, Clough intimated a desire to make a fresh approach for Martin with the reopening of the emergency

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

window on 9 February.

Derby County

Martin signed for Derby on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season on 9 February 2010, with a view to a permanent move on expiration of his Millwall contract. He went straight into the squad for Derby's league game against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and came on as a late sub in their 3–0 win. Martin made one start and a further eight substitute appearances before the close of the season and Clough confirmed in an interview after a defeat at

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

that Martin would sign for the club permanently in the summer. He scored his first goal for the club on the final day of the season with the second goal in a 2–0 win over

and formally completed his move to ''The Rams'' on 1 June 2010, signing a two-year deal. However, Martin failed to break into the Derby first team and after just two substitute appearances in his first six months he moved to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

on a month's loan. His loan spell, however was cut short due to an abductor strain injury. He played three times for Notts, twice in the league and once in the FA Cup. He rejoined Notts on a two-month loan on 24 February 2011. Martin returned to Derby on 24 April 2011, after making 11 appearances for Notts. On 13 September 2011, Martin joined League One side

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

on a one-month loan. He made five appearances for ''The Saddlers'', which included a red card in his last game against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

Southend United

On 4 January 2012, Martin was sold to

for an undisclosed fee, signing an 18-month contract. His contract was terminated on 25 January 2013, after he struggled to get into the Southend first-team during the 2012–13 season. He left having made 35 appearances and scoring four goals in the process.

Luton Town

Following his release from Southend, Martin trained with

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. After impressing manager

Paul Buckle Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager. He is currently a technical advisor at Hartford Athletic of the USL and technical advisor to Landon Donovan at San Diego Loyal. Prior to this, he coached the U23s for South ...

he signed an 18-month contract with the club on 29 January 2013. Buckle left the club shortly afterwards, but his replacement

John Still John Still (c. 1543 – 26 February 1607/1608) was Master of two Cambridge colleges and then, from 1593, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He enjoyed considerable fame as an English preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of an ...

continued to utilise Martin in the squad. Martin signed a one-year contract extension until May 2015 following strong performances towards the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. Injuries and poor form at the beginning of the 2013–14 season led to Martin falling out of first-team contention at Luton. On 18 November 2013, he signed for fellow Conference Premier side

on loan, where he made nine league appearances. Martin was placed on the transfer list by Luton at the end of the campaign. Martin joined Conference Premier side

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on a five-month loan in August 2014. Following his release by

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

he signed for National League South side

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally ...

in July 2015 and then joined

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

for the 2016–17 season. Martin re-joined

in 2019–20 and was appointed player-coach for the 2020–21 season. He was released by

in January 2021. In August 2021 Martin signed for

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

South East Division side Hastings United. The 2022/23 season saw Dave sign for Phoenix Sports Club in the

Southern Counties East Football League The Southern Counties East Football League is an English football league established in 1966, which has teams based in Kent and Southeast London. Until 2013, it was known as the Kent League. There was a previous Kent League, that existed from ...

and was brought in by Steve O’Boyle manager of Phoenix Sports Club to try and help gain the club promotion after recently being relegated from the Isthmian South-East Division. In March 2023, Martin returned to the Isthmian Leagues when he signed for Burgess Hill Town.

Career statistics

Honours

;

play-offs (promotion to

): 2009–10 ;

: 2013–14

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Dave 1985 births Living people Footballers from Erith English footballers Association football wingers Slade Green F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Whitehawk F.C. players Bromley F.C. players Margate F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Hastings United F.C. players Phoenix Sports F.C. players Burgess Hill Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players