Neil Martin
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Neil Martin | ||
| Date of birth | 20 October 1940 | ||
| Place of birth | Tranent, East Lothian, Scotland | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1959–1961 | Alloa Athletic | 48 | (25) |
| 1961–1963 | Queen of the South | 61 | (33) |
| 1963–1965 | Hibernian | 65 | (53) |
| 1965–1968 | Sunderland | 86 | (38) |
| 1967 | → Vancouver Royals (loan) | 11 | (1) |
| 1968–1971 | Coventry City | 106 | (40) |
| 1971–1975 | Nottingham Forest | 119 | (28) |
| 1975–1976 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 17 | (8) |
| 1976 | Crystal Palace | 9 | (1) |
| 1976 | → San Antonio Thunder (loan) | 19 | (5) |
| 1976–1978 | St Patrick's Athletic | 14 | (5) |
| National team | |||
| 1964 | Scottish League XI | 2 | (1) |
| 1965 | Scotland | 3 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1981–1982 | Walsall (joint with Alan Buckley) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Neil Martin (born 20 October 1940) is a Scottish former football player, who scored 100 league goals in both Scotland and England and won three full international caps for Scotland in the 1960s and 1970s. Known for his strength, power, bravery and commitment, Martin scored consistently while playing for several clubs. He played for Alloa Athletic, Queen of the South, Hibernian, Sunderland, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace.
Neil Martin began his senior football career at Alloa Athletic in Central Scotland. In 1960–61 Neil Martin scored 25 league and cup goals. This helped take Alloa as far as they have ever been on a Scottish Cup run (to the quarter finals). At that stage they were knocked out by a Dunfermline Athletic side at the beginning of their golden decade; Jock Stein would manage the Pars to victory in that season's Scottish Cup and to the next season's last eight of the European Cup Winners Cup.
Martin's feats attracted suitors and at the end of the season he was on his way South.
In 1961 Neil Martin followed in the footsteps of Irish international Laurie Cumming by joining Dumfries side Queen of the South after leaving Alloa. For Martin there was a £2,000 transfer fee. George Farm had been at Blackpool since 1948 and was goalkeeper through the tangerines' 1950s golden era (this included winning the 1953 'Matthews' FA Cup Final alongside Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen). In his second season at Queens he was now player manager (Farm went on to make over 100 league appearances for Queen of the South, as player-manager for three of his four years there). Also at the club was Jim Patterson (251 strikes for the club make Jim Patterson the all time goals king of Queens). And arriving shortly before Martin was Ernie Hannigan (with Martin as his chief accomplice Hannigan would later say, "Going to Queen of the South turned out to be a great move").
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