Christopher Hugh Martin (born 4 November 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward. Born in England, he has played for the Scotland national team and has also represented England U19 national team.
Martin began his career at Norwich City, joining the club's books at the age of 10 and making his professional debut at 18 in the 2006–07 season. He fell out of favour in the 2007–08 season and spent the 2008–09 season on loan at Luton Town. On his return to Norwich, he was an important first team player as the club recorded successive promotions from League One and the Championship in the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons.
However, upon the club's return to the Premier League, he found himself out of favour and spent part of the 2011–12 season on loan at Crystal Palace and parts of the 2012–13 season on loan at Swindon Town and Derby County. At the end of the season, he agreed a deal to join Derby on a permanent basis, signing a three-year contract and moving to the club on a free transfer ahead of the 2013–14 season. He ended the season as the club's top goalscorer, with 25 goals in all competitions, as the club reached the 2014 Championship play-off final. He signed a new four-year contract in August 2014 and was also the club's top goalscorer for the 2014–15 season, with 21 goals in all league and cup matches.
On 31 August 2016, Martin joined Fulham on a season-long loan, with an arrangement for a permanent deal at the end of the loan spell. This arrangement was disputed during the season, as Martin expressed a desire to return to Derby.
Martin was eligible to play international football for either England or Scotland, where his father was born. He represented England at under-19 level in 2007. Seven years later he was first selected for the senior Scotland team, for which he made his full international début in May 2014. He scored his first goal for Scotland in October 2015.
Club career Norwich City 2006–07 season Born in Beccles, Suffolk, Martin was rewarded with a place on the bench for the game against Plymouth Argyle on 13 January 2007 after impressing in Norwich's FA Youth Cup run. He made his first team debut in a 1–0 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 30 January 2007. He scored his first goal in an FA Cup fourth round replay against Blackpool on 13 February 2007 at Carrow Road, and grabbed his first league goal in a 1–1 draw against Coventry City on 24 February. Two more goals against Luton Town and Barnsley quickly followed. His run of form continued against Derby County, scoring one and having another ruled offside.
2007–08 season However, he found a place in the starting line up hard to come by in the 2007–08 season under Peter Grant. Under new manager Glenn Roeder he was very much out of favour. He was also constantly criticised by Roeder with Roeder questioning his effort and being banned from a number of pubs in the Beccles area led to more criticism from Roeder.
Along with Michael Spillane he joined Luton Town at the start of the 2008–09 season with Roeder famously naming the pair as "Tweedledum and Tweedledee". The decision to loan the pair out was met with criticism from many Norwich fans feeling that the pair should have been given a chance instead of relying on the high amount of loanees that Roeder had brought in.
2008–09 season Loan at Luton Town Martin joined League Two club Luton Town on a season-long loan from Norwich two days prior to the start of the 2008–09 season. He was announced as one of a number of new signings made by manager Mick Harford following the Hatters' exit from administration, along with fellow Norwich player Michael Spillane, who also arrived on a season-long loan, and midfielder Rossi Jarvis, who signed on a free transfer having been released by Norwich in May.
Luton began the season on −30 points, having been deducted 10 points for irregular matters involving player transfers and another 20 points for rule violations when they left administration. The club thus faced a struggle merely to avoid relegation from the Football League for the first time in their history.
Martin made his Luton debut in the first game of the season, a 3–1 defeat to Port Vale on 9 August, and he scored his first goal for the club on 23 August in a 1–1 draw with Notts County. His second goal came in a 3–1 win over Aldershot Town on 13 September and his third came in a 2–2 Football League Trophy draw with Brentford on 7 October. The match went to penalties, with Luton winning 4–2 and Martin scoring the third. He then went twelve league and cup matches without scoring, ending the run with the second goal in a 3–1 win over Barnet on 6 December. After four games without a goal, he scored four in three games: a brace in a 3–2 win against Lincoln City on 28 December, the first in a 2–2 draw against Chester City on 13 January 2009 and Luton's consolation goal in a 5–1 defeat at Darlington on 17 January.
In Luton's match against Bradford City on 24 January, Martin received his first ever red card. With the score at 2–2, Asa Hall scored in the 91st minute to put Luton ahead. Then, in the final minute of stoppage time, referee Trevor Kettle awarded Bradford a penalty after Martin allegedly tripped Steve Jones. BBC Sport called the decision "controversial" and Bedfordshire on Sunday called it a "truly shocking decision", given for "reasons unknown". The decision almost caused a riot in the stands and in the on-pitch "sort-of-brawl" that ensued, Michael Spillane and Kevin Nicholls were booked for dissent and Martin was sent off for foul and abusive language. Barry Conlon scored the penalty and the match finished at 3–3. After the final whistle, abuse and missiles were hurled from the crowd at Kettle, which prompted an FA investigation. Despite the furore, the draw took Luton into positive points for the first time all season, though they remained at the bottom of the table, 9 points behind the 23rd placed team and 19 points from safety.
