Gerry Wolstenholme's Blog - Posts Tagged "oldham-athletic"
A Goal to Remember!
Barrie Martin 1935-2019
Barrie Martin was born in Birmingham on 29 September 1935. His family moved to Blackpool when he was a youngster and he played his football as a full back with the local side Highfield Youth Club. His potential was spotted and Blackpool signed him as an amateur from Highfield in May 1952.
He played only in the junior sides in the 1952/53 season but Blackpool thought highly of him and signed him as a professional on 17 December 1953. Once again he played only in the junior sides in the 1953/54 season and then he joined the Forces to complete his National Service on 4 March 1954.
On completion of his National Service he returned to the club and he made his Central League debut at left back against Derby County reserves on 24 March 1956 when Blackpool won 2-0. He went on to play seven Central League games in the 1955/56 season, appearing at left back, left half and right back.
The following season he returned to Central League action at left half for the game against Preston North End reserves on 17 September 1956 when Blackpool lost 2-1 and he ended the 1956/57 season having played 19 Central League games. He, ended the season in the left back position, once again having played in both full back positions and at left half throughout the season.
His weekly wage for the 1957/58 season was £10 with an extra £7 if and when he played in the first team and an extra £2 when he played in the Central League side. And he started the 1957/58 season at left half in the Central League side but played his second game of the season in the unaccustomed position of right half. However, thereafter, he played at full back, eventually making the left back position his own.
Injury to the regular left back Jackie Wright gave him the opportunity to make his League debut against Bolton Wanderers on 28 December 1957 when Blackpool lost the game 3-2. Interestingly, it was erroneously stated that he was 'the first Blackpool born full back to play for the club in First or Second Division football for over 30 years'. But, being born in Birmingham this was obviously not the case; Herbert ‘Taffy’ Jones was said to have been the previous player to have, and at that time retain, the honour.
He was back in the League side for the final three games of the season, replacing Jimmy Armfield at right back in a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion and then left back Jackie Wright in two defeats, 1-0 at home to Everton and 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur. The four League games that he played augmented his 34 Central League appearances in the 1957/58 season. And although he had only made fleeting appearances in the League side, the critic in Blackpool's weekly football newspaper The Green stated before the final match of the season, 'For the player most likely to succeed next season I choose local full back Barrie Martin. In his three games for the first team before today, Martin showed the coolness, skill and positional sense that go to make a player of quality. Those attributes should develop next season.' The critic was not wrong, he could obviously spot potential when he saw it!
The club obviously also thought the same as his weekly wage was increased for the 1958/59 season to £14 with an extra £6 if and when he played in the first team. He earned £36 from that appearance bonus because Jackie Wright and Tommy Garrett shared the left back position with Barrie replacing them in only four games when they were injured, plus once again replacing Jimmy Armfield in two other games. Thus he played six League games to add to his 38 Central League games in the 1958/59 season.
Once again he earned a wage increase for the 1959/60 season, £17 in the summer months and £20 in the season. And he became the regular first team left back at the start of that 1959/60 season; the Armfield/Martin full back partnership had begun.
On 12 December 1959, he scored his first, and as it turned out only, senior goal for the club in a 3-1 defeat of Chelsea at Bloomfield Road. And, remarkably, I still remember it well (even though I was only a 13year-old). He received the ball from goalkeeper George Farm and began a mazy dribble out of his own half that ended with him driving a shot past the Chelsea goalkeeper from just outside the penalty area; I can see it even now!
A 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on 6 February 1960 brought the Armfield/Martin full back partnership more into focus as one critic wrote, 'A compact half-back line, in which Roy Gratrix was superb and Peter Hauser and Hugh Kelly forever active, plus two sound, assured full backs in Jimmy Armfield and Barrie Martin, played a major part in achieving a deserved draw.'
Losing his place only temporarily in the 1959/60 season, he played 38 League games, scoring that one goal, three FA Cup games and three Central League games. But in the 1960/61 season, the re-emergence of Tommy Garrett cost him his place for much of the season and he ended it having played 18 League games, two League Cup games and 21 Central League games. Even so, his weekly wage for the 1961/62 season was increased to £24 with an extra £5 if and when he played in the first team.
