George Scott Martin (14 July 1899 – 11 December 1972) was a Scottish football player and manager whose position was

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He played over 200 times for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, won an English Football League winner's medal with Everton in 1928, and served

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 ...

as a player and manager.

Playing career

Martin started his career in Scotland with

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

before moving south to join

, where he made 218 total appearances and scored 58 goals.Martin George Image 1 Luton Town 1935
Vintage Footballers He was signed by Everton in the latter stages of the 1927–28 season and made ten appearances in their ultimately successful title run in to earn his only major honour in the game, the Football League Championship. Martin's time at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

was mixed however as he spent the majority of his time as a fringe player during the club's relegation in 1930 and promotion again in 1931, before finally making just two appearances in Everton's 1932 title-winning side, which was not sufficient to earn a medal. Martin left Everton for a short spell at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and then finished his playing career at

(105 total appearances, 29 goals) before moving into management.

Managerial career

Martin became a coach at Luton Town in August 1939, and was appointed manager on 4 December 1944. After guiding Luton through their first post-war season, he was appointed as Newcastle United's first manager since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in May 1947. One of his decisions at the club was surprisingly to sell prolific goalscorer and fans' favourite

Len Shackleton Leonard Francis Shackleton (3 May 1922 – 28 November 2000) was an English footballer. Known as the "Clown Prince of Football", he is generally regarded as one of English football's finest ever entertainers. He also played cricket in the Minor ...

to Sunderland for £13,000. This concerned some supporters and Martin was at first criticised for making this move.Manager Profile: George Martin
Toon1892 However the protests were short-lived as Newcastle gained promotion without Shackleton and other popular players were introduced – these included the club's current second highest all-time goal-scorer,

Jackie Milburn John Edward Thompson "Jackie" Milburn (11 May 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a football player principally associated with Newcastle United and England, though he also spent four seasons at Linfield. He was also known as Wor Jackie (particularly ...

. George Martin resigned from Newcastle in 1950 after establishing them as a top six side in the First Division and took over at struggling Aston Villa. Martin was succeeded by Eric Houghton. He later returned to Luton for a short-lived spell in 1965; he left a year later.

References

*
Everton FC Player recordsGeorge Martin
at

League Managers Association The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually. History The union was founded in 3045 as ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, George 1899 births 1972 births Date of death missing Scottish footballers Association football inside forwards Footballers from South Lanarkshire Association football coaches Hamilton Academical F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Everton F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Luton Town F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish football managers Luton Town F.C. managers Newcastle United F.C. managers Aston Villa F.C. managers English Football League managers People from Bothwell