Martin John Bullock (born 5 March 1975) is an English 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 ...

and manager who is the head coach of the New Zealand U17 team and a Football Development Officer at the

Northern Football Federation The Northern Football Federation (NFF) was an association football organisation, responsible for local growth and developing the game in West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland, North Shore and Northland, New Zealand. In 2020 it was merged wi ...

. He previously played for five league teams over 15 years, making 452 league appearances. He also won a

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the England under-21 side in 1996. Bullock played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and began his career at

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

Eastwood Town before earning a move to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

in 1993. In an eight-year association with the club he played almost 200 league games for the club, helping them to the

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 ...

at the end of the 1996–97 season.

Loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

ed out to Port Vale in 2000, the following year he

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

red to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

. He enjoyed a highly successful four years with the club, lifting the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He then played for Macclesfield Town between 2005 and 2007 before ending his professional career with

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

in 2008. He later turned out for leading New Zealand side

Waitakere United Waitakere United was a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They were one of the franchises in the ISPS Handa Premiership. They played their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeū and The Trusts Arena. History Waitakere Uni ...

, helping them to three Premiership titles before his retirement in June 2012.

Club career

Bullock began his career with

Northern Premier League First Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system. Geographically, the league c ...

side Eastwood Town. He turned professional after a £15,000 move to

in 1993. He remained at

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports ground in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used by Barnsley Football Club for home fixtures, and those of their reserves. As of 2023, the Barnsley F.C. Women's team also play at the stadium. While the na ...

for eight years, making 218 appearances in all competitions for the "Tykes". He played 28 league games, mostly as a substitute, in the club's historic 1996–97 campaign, which saw them finish second in the First Division. In the subsequent 1997–98

season he played 33 top-flight games. Barnsley were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, though Bullock remained a key part of their 1998–99 campaign. He found himself out of favour in 1999–2000, however, making just six starts, five of which were in the League Cup. He was utilised more frequently in 2000–01, after spending February 2000 on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

at Second Division Port Vale, for whom he scored once against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

. In September 2001, he joined

Steve McMahon Stephen Joseph McMahon (born 20 August 1961) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and current television pundit. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1979 to 1998, most notably playing for Liverpool in the late 1980s. ...

's Second Division newcomers

on a free transfer. He became a key player for the club, making 43 league appearances in his maiden season there. His contribution was particularly telling in the semi-final of the

, as he scored the

golden goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

winner against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

that ensured the club a date at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

. He went on to play the full ninety minutes of the club's triumph over

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

in the final. He enjoyed a similarly successful campaign in 2002–03 and was offered a two-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

extension in March 2003. He was later named in the PFA Second Division

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award * Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year * IRB International Sevens Team of the Year * IRB International Team of the Year * J.League Team of ...

for his performances throughout the season. The 2003–04 campaign was also memorable for Bullock, as he helped Blackpool to lift the League Trophy for the second time in three seasons, following victory over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

. He made a further 28 league appearances for the club in 2004–05. The new boss

Colin Hendry Edward Colin James Hendry (born 7 December 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. Hendry, who played as a defender, notably played in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers, with whom he was part of the title- ...

told him he would not be offered a new contract. He signed for

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this, he spent four ...

's Macclesfield Town in June 2005. In his first season with the club he made 40 appearances in League Two. He made a further 43 appearances in his second season at

Moss Rose Moss Rose, known as The Leasing.com Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, which is the home ground of Macclesfield F.C., and the former home of Macclesfield Town F.C., a club wound up in Se ...

. In May 2007, he switched clubs to

, penning a two-year deal. He made 27 appearances in all competitions for the club in 2007–08, before he announced his retirement from the professional game in May 2008. In 2009, he made a late move to New Zealand to play for

. Following a second-place finish in 2009–10, Waitakere went on to reach the final of the

OFC Champions League The OFC Men's Champions League is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been organised since 2007 ...

, and Bullock played both games of the 4–2 aggregate defeat to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

side Hekari United. Waitakere went on to win the championship in

2010–11 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 ...

after defeating rivals

Auckland City Auckland City () was a territorial authority area with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Au ...

. They retained their title in 2011–12 with a 4–1 win over

Team Wellington Team Wellington Football Club was an association football club based in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, New Zealand. They competed in the ISPS Handa Premiership. Team Wellington had traditionally been one of the most successful football c ...

. He retired at the age of 37 in June 2012.

International career

Whilst with Barnsley, Bullock won a

for the England under-21 side in 1996.

Coaching career

Bullock was appointed head coach of the New Zealand U17 team and a Football Development Officer at the

in March 2020.

Personal life

Bullock is married to Michelle Bullock and has two children, Lillie and Maggie. He is focusing on earning his

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

badges to coach professionally.

Career statistics

Honours

Barnsley *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

second-place promotion: 1996–97 Blackpool *

: 2001–02, 2003–04 Waitakere United *

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship () was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in ...

, 2011–12 *

runner-up:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2002–03 Second Division

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullock, Martin 1975 births Living people Footballers from Derby English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Eastwood Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Waitakere United players Premier League players English Football League players Northern Premier League players