Lee Robert Martin (born 9 February 1987) is an English manager and former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a winger,

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

, or

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He is currently manager of club

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

Playing career

Manchester United

Martin began his career as a trainee with

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, where he caught the eye of many

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

teams. Pursued by a number of other top clubs, including

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, he signed for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

on 17 December 2003, following a week-long trial in October 2003, during which time he made one appearance for the Manchester United Under-19s team. The compensation package United paid Wimbledon is estimated to be approximately £1 million, with £200k being paid up front, and the rest in instalments based on both his and Manchester United's performance. Over the remainder of the 2003–04 season, Martin made seven more appearances for United's various youth teams, and was even named as an unused substitute for the Reserves in January 2004. The following season, Martin began as a regular in the Under-18s, but he was soon promoted to the Reserve team, where he began to flourish, scoring goals as well as setting them up, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in one game against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

Reserves. The 2005–06 season was even more auspicious for Martin; after being named on the bench for two

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group games, he finally made his first team debut in the League Cup against

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

on 26 October 2005. He was substituted after 75 minutes, allowing

Darron Gibson Darron Thomas Daniel Gibson (born 25 October 1987) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played for the Republic of Ireland national team. Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, he began his club career with Insti ...

to make his own first team debut, but he was a constant threat to the Barnet goal.

Royal Antwerp (loan)

In January 2006, Martin joined United's

feeder club In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

side

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club (commonly referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp) is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Antwerp. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Founded in 1 ...

in a loan deal until May 2006, to gain regular first team experience. During that short spell, he earned the Royal Antwerp Fans' Player of the Year award, and earned the fan-chosen Man of the Match award in five consecutive games. In the run-up to the 2006–07 season, Martin played in six of United's seven friendlies following their summer tour of South Africa. Their match against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

attracted the attention of Celtic's

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

rivals,

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, who sought to take him on loan for the first half of the season.

Rangers (loan)

Seen as not quite ready for the Premier League, Martin joined the Scottish club with a view to an extension of the loan to the end of the season. After a succession of injuries he failed to establish himself and returned to Manchester United in December 2006, having made just 10 appearances.

Stoke City (loan)

On 25 January 2007, he was farmed out on loan again, this time to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. He scored his first senior goal in Stoke's 2–1 win against

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on 10 March 2007; it was his only goal in his 14 appearances for the club.

Return to United

Martin returned to United for the 2007–08 season, and toured the Far East with the club in July 2007. He played in two of the four matches, and scored a spectacular goal against Chinese side Guangzhou Pharmaceutical on 27 July 2007, before being replaced by

Patrice Evra Patrice Latyr Evra (; born 15 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer. Originally a forward, he primarily played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. He was named in the P ...

. He was again named as an unused substitute for the Community Shield against Chelsea on 5 August 2007. Had he played in the game, it would have been his third game in as many days, having played a total of 149 minutes over the previous two games. On 26 September 2007, Martin started the League Cup Third Round match against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

, but, with United 1–0 down at half-time, he was substituted, Fraizer Campbell his replacement. However, United conceded again and were knocked out of the cup.

Plymouth Argyle (loan)

On 5 October 2007, he joined

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 sys ...

side

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

on a three-month loan deal, with Plymouth beating three other Championship clubs to his signature. He scored his first Argyle goal in the 1–0 victory over Coventry City on 20 October 2007. Martin discussed an extension to his loan with Sir Alex Ferguson on 2 January, but it was decided that Martin would return to Manchester United at the end of the spell on 5 January.

Sheffield United (loan)

However, on 10 January 2008,

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

announced that they had managed to capture Martin on loan until the end of the season. Martin made his debut for the Blades in a 2–0 away defeat to local rivals

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

but his loan spell was marred by a recurring knee injury and he returned to

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

having only played nine games in total for the Blades. In Manchester United's 2008 pre-season tour of South Arica, Martin scored United's winner against

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club, referred to as simply Pirates, is a South African professional football club based in Orlando, Soweto that plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as Betway Premiership. The team plays i ...

in their 1–0 win in the Vodacom Challenge.

Nottingham Forest (loan)

On 13 August 2008, Martin joined

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

on a one-month loan. That evening, he made his first appearance for Forest in their League Cup clash against Morecambe. Forest won the match 4–0, but Martin was booked in the first half. Martin scored his first competitive goal for Forest on 23 August 2008, scoring the opening goal in a 3–2 win over

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

at the

City Ground The City Ground is a association football, football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455. ...

