Martin Allan Image 1 Glasgow Celtic 1896

Description

Springburn, Glasgow born centre forward Allan Martin began his football career with local junior club Northern, and was selected for the Scottish Football Alliance XI against the rival Scottish Football League in 1892. after which he signed for Glasgow Rangers in the summer of 1892, making his Scottish League debut against Leith Athletic that October, playing once more for Rangers that month before loan spells, firstly back at Northern, then the next year at Leith Athletic.

He moved to Hibernian in 1893 and helped Hibs win the Scottish Second Division Championship in the inaugural 1893-94 campaign and again in 1894-95, the latter leading to election to the First Division. They also won The Rosebery Charity Cup in 1894 with a 4-2 win over Hearts with Martin scoring a hat-trick. In summer 1895 he moved to Celtic due to being offered higher wages; in his single season with the Bhoys, he scored 21 goals in 22 matches, including 18 in 17 League matches, finishing national top goalscorer as Celtic won The Scottish League title, The Glasgow Cup and The Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup; he played but did not score in the 11-0 League win over Dundee which remains the club’s record margin of victory. As a mark of recognition of his ability, Martin won a place in the Scottish League team against the Irish League, scoring all 3 goals in a 3-2 win at Celtic Park in February 1896.

Martin then returned to Hibernian in the 1896 close season, but was less prolific in his second spell with 19 goals in 45 League and Scottish Cup appearances between August 1896 and December 1898. The club finished league runners-up in 1896-97 and won the Rosebery Cup at the end of that season. Martin’s last appearance for Hibernian was their 10-0 defeat to Rangers on Christmas Day 1898. There is little recorded evidence of his career after leaving Hibs at the age of 27, when in theory he would have been in his athletic prime but perhaps less so with the demands of his labour-intensive job and possibly deteriorating health. Certainly he died aged 33 in 1906 ‘after a long illness’, from multiple causes including tuberculosis.