Martin Jimmy Image 5 Portsmouth 1926

Description

Bo’Ness, Lothian born left half Jimmy Martin’s football career contrasted sharply between his times in Scotland during wartime and thereafter peacetime England, with multiple Scottish clubs against a single club in England. Starting his football career with hometown club Bo’Ness in 1914 just before the outbreak of the First World War, he joined Heart of Midlothian in 1915, making his Scottish League debut in a 4-1 defeat at St Mirren in August 1915 and making 32 Scottish League appearances through to September 1916 before he joined Glasgow Rangers. He scored on his Rangers debut against Hibernian in December that year, and scored 5 goals in 39 appearances during two seasons at Ibrox.

He was loaned to Airdrieonians early in 1917 before joining Morton in the summer of 1918, returning to Bo’Ness early in 1919 before a short spell at Dunfermline Athletic led him to Dumbarton in the 1919 close season, where he made 15 appearances between August and December 1919. His Scottish wanderings finished with a move to England to join Southern League Champions Portsmouth, in their first season a Football League club playing in Division Third (South), and he made his Football League debut for them against Watford two days after Christmas 1920, scoring his first goal in a 3-0 win over Brighton the following April.

Nicknamed “Pincher”, he became Club Captain during the mid 1920’s, and missed only one match, scoring a career best 11 goals in 1923-24 as Portsmouth won the Third Division (South) Championship. By the time he played his last Pompey match against Grimsby Town in February 1927, he had scored 28 goals in 225 Pompey appearances. He then moved to non league Aldershot in 1927 before retiring already in his mid thirties.