I'd take you up on that Northampton. Personally, I've always stuck up for Martin. He's a local lad and proved to be a decent striker when handled correctly. It makes it feel better somehow having a player who has progressed through your academy because I feel a lot more sense of pride and connection with the club. I've never booed him or got on his back when he has put on the yellow and green and there were times when he was on fire during our league one campaign. However, he has been found out. The further up the football pyramid you climb, the more athletic you need to be. Getting rat arsed is fine so long as you can work it off. Against league one opposition, perhaps you could go out on the town and still have enough to overcome the opposition in the game. However, Premiership players are so fit in the body and mind that every decision comes down to split second timing and he has shown that he just cannot cope with the demands this brings. I couldn't give a **** if he got blottoed every week so long as he delivered the goods but ultimately he is not good enough. What pisses people off is the fact that given the motivation, the dedication and right attitude maybe he could be good enough but we will never know because he couldn't give a toss himself.
At League one level I never felt he was fully given the fans backing sometimes, it always seemed like a lot of people had some perceived grievance with him at the time. There was the pub incident then Glenn Roeder sending him and Spillane off to Luton, I swear from then onwards he was considered an outcast by some people. I do agree if he kept working on his fitness and perhaps gave it 100% he could at least make it as an established Championship player. On the other side I don't think his motivated enough because our fans have hardly given him the encouragement really. If you're getting stick off people left right and centre let's be honest it's not going to do wonders for your attitude, some players are going feed off the stick and crank things up, others it knocks their confidence and they go into their shell then you have the guys who stick their middle finger up and think why should I bother the latter of those explains Martin in my opinion.