And he missed only one game, and that through injury, in the 1961/62 season, playing in 41 League games, eight League Cup ties and two FA Cup ties.
He was always a robust player but always a fair one and it was something of a surprise when he received an FA warning after being booked in the game against Bolton Wanderers on 6 April 1963; perhaps Blackpool's 3-0 defeat had something to do with it! However, he was an ever-present in the 1962/63 season, playing in all 42 League games, three League Cup ties and two FA Cup ties.
Injury caused him to miss two League games in the 1963/64 season so he ended the season having played in 40 League games, two League Cup ties and two FA Cup ties. It was also the season of a most unusual event for Barrie. A hand-ball offence by a Bolton defender gave Blackpool a penalty in the game against the Wanderers on 7 March 1964 and as on critic reported, 'Martin unexpectedly chose to take it' and he 'sidefooted it over the bar on to the Kop' but Blackpool did go on to win 2-0.
But the emergence of a new full back, Tommy Thompson, meant that Barrie's time at Blackpool was coming to a close. He appeared in the opening Central League game of the season, a 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday reserves on 22 August 1964 and it was to be his final game for the club as Blackpool transferred him to Oldham Athletic for a fee of £7,500 on 28 August 1964. He had given Blackpool loyal service, having played 213 League and Cup games plus 123 Central League games.
He played 42 League games, scoring four goals, and three FA Cup ties, scoring one goal, for Oldham Athletic and, as I was working in London at the time when and we had no game on a particular Saturday and I saw that Oldham were coming to town, I was able to watch Barrie playing for his new side in a game at Brentford, a game I went to watch just to see Barrie once again!
Oldham transferred him to Tranmere Rovers in June 1965 for a fee of £4,000 and he played 99 League games and made three substitute appearances for the club.
After retirement from football he returned to the Fylde Coast and became a car dealer in Blackpool.
He died in Trinity Hospice, Blackpool, on 27 February 2019. He is an integral part of Blackpool Football Club history and, certainly for this supporter, he will be remembered for that one magnificent goal! Rest in Peace, Barrie.
Barrie Martin was born in Birmingham on 29 September 1935. His family moved to Blackpool when he was a youngster and he played his football as a full back with the local side Highfield Youth Club. His potential was spotted and Blackpool signed him as an amateur from Highfield in May 1952.
He played only in the junior sides in the 1952/53 season but Blackpool thought highly of him and signed him as a professional on 17 December 1953. Once again he played only in the junior sides in the 1953/54 season and then he joined the Forces to complete his National Service on 4 March 1954.
On completion of his National Service he returned to the club and he made his Central League debut at left back against Derby County reserves on 24 March 1956 when Blackpool won 2-0. He went on to play seven Central League games in the 1955/56 season, appearing at left back, left half and right back.
The following season he returned to Central League action at left half for the game against Preston North End reserves on 17 September 1956 when Blackpool lost 2-1 and he ended the 1956/57 season having played 19 Central League games. He, ended the season in the left back position, once again having played in both full back positions and at left half throughout the season.
His weekly wage for the 1957/58 season was £10 with an extra £7 if and when he played in the first team and an extra £2 when he played in the Central League side. And he started the 1957/58 season at left half in the Central League side but played his second game of the season in the unaccustomed position of right half. However, thereafter, he played at full back, eventually making the left back position his own.
Injury to the regular left back Jackie Wright gave him the opportunity to make his League debut against Bolton Wanderers on 28 December 1957 when Blackpool lost the game 3-2. Interestingly, it was erroneously stated that he was 'the first Blackpool born full back to play for the club in First or Second Division football for over 30 years'. But, being born in Birmingham this was obviously not the case; Herbert ‘Taffy’ Jones was said to have been the previous player to have, and at that time retain, the honour.
