Chris Martin signed till January

I would give him the benefit of doubt before writing him off, I can remember when we signed Jack Hunt, a 82er posting on the other forum saying that Hunt’s a good player but his legs have gone. Now from what I’ve seen so far of Hunt, he’s been one of our best  performers & our fitness department must be some sort of miracle workers, the way those legs which are supposed to be gone have been working.

Major difference is Hunt is a full back but asking a striker to score regularly will be much more difficult

Martin has had no pre season no game time since April.

Will take till January to get fit by then Jch has arrived hopefully for £300k

Is this another Jefferson Louis moment?
Who knows?

...but even if the contribution is one winning goal, it might make all the difference come the end.

Jury's always out til it's in, but JAB is risking his reputation more on this one.

He used to be sh!te, now he's alright, welcome Coldplay...

Could have asked him to breathe in before the publicity shot! Needs to lose a few pounds around the mi-drift by the look of it.

Thanks Stephen
Profile by Stephen Byrne Bristol Rovers History Group


CHRISTOPHER HUGH MARTIN

Born 4.11.1988 Beccles, Suffolk

6’; 11 st 8 lbs Forward

Career: Sir John Leman High School; 1998 Norwich City (professional, 1.7.06) [76+26,25]; 1.8.08 Luton Town (loan) [39+1,11]; 15.11.11 Crystal Palace (loan) [20+6,7]; 15.11.12 Swindon Town (loan) [6+6,1]; 22.2.13 Derby County (loan); 9.5.13 Derby County (free) [162+38,67]; 31.8.16 Fulham (loan) [27+4,10]; 31.1.18 Reading (loan) [4+6,1]; 31.8.18 Hull City (loan) [15+15,2]; 3.9.20 Bristol City (free) [66+22,15]; 6.2.23 Queen’s Park Rangers (free) [12+4,4]; 20.9.23 Bristol Rovers (trial); 27.9.23 Bristol Rovers (free).

There was something faintly reassuring in Rovers’ manager Joey Barton signing a proven striker with a strong physical presence. As The Gas strengthened, confident of retaining its third-tier status and beginning to push towards Championship football, here was an international striker with 114 goals already under his belt in the second tier of English football. The latest in a growing collection of former Bristol City players, he had been a reliable goalscorer for many years, although his tally had tailed off somewhat in recent years as he battled ulcerative colitis. One of six siblings brought up in Suffolk, Martin won seventeen full Scottish caps, scoring against Gibraltar, Malta and Slovenia, representing the country of his father Gerry who, brought up on the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow, still had relatives in East Kilbride. His full international début, a game against Nigeria in May 2014 at Craven Cottage, followed four caps and two goals, one on his first appearance against Turkey in March 2007, for the England Under-19 side. All of this had, in turn, followed a blistering start in professional football, as Martin had scored four Football League goals as an eighteen-year-old (against Coventry, Luton, Barnsley and Derby), added four goals in a 7-0 FA Cup victory away to Paulton Rovers in November 2009, and helped Norwich City to successive promotions from League One to the Premier League. His first League appearance, against Wolves in January 2008, had followed impressive form in the FA Youth Cup of 2007-08. However, he was at this time banned from a number of pubs around Beccles and his exasperated manager Glenn Roeder (1955-2021) sent him out on loan. Luton started the 2008-09 campaign on -30 points and, even though Martin top scored with eleven League goals, they were relegated out of the Football League at the close of that campaign. He had picked up a controversial red card in the final minutes of the game against Bradford City in January 2009 and scored the club’s Goal of the Season at Wembley, taking Jody Craddock’s pass to score the opening goal as Scunthorpe United were defeated 3-2 in the Football League Trophy Final. His subsequent return to Carrow Road saw him play in the 7-1 home defeat to neighbours Colchester United on the opening day of the 2009-10 season, after which Norwich went on to a double promotion; he scored after sixteen seconds against MK Dons, but also featured in the embarrassing 1-0 defeat at home to Orient in the FA Cup in January 2011 and again left on loan. He scored twice as Palace defeated Watford 4-0 in February 2012, whilst his solitary Swindon goal came in a 2-0 victory over Shrewsbury Town in January 2013. A club hero at Derby, Martin played under Nigel Clough and Steve McClaren, top scoring with 25 goals in all competitions in 2013-14 and 21 the following campaign, adding his only League hat-trick with goals after 47, 53 and 69 minutes (including two penalties) as the Rams recovered from a goal down at half-time to defeat Blackpool 5-1 in December 2013, and adding a goal in the 2013-14 championship play-off semi-final. He was also sent off for Derby at Barnsley in March 2014. Later loan spells featured braces for Fulham against both Huddersfield and his future club Reading and a solitary goal for the Berkshire club at Middlesbrough in February 2018, before he scored twice in games with Bristol City against both Cardiff City and his former club Hull City. Having been a part of the Robins’ side unceremoniously dumped out of the League Cup by Lincoln City in November 2022, he scored on his début for QPR against Millwall. The namesake of the celebrated Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin had played against many high-profile opponents, notably when his Derby side lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup in January 2016, Wayne Rooney scoring the opening goal, and when various sides had been drawn in cups on three separate occasions against Chelsea; he had also opposed Rovers twice, scoring on both occasions in the 2009-10 campaign with Norwich City in League One, during which he and Jamie Cureton had both scored as the Canaries defeated Rovers 5-1 at Carrow Road, whilst he had added a goal past Mikkel Andersen when the sides met at The Mem.