After missing three games through suspension, Martin returned to the team in a 1–1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on 17 February. Having gone 5 games without a goal, Martin scored the third in a 3–1 win over Port Vale on 28 February. He scored another in a 2–0 win at Notts County on 10 March and then scored three in three games: one in a 2–1 win over Morecambe on 28 March, one in a 4–2 defeat to Rotherham United on 31 March and one in the final of the 2008–09 Football League Trophy at Wembley Stadium on 5 April. The match was against Scunthorpe United, who were pushing for promotion from League One and Martin scored in the 32nd minute to level the tie at 1–1. He "burst forward to collect a cross from [Tom] Craddock, before taking the ball beyond the Iron defence with his first touch and beating [Joe] Murphy with his second. Luton won the match 3–2 after extra time and Martin collected his first trophy. His goal also earned him the award for Goal of the Season at Luton's end-of-season awards.
Martin played Luton's next match, a 0–0 draw with Lincoln City on 11 April, that meant they had to win their next game two days later against Chesterfield to avoid being relegated. Martin missed the game, Luton drew 0–0 and were relegated. Martin played three more games but did not score again. He finished the season with 49 starts and 2 substitute appearances in all competitions, making him the most-used Luton player for the season. He was also the club's top overall goalscorer, with 13, and the club's top league goalscorer, with 11.
2009–10 season Martin and Spillane rejoined Norwich after the relegation to League One following their League Two spell at Luton. Martin changed his number from 35 to 16. After an impressive pre-season Martin was put in the starting line up against Colchester, however this game ended in a 7–1 defeat for Norwich and Martin was one of those who found himself out of the side for the next few games. However, newly installed manager Paul Lambert began to start with Martin again and he scored his first goal of the season away to MK Dons after just 16 seconds. Martin signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract in January 2010 and he finished the 2009–10 season with 23 goals in 48 appearances (40 starts and 8 sub appearances) including the winning goal against Leeds United at Carrow Road which left the Canaries on the brink of an instant return to the Championship, with promotion later being confirmed with a 1–0 win away against Charlton Athletic.
2010–11 season In the 2010–11 season Martin scored his first goals in a 4–1 League Cup win against Gillingham. He and strike partner Grant Holt got two goals each. Martin missed a few games at the start of the season, losing his place to Simeon Jackson. He soon got back onto the first team scoring against Barnsley. Chris Martin scored the winning goal against Derby County even though it was only in the 13th minute. The final score was 2–1. Unfortunately, Martin played no further part in the rest of the season from February 2011, as he picked up a hamstring injury in training. He made the bench for the last few fixtures, but was an unused substitute.
2011–12 season
An unused substitute for the first game of the season, Martin started Norwich's next three league matches alongside Grant Holt, who started all four matches. With Norwich without a win and in 17th place, Martin and Holt were dropped as manager Paul Lambert switched to playing a single striker, Steve Morison. After two matches as an unused substitute, Martin made only one more appearance, as a late substitute in a 2–0 defeat to Manchester United. He then failed to even make the bench for the next four games and Lambert made him available for loan, in order for him to play regular football.
Loan at Crystal Palace Derby County, Millwall and Nottingham Forest were all keen to sign him, but on 15 November 2011, Martin joined Crystal Palace on loan until 2 January 2012. He played eight matches, starting four, and scored once, in a 1–1 draw with Derby on 2 December, his first goal in almost a year, the last coming also against Derby on 4 December 2010. His loan was subsequently extended until 4 February, with manager Dougie Freedman saying "He wasn't as match-fit as he could've been and needed his first month to get up to pace. I firmly believe the best is yet to come." Martin started the next two games, a 1–0 League Cup first leg win against Cardiff City and a 1–1 league draw with Leeds United, scoring in the latter. After the game, Freedman expressed his desire to keep Martin until the end of the season, praising his "fantastic goal and fantastic work-rate".
Martin started another two matches, a 1–0 League Cup second leg defeat to Cardiff and a 1–1 league draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, scoring in the latter. His loan was extended again, this time until the end of the 2011–12 season. Martin then played in all of the club's next sixteen matches, starting fourteen of them. He scored a brace in a 4–0 win against Watford at Selhurst Park on 18 February, which earned him a place in the Championship Team of the Week for that week, and scored one each in a 3–2 defeat to Derby on 24 March and in a 1–1 draw with Ipswich Town on 14 April. He did not play in the final two games of the season and returned to Carrow Road having scored seven goals in twenty-eight matches in all competitions.
2012–13 season