He was back in the League side for the final three games of the season, replacing Jimmy Armfield at right back in a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion and then left back Jackie Wright in two defeats, 1-0 at home to Everton and 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur. The four League games that he played augmented his 34 Central League appearances in the 1957/58 season. And although he had only made fleeting appearances in the League side, the critic in Blackpool's weekly football newspaper The Green stated before the final match of the season, 'For the player most likely to succeed next season I choose local full back Barrie Martin. In his three games for the first team before today, Martin showed the coolness, skill and positional sense that go to make a player of quality. Those attributes should develop next season.' The critic was not wrong, he could obviously spot potential when he saw it!
The club obviously also thought the same as his weekly wage was increased for the 1958/59 season to £14 with an extra £6 if and when he played in the first team. He earned £36 from that appearance bonus because Jackie Wright and Tommy Garrett shared the left back position with Barrie replacing them in only four games when they were injured, plus once again replacing Jimmy Armfield in two other games. Thus he played six League games to add to his 38 Central League games in the 1958/59 season.
Once again he earned a wage increase for the 1959/60 season, £17 in the summer months and £20 in the season. And he became the regular first team left back at the start of that 1959/60 season; the Armfield/Martin full back partnership had begun.
On 12 December 1959, he scored his first, and as it turned out only, senior goal for the club in a 3-1 defeat of Chelsea at Bloomfield Road. And, remarkably, I still remember it well (even though I was only a 13year-old). He received the ball from goalkeeper George Farm and began a mazy dribble out of his own half that ended with him driving a shot past the Chelsea goalkeeper from just outside the penalty area; I can see it even now!
A 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on 6 February 1960 brought the Armfield/Martin full back partnership more into focus as one critic wrote, 'A compact half-back line, in which Roy Gratrix was superb and Peter Hauser and Hugh Kelly forever active, plus two sound, assured full backs in Jimmy Armfield and Barrie Martin, played a major part in achieving a deserved draw.'
Losing his place only temporarily in the 1959/60 season, he played 38 League games, scoring that one goal, three FA Cup games and three Central League games. But in the 1960/61 season, the re-emergence of Tommy Garrett cost him his place for much of the season and he ended it having played 18 League games, two League Cup games and 21 Central League games. Even so, his weekly wage for the 1961/62 season was increased to £24 with an extra £5 if and when he played in the first team.
And he missed only one game, and that through injury, in the 1961/62 season, playing in 41 League games, eight League Cup ties and two FA Cup ties.
He was always a robust player but always a fair one and it was something of a surprise when he received an FA warning after being booked in the game against Bolton Wanderers on 6 April 1963; perhaps Blackpool's 3-0 defeat had something to do with it! However, he was an ever-present in the 1962/63 season, playing in all 42 League games, three League Cup ties and two FA Cup ties.
Injury caused him to miss two League games in the 1963/64 season so he ended the season having played in 40 League games, two League Cup ties and two FA Cup ties. It was also the season of a most unusual event for Barrie. A hand-ball offence by a Bolton defender gave Blackpool a penalty in the game against the Wanderers on 7 March 1964 and as on critic reported, 'Martin unexpectedly chose to take it' and he 'sidefooted it over the bar on to the Kop' but Blackpool did go on to win 2-0.
But the emergence of a new full back, Tommy Thompson, meant that Barrie's time at Blackpool was coming to a close. He appeared in the opening Central League game of the season, a 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday reserves on 22 August 1964 and it was to be his final game for the club as Blackpool transferred him to Oldham Athletic for a fee of £7,500 on 28 August 1964. He had given Blackpool loyal service, having played 213 League and Cup games plus 123 Central League games.
He played 42 League games, scoring four goals, and three FA Cup ties, scoring one goal, for Oldham Athletic and, as I was working in London at the time when and we had no game on a particular Saturday and I saw that Oldham were coming to town, I was able to watch Barrie playing for his new side in a game at Brentford, a game I went to watch just to see Barrie once again!
Oldham transferred him to Tranmere Rovers in June 1965 for a fee of £4,000 and he played 99 League games and made three substitute appearances for the club.
After retirement from football he returned to the Fylde Coast and became a car dealer in Blackpool.
He died in Trinity Hospice, Blackpool, on 27 February 2019. He is an integral part of Blackpool Football Club history and, certainly for this supporter, he will be remembered for that one magnificent goal! Rest in Peace, Barrie.
