Ipswich's goalkeeper player-coach discusses his journey through the game - and what he Player-Coach job role entails today…
Header Image: via West Ham United
David Martin has had quite the career.
After starting out in the youth systems of Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, and Wimbledon, the Romford-born goalkeeper’s first steps in senior football were as a 17-year-old in the latter’s final season in the professional game before being dissolved and controversially relocated to Milton Keynes,.
Two spells at MK, a dream move to Liverpool, several periods out on loan and spells back in London at Millwall, West Ham, and Southend later, a much-travelled 38-year-old Martin is now a player-coach at newly-promoted Premier League side Ipswich Town.
Honing in on the beginning of Martin’s career, it’s often interesting to hear how goalkeepers first became interested in football, and more specifically the position itself. The man between the sticks possesses a vastly different skillset and often a different mentality to his outfield counterparts:
“My dad was at West Ham, so my first memories of goalkeepers in general were Phil Parkes and Ludek Mikosklo. I have to say they were my first two big influences, even though I probably didn’t want to be a goalkeeper back then. Those are massive goalkeepers in the history of West Ham.”
It’s clear talking to Martin, who was capped 18 times at England youth level from U16 to U19, that his dad has greatly shaped his career. Indeed, Alvin Martin is a bona fide West Ham legend, the former defender making over 400 appearances over 18 seasons with the Irons from 1978 to 1996 before finishing his career with a season at fellow East Enders Leyton Orient:
“My dad played for a long time, I think 20 or 21 years it was. Having the dad I did, I couldn’t have asked for a better role model, from two or three years old playing football, going to the ground, seeing him play, the way he played. I just wanted to emulate him as a person as well, so I’m very lucky to have had the dad that I have.”
Having initially played in the same position (centre-back) as his dad during his youth, Martin converted to goalkeeper at aged 14. His promising early career with Wimbledon and MK Dons earned him a dream move to Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool and back to the city of his dad’s birth in 2006.
Despite never playing a competitive game for the Reds, it was during his four-year spell on Merseyside that Martin found his strongest goalkeeping influences in Benitez’s goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero, and Liverpool’s first choice goalkeeper Pepe Reina:
“I first met Xavi Valero when I was at Liverpool. He was very big for me as I was essentially the fourth-choice goalkeeper there behind Reina, Jerzy Dudek, and Scott Carson. The season that he came in, I ended up training with the first team and he backed me all the way, constantly reassuring me that I’m good enough. I spent a whole season with the first team and my progression came on leaps and bounds. He took me to West Ham early in 2019 and I spent three wonderful years there, so he has been a massive influence on me.
"Concerning Pepe, I’d say he’s the biggest influence I’ve had in my career. I trained with him at a more impressionable age. I was 20, 21 years old and looking at him, of a similar stature, maybe more powerful than me but of a similar height, just the way he controlled one-on-one situations, his distribution, handling crosses… he was just an all-rounder. his one-on-ones were exceptional, but so was his personality. You have to have a certain type of personality to play at Liverpool for that long.”
Being at one of the biggest clubs in England, and even the world, at such a tender age can bring its challenges. Realising that he wouldn’t get any opportunities in the Liverpool first team, Martin embarked on a series of loan spells at Accrington Stanley, Leicester City, Tranmere Rovers, Leeds United, and Derby County before making a permanent switch back to MK Dons, where he remained for seven seasons.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The Wimbledon academy graduate is emphatic about the one thing he wishes he would’ve known at that time on Merseyside:
“Belief. I wish I had believed in myself a little more, especially when I was at Liverpool, because I felt like a little fish in a big pond. Nowadays, young lads come through and they have a lot of belief. It gets you that little bit further sometimes, telling yourself that you are capable, whether it’s certain situations in training, or stuff that just helps you get that little bit further ahead.
"I think I had a good understanding, a good knowledge of the game. I probably wasn’t as physically developed, but I think belief would have definitely helped me.”
All of these experiences have clearly been valuable to Martin. At the other end of his career and revelling in his role at Ipswich as the Tractor Boys navigate their first Premier League campaign since 2001/02, he is now harnessing his earlier career to impart wisdom on youngsters coming through at the club.
“I’ve got a good knowledge of how they feel. Okay, it’s another generation, but it hasn’t changed dramatically. My role essentially is using my experience and seeing how I can help them in the best possible way with the tools we have at our disposal. There is so much now, the analytical side of it is massive, and being able to show them situations from a different perspective.
"I used it in my career too, trying to watch every game, every clip of every time I touch the ball, and I learnt a lot from it. So I try to give them that same knowledge and understanding of specific game situations, but also how life off the field affects what happens on it. How they live their lives, how they come into training every day, and what we expect from them.”
Whilst football analysis has developed significantly in the past few decades, many, including Martin, believe that football media still lags behind when it comes to goalkeeping, with voices in the game citing a lack of goalkeepers as pundits and a lack of understanding of the position by former players who played outfield.
