Martin George Carruthers (born 7 August 1972) is an English former

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 forward for

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

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 ...

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

, Macclesfield Town,

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

, Lincoln City and

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 ...

Career

Carruthers was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and began his career with

. He failed to break into the first team at

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

and, after a loan at

where he scored six goals in 13 matches, he joined

in July 1993. He scored nine goals in 45 appearances in 1993–94 as Stoke finished in 10th position. He scored eight goals in 42 matches in 1994–95. He struggled for form in 1995–96 scoring just three goals after losing his place in the side in 1996–97 he joined

in November 1996. He spent three years at Peterborough scoring 21 goals in 67 league matches and after a short loan spell at

he signed for

. He soon went on to

before enjoying the most prolific spell of his career at

where he scored 34 goals in 86 league games. Carruthers then went on to play for Macclesfield Town,

, Lincoln City and ended his professional career with

. He then went on to play non-league football, joining Grantham Town in 2005, and then Ilkeston Town (initially on loan) in 2006. He went on to become player-assistant manager at Ilkeston, before joining Arnold Town in 2008, becoming joint manager alongside Chris Freestone two games into the 2009–10 season. They both left the club in June 2012, and Carruthers subsequently signed for Basford United as a player in 2012, becoming player-manager in 2013. He departed the club in March 2019.

Coaching career

On 20 May 2019, he was appointed manager at

Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 11 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as both a cooking ingredient and as ...

. At the end of November, he departed the club to become head coach at Ilkeston Town linking up with his former Basford United assistant manager Mark Clifford who now owned the club. In the 2021–22 season, Ilkeston were promoted as champions of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Division One Midlands. Carruthers left the club by mutual consent on 6 September 2022. On 15 December 2022, he was appointed manager of

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

. Carruthers resigned from his role in March 2024. Following his resignation, Carruthers return to Basford United. In May 2025, he once again returned to Basford United in the role of Head of Football.

Personal life

After retiring, he became Education manager at

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

's Academy.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in 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 ...

Football League play-offs The English Football League (EFL) play-offs are a series of play-offs, play-off matches contested by four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic Promotion and relegation, promotion places in the second, third and four ...

and

Full Members' Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

References

External links

Unofficial Martin Carruthers Profile
a
The Forgotten Imp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carruthers, Martin 1972 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Premier League players Aston Villa F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players York City F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Arnold Town F.C. players Basford United F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players English football managers Arnold Town F.C. managers Basford United F.C. managers Ilkeston Town F.C. managers Matlock Town F.C. managers Northern Premier League managers