Nigel Martyn (born August 11, 1966 in St. Austell) is an
English football goalkeeper, who currently plays for Everton in
the English Premier League.
Although best-known as a goalkeeper, Martyn typically played as
a midfielder until invited to play in goal for his brother's
works team when he was sixteen. He began his professional career
with Bristol Rovers in 1987, and transferred to Crystal Palace
for a fee of £1 million in 1989, becoming the first goalkeeper
to attract a million-pound transfer fee in English football. He
remained at Palace for seven seasons, appearing 349 times for
his club, including the 1990 FA Cup final (where Palace were
beaten by Manchester United on a replay, and the 1991 Zenith
Data Systems Cup final (where Palace beat Martyn's future team
Everton). In 1996, he signed with Leeds United, setting another
record fee for a goalkeeper of £2.25m.
Martyn played as Leeds' first-choice goalkeeper for six seasons,
but a disagreement with new Leeds manager Terry Venables,
combined with the increasingly good form of youngster Paul
Robinson, kept him from playing any games in Leeds' 02/03 season.
In the Summer of 2003, Leeds were approached by Chelsea and
Everton with offers to sign Martyn. Both clubs were offering the
out-of-favour goalkeeper a backup post: at Chelsea, he would
understudy Carlo Cudicini; at Everton, the first-choice was
Richard Wright. Martyn chose to move to Everton, and six games
into the season, an injury to Wright gave him his Everton debut.
His performances for the first team during Wright's recovery
were such that Martyn remained Everton's first-choice goalkeeper
even after Wright returned from injury.
Martyn was one of Everton's best performers in the 2004-2005
season when they achieved their best ever finish in the Premier
League of 4th. He remains a favourite, passionately known as "Big
Nige", and joins a long list of Goodison legends, and it is
likely that he will retire at the end of this, the 2005-2006,
season.
Martyn made his debut for the England national side in Moscow in
1992, becoming the first Cornishman to play for England. Since
then he has earned only 22 caps for his national side, spending
the peak of his career as second-choice goalkeeper behind David
Seaman.
In 2005, Nigel was voted in Palace's Centenary XI. |