“I think that’s true. The biggest pundits - they understand something is not right, but they can’t exactly break it down and tell you what it is. Analysing goalkeepers is a specialist subject, and sometimes you need the perspective. Not always, but it definitely helps if you’ve been in these situations.”
Having played at all five levels of the English professional game, from the National League right through to the Premier League, Martin has seen it all from a goalkeeping perspective. Rising through the leagues and playing with different teammates, under different managers, requires mental resilience, as well as physical and tactical preparation for increasingly difficult challenges as the level rises:
“In going from Millwall (Championship) to West Ham (Premier League), it took me four or five months to get used to the pace and power, the difference between the Championship and Premier League is huge!
"I was applying myself every day in training, every minute, every ball mattered, and that’s how I ended up adapting and putting myself in the best possible position to make my debut. Going in and just thinking I’d be third choice and not playing wasn’t an option for me. You never know, this game is a beautiful game and so unpredictable, all you can do is give yourself the best chance whenever that chance may come.”
The need for mental fortitude and patience is even more acute when you’re the third-choice goalkeeper at a club. Plenty has been said about their often lonely existence, putting out the training cones and ensuring that the first and second choice goalkeepers are prepared and ready for the weekend’s game.
Other more sceptical observers would argue that picking up a wage for, in their eyes, not doing much other than train makes the role an easy one. That's something that Martin is keen to disprove:
“I think you definitely have to have a certain personality. It’s not an easy role, whether first, second, or third choice, they all have different pros and cons. As the number three, you almost have to accept that your game time will be limited. As a goalkeeper, you get a lot of good feeling from playing games, you’re training every day, you’ve got to keep your standards up every day. You have to have a certain mental toughness to be able to deal with those situations, you have to be a positive influence.
"I always look to myself in whatever role I’m in. For example at West Ham, I loved being there, I loved the people there. It was easy for me to pull different people together in the dressing room, people from different cliques.
"As third choice, you can be the glue that holds everything together, that’s how I saw my role. However, at the same time you also have to be ready at any moment. All it takes is one injury, then another, and you’re in, you’re playing. It’s definitely a tough thing to do.”
Martin experienced this first hand at West Ham, signing in 2019 as back up to Lukasz Fabianski and Roberto. When Fabianski sustained an injury in November 2019 and Spaniard Roberto was dropped due to a series of high-profile errors, the former MK Dons stepped in to great effect, producing a man-of-the-match performance in a 1-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
“Leading into that game, it was fear. I’m not too proud to be able to say that I had doubts going into that game. I’m 33, am I good enough to be here? Do I deserve to be here? I didn’t want to let anyone down. We were on a really bad run, so I had a lot of pressure on myself, so to have the game I had and perform to the best of my ability, I’m very proud of that, it was one of the best days of my life.”
So what’s it like to be a player-coach? The role itself isn't new in football, with players edging towards the end of their playing careers often using it as a bridge towards becoming a fully fledged coach when they retire. Working with Ipswich’s goalkeeper coach Rene Gilmartin, Martin plays a central role in organising and carrying out goalkeeper-specific training:
“From Monday to Friday, it’s about being organised. Rene knows what we’ll be doing for the next couple of days, how hard we’re going to work. We’ll sit down in the morning and go through it, for example it might be about the lads on loan, how the lads did in training or in a game yesterday, or what we want to get out of the session and how to improve them.
"Essentially it’s about getting out, setting up and coming in, and then I become a player, so I have to warm up, treat my body, get my body in the right condition and train if I need to train.
"I have a system, stepping in or out of training depending on numbers, and then doing any extras that might be needed of me, like shooting or taking a one on one with one of the young lads. There are loads of different things that have happened since I’ve been here, and it has been really enjoyable, I’ve got to say.”
Martin’s simultaneous selflessness and determination to prepare himself to an optimum level for whatever situation may arise are evident. At 38, he knows he doesn’t have too long left in his playing career and is dedicated to passing on his experience to the other goalkeepers in the squad.
The solidarity of the goalkeepers union is evident when listening to Martin talk about helping his teammates, thriving on developing players and imparting the wisdom he has accumulated over a two-decade long career at various levels of the game:
“I’ve been brought up on that mantra of we’re all in it together. It may be one position up for grabs, but it’s all about the greater good. I’ve lived by that rule all of my career where if I’ve got something, I can help one of my competitors. It might sound crazy, because even now when I go into training I am in competition with the others.
"Even though that’s not really my role anymore, it’s just in my DNA. If I can help another goalkeeper in any way, I feel like it’s my duty to do that and I feel like I’m part of the set up.
"There are many different things to consider for different goalkeepers at different stages, I’m quite passionate about it, but obviously the number one focus is being ready for Saturday, preparing the number one. How do you give them the best chance of performing at a high level in the way the manager wants to play? There are different things we can do to try and help.”
David Martin has been in the game for over 20 years, playing at all levels of the professional pyramid. He's a model pro who has seen how the position has evolved over time, imparting his wisdom on a new generation of players that are making their way in a game vastly different to the one he came through in. Football runs in the Martin family, and father Alvin will surely be proud of the strides his son has made.
