Michael Paul Martin (born 9 July 1951) is an Irish 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 ...

, best known for his time at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

. He also represented the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

more than 50 times. Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, he played for Bohemians,

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standin ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, for whom he won a total of 51 caps. His first cap was against Austria in October 1971 and his last against Spain in April 1983. A devoted

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

supporter, he played his schoolboy football mainly at Home Farm before signing for Seán Thomas's Bohemians in 1968. He spent a year learning his trade in the youth team and "B" team before progressing to the first team, where he made his debut against

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is hal ...

. He soon became a regular in the side, which competed at the top end of the table. When Martin excelled in a league match against Shelbourne in January 1973, the watching Manchester United manager

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betwe ...

liked what he saw and within 48 hours, Martin was on his way to

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after We ...

. He spent two years at United before

Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as ...

took him to West Brom in 1975. Martin moved to Newcastle United for £100,000 in 1978 and spent five years at the club, making 147 appearances and scoring five goals. After retiring as a player, Martin had spells on the coaching staff at Newcastle and under

Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for the Irela ...

at Celtic. Martin was also a regular match summariser on Metro Radio and won a Sony Gold award with Magic 1152 along with

Justin Lockwood Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

for the coverage of

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

's testimonial. His father,

Con Martin Cornelius Joseph Martin (20 March 1923 – 24 February 2013) was an Irish footballer. Martin initially played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team before switching codes and embarking on a successful soccer career, playing for, among oth ...

, was also a Republic of Ireland international and played professionally for Aston Villa; his brother Con Martin Jr. played for Bohemians among others; and his nephew

Owen Garvan Owen William Garvan (born 29 January 1988) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Garvan began his career in his native Ireland where he played for Home Farm as a schoolboy. He earned a move to England with Ipsw ...

last played for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Mick Living people 1951 births Bohemian F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Wales Expatriate soccer players in Canada Association football midfielders League of Ireland players Home Farm F.C. players Irish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Manchester United F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Association footballers from Dublin (city) Peterborough United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland under-23 international footballers Rotherham United F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. guest players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Willington A.F.C. players Celtic F.C. non-playing staff