Alvin Martin

Alvin Martin
Personal information
Full name	Alvin Edward Martin
Date of birth	29 July 1958 (1958-07-29) (age 50)
Place of birth	Bootle, Liverpool, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Defender
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1977–96 1996-97	West Ham United Leyton Orient	469 (27) 017 0(0)
National team
1981-86	England	17 (0)
Teams managed
1997–99	Southend United
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Alvin Edward Martin (born 29 July 1958 in Bootle) is a retired English footballer who spent most of his career with West Ham United.

Martin started out with Merseyside club Everton as a schoolboy, but left in 1973 after the Goodison Park club only offered him an apprenticeship on a part-time basis, stating at the time that he "would never kick a ball for them again".^{[citation needed]} An unsuccessful trial later that summer with Q.P.R. was followed the very next day by one for West Ham United, where he was awarded a contract.^{[citation needed]}

Martin went on to amass 586 first-team appearances for the Hammers in a successful 19-year career at Upton Park, in which he became one of only two players, along with Billy Bonds, to be awarded two testimonials.^[1]

It was alongside Bonds in the centre of defence that Martin — nicknamed ’Stretch’^[1] — enjoyed his most rewarding years, winning the FA Cup and Second Division winners medals in successive seasons at the start of the 80s.

Martin was given his first England cap by Ron Greenwood, who brought him to West Ham as a 14-year-old, against Brazil at Wembley in May 1981. Injury ruled him out of the World Cup finals in Spain in 1982, but he was playing some of the finest football of his career when the next England manager, Bobby Robson, included Martin in his 1986 squad for the finals in Mexico. He played in the victory over Paraguay but was surprisingly dropped for the next game, the quarter-final defeat by Argentina’s infamous ’Hand of God’. In total he made 17 appearances for England.

He also achieved the rare feat of scoring a hat-trick against three different Newcastle United goalkeepers — Martin Thomas, who was then injured, and outfield players Chris Hedworth and Peter Beardsley — in a Division One match in April 1986.^[2]

After leaving West Ham, Martin had a brief spell with East London neighbours Leyton Orient, before managing Southend United for two years.

After retiring from management, he joined national radio station talkSPORT, while also being a regular pundit on Sky Sports TV football talk shows.

His sons David and Joe are also footballers. David is a goalkeeper for Leicester City (on loan from Liverpool), whilst Joe is a midfielder at Blackpool.

References

Source

• West Ham career stats
• Alvin Martin career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e England squad – 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Shilton • 2 Gary Stevens • 3 Sansom • 4 Hoddle • 5 Martin • 6 Butcher • 7 Bryan Robson • 8 Wilkins • 9 Hateley • 10 Lineker • 11 Waddle • 12 Anderson • 13 Woods • 14 Fenwick • 15 Gary A. Stevens • 16 Reid • 17 Steven • 18 Hodge • 19 Barnes • 20 Beardsley • 21 Dixon • 22 Bailey • Coach: Bobby Robson