Alvin Martin

Alvin Martin
Alvin Martin
Personnel
Surname	Alvin Edward Martin
birthday	July 29, 1958
place of birth	Bootle ,  England
position	Central defense
Juniors
Years	station
1974-1977	West Ham United
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1976-1996	West Ham United	469 (27)
1996-1997	Leyton Orient	17 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
	England youth
1981-1984	England B	2 0(1)
1981-1986	England	17 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1997-1999	Southend United
1 Only league games are given.

Alvin Edward Martin (born July 29, 1958 in Bootle , Merseyside , England ) is a retired English football player and coach. Martin played as a center-back for West Ham United for 20 years and was part of England's World Cup squad in 1986.

Club career

Martin played at Everton during his school days , but when they only offered him a semi -professional apprenticeship contract after completing his school career in 1974, he left Liverpool and finally came to London with West Ham United , who gave him a professional contract for young players ( "apprentice professional") ) offered. In 1975 he was with the youth team from West Ham in the final of the FA Youth Cup , but was defeated there by the team from Ipswich Town after a round trip with 1: 5. After receiving a professional contract for the men's area in 1976, he made his debut on March 18, 1978 in a 4-1 loss to Aston Villa . A month later he scored his first competitive goal in his starting eleven against Leeds United and was also in the regular formation for the remaining game days of the 1977/78 season, but the team could not avert relegation to the Second Division .

In the following second division season 1978/79, Alvin Martin displaced Tommy Taylor from the regular lineup and established himself alongside Billy Bonds in the central defense of the Hammers . In 1980, the strong headed and ball-safe defender with West Ham as a second division team won the FA Cup final in front of 100,000 spectators at London's Wembley Stadium against city rivals Arsenal . In the following year, as a second division champion, he returned to the first division and after Bonds had retired, Martin took over the captain's armband in 1984. From then on he formed one of the best defensive duos in West Ham United history with Tony Gale . In the 1985/86 season , the club was in the running for the championship for a long time, but in the end had to be content with third place behind Liverpool and Everton, which nevertheless meant the best result of the season in the club's history. This season the defender also managed the rare feat of scoring against three different goalkeepers in his hat trick on April 21, 1986 against Newcastle United . After the regular goalkeeper Martin Thomas was injured, Martin also met once against the outfield players Chris Hedworth and Peter Beardsley , who had taken over the place in goal during the game.

In the following years Martin had to struggle with injury problems, only in 1988/89, when the club again finished on a relegation place, he was able to participate more regularly. When trying to get promoted immediately, Martin was still a member of the regular formation at the age of 34 before an injury to the Achilles tendon kept him off the field for 16 months in the promotion season 1990/91 in December . From Billy Bonds, who had meanwhile moved to the coaching chair, Martin already received the transfer clearance when he returned to the team in April 1992 and completed seven more missions in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid direct relegation. Because of his performance in these games, he received a new one-year contract. Despite further injury problems that led to several months of compulsory breaks, he continued his career at West Ham until 1996. On May 5, 1996, Martin played on the last day of the Premier League season 1995/96 for the last time for West Ham United, in total he had scored 34 goals for the Hammers in exactly 600 competitive games .

He then briefly continued his career with the London fourth division club Leyton Orient , where he was one of the regulars as team captain under Pat Holland in the early stages of the 1996/97 season. After his release, he played under his successor Tommy Taylor, also because of persistent injury problems, no more role in the further planning and finally ended his career in 1997.

National team

Martin made his debut in the England national team in 1981 under former West Ham coach Ron Greenwood at the age of 22 in a friendly against Brazil . In 1982 he missed the World Cup participation due to an injury, under Greenwood's successor Bobby Robson he was mostly part of the squad in the following seasons and took part in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico with the English selection . After he was not used in the group stage, he moved into the starting line-up in the 3-0 round of 16 victory against Paraguay. In the quarterfinals against the Argentines around superstar Diego Maradona , Robson relied on Terry Fenwick in defense. It was Maradona who first took the 1-0 lead with the “ hand of God ” and a short time later fooled the entire English defensive with his solo run from the center line and made it 2-0.

Martin's international career ended three months after the World Cup with a friendly against Sweden. Ongoing injury problems, which also resulted in limited playing times at West Ham, prevented further nominations after 17 international matches.

Trainer career and other activities

After the end of his playing career, Martin took over the relegated club Southend United in the summer of 1997 , but was unable to stop the decline in the following two years. After relegation to fourth division in 1998, Martin finally gave up the coaching post in the spring of 1999, when Southend was also in relegation difficulty in the fourth division.

Martin then devoted himself to running an office furniture business together with his wife and has since commented on football events in various radio and television programs as an expert. His two sons Joe and David Martin are also professional footballers.

successes

• English cup winner: 1979/80
• Champion Second Division: 1980/81

literature

• Tony Hogg: Who's Who of West Ham United . Profile Sports Media, London 2005, ISBN 1-903135-50-8 , pp. 137 .

Web links

• Detailed usage statistics for his time at West Ham

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Northcutt, Roy Shoesmith: West Ham United - A Complete Record . Breedon Books, Derby 1987, ISBN 0-907969-29-1 , pp. 373 .