. On 29 August 2008, Nottingham Forest announced an extension of the loan deal until 31 December 2008.

Latter days at United

Upon returning from his loan, Martin was increasingly used by

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Süper Lig club Beşiktaş. He spent the majority of his playing career with Manchester United and made 67 appea ...

in the Manchester United Reserve team as an attacking midfielder and makeshift striker, scoring five goals in the latter half of the season. He was also named as a substitute for the first team's home match against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on 5 April 2009, but did not take to the field. Martin made his first league start for Manchester United in the final match of the

2008–09 Premier League The 2008–09 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th season since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992. The season began on Saturday, 16 August 2008, and ended on 24 May 2009. The f ...

season at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, as United rested key players for the Champions League Final.

Ipswich Town

Martin joined

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

on 6 July 2009 for an undisclosed fee thought to be around £1.5 million, signing a four-year contract with the club managed by former Manchester United captain

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, former coach, and former professional player. He is best known for his career in the Premier League, in particular his captaincy of Manchester United. He is the joint most ...

. He made his debut for Ipswich in a friendly against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 15 July 2009, scoring a goal within eight minutes; Ipswich went on to win the game 3–1. His first competitive start for Ipswich came on 9 August 2009, in a Championship game with

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

Martin scored his first competitive goal for Ipswich in a 3–3 draw away to

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

– it was his 8th appearance for the club. Martin was one of eight players made available for transfer by manager Roy Keane at the end of the 2009–10 season.

Charlton Athletic (loan)

On 6 August 2010, Martin joined League One club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

for the duration of the 2010–11 season. He scored his first goal for the club in a League Cup match against Shrewsbury Town on 10 August 2010. He scored his only two league goals for Charlton in a 5–1 victory against Peterborough United at London Road. He was recalled by Ipswich on 18 January 2011.

Ipswich Town return

With

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a t ...

being appointed manager, he recalled Martin back from loan. Martin scored his second goal for the club on 6 August 2011 in the season's opening game at

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

. Martin has been a regular player under Paul Jewell and has made 26 appearances, scoring five goals. He was released by

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional Manager (association football), football manager, pundit and former Association football, footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool. McCarthy b ...

at the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season.

Millwall

On 4 July 2013, Martin joined Championship club

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 Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

on a one-year contract. He signed a two-year extension on 17 June 2014. In January 2016 Martin went out on loan to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. He was released by Millwall at the end of the 2015–16 season.

Gillingham

On 6 July 2016 he joined

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

club Gillingham on a two-year contract. He suffered a serious ankle injury in a pre-season friendly at the end of the month and early indications were that he would miss the entire season as a result, but he eventually returned to action in February 2017 making his debut against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

in a 1–1 draw. On 3 August 2017 he was named as Gillingham captain by manager

Adrian Pennock Adrian Barry Pennock (born 27 March 1971) is an English former footballer who played for Norwich City, Molde FK, AFC Bournemouth, Gillingham and Gravesend & Northfleet. He is the manager of Dartford. He spent two years as Welling United mana ...

. He was released by Gillingham at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Exeter City

Following his release from Gillingham, Martin joined

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. He made 77 appearances and scored 8 goals over two seasons at the club, helping Exeter reach the

2020 EFL League Two play-off final The 2020 EFL League Two play-off final was an association football match played on 29 June 2020 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Exeter City F.C., Exeter City and Northampton Town F.C., Northampton Town to determine the fourth and final team ...

. He was released following the end of his contract in July 2020.

Ebbsfleet United

He joined

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

side

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

on 29 July, following his release from Exeter City.

Dover Athletic

On 4 July 2022, Martin joined recently relegated National League South club Dover Athletic. Martin was not one of the four players to be initially retained following final day survival at the end of the 2022–23 season.

Ramsgate

On 16 June 2023, Martin signed for

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

South East Division club

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

Ashford United

On 5 July 2024, Martin joined Isthmian South East division rivals Ashford United.

Return to Ramsgate

On 2 September 2024, Martin returned to Ramsgate.

Coaching career

On 3 May 2025, Martin was appointed manager of recently relegated Isthmian League Premier Division side

Career statistics

As a player

As a manager

Honours

;Manchester United *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is Football in England, English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

;Ramsgate *

South East Division: 2024–25

References

External links

*
Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Lee 1987 births Living people Footballers from Taunton English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Wimbledon F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Ramsgate F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Premier League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players English football managers Welling United F.C. managers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 21st-century English sportsmen