Chris Martin

[ChellastonRam]

I think if Steve bull was ever given the chance then he may have done ok at a higher level but he never wondered from wolves.

The players that haven't made it I.e holt, Howard, and so far Martin have lacked the pace I think the prem needs

We could have signed Steve Bull from West Brom reserves in the mid 80's.
Our chief scout at the time (name escapes me...) spotted him and recommended him to Arthur Cox, but at the time we'd got Christie and Davison up top and had just taken a punt on Phil Gee, so we passed up the chance.

[HungaryRam]

10 million for Martin would be an absolute steal!

He can connect with the ball just as sweetly as Lambert and his overall build up play we haven't seen the like of since that little pirate Francesco Baiano.

McCormack and Rhodes have been sold or touted at higher prices and Martin is a far superior team player. Easily my favourite Ram for over the past decade or more.

He's our talisman and much of the ambition we've shown would be undone if we sold him.

Saying that, the only argument for selling him, besides a massive fee, could be that we restrict ourselves to playing to one particular way. If Clement has another preffered formation then he may be tempted to sell. Would be gutted if we sold him though.

[RamBamFan]

Chris Martin came in as a loan during Cloughies last full season. He was overweight, low on confidence and out of sorts in general. Lots of fans had a right old moan at the time. However if you watched his play it was plain to see he wasnt bad. he improved and by the end of the season had bagged a few goals.

He worked hard and made himself the best striker we have had in about a decade or more. Yes he can fall down easily and has been sent off a couple of times, but he is clearly one of the best championship strikers around. He isnt going to be a Dzeko or a Van Persie, but he could do a job in "lesser" Prem teams.

A change of system made Chris Martin...a central target man , with strength and a good touch with 2 fast wide forwards suited his play,..in fact I am not convinced he would be any where near as effective in a forward two...in short excellent as a focal forward only...,any lea

[Avinit]

Hi. New here so be gentle.
Martin was a key pivotal point of an effective team and was the main man in Steve Mc's Plan A. When people stopped our Plan A he looked pretty ordinary. There were teams that figured us out pretty early and got the better of us.

So if PC is, as i think he is, a great deal more tactically agile then removing CM will not be so damaging. I think we are building a team with threats from all over the pitch which is a good thing.

And as for CM not having a chance in the Prem. Rubbish. In the right setup he can still be effective. Look at Glen Murray. Who would have thought he would have been effective? Not me

[ellafella]

Hi. New here so be gentle.
Martin was a key pivotal point of an effective team and was the main man in Steve Mc's Plan A. When people stopped our Plan A he looked pretty ordinary. There were teams that figured us out pretty early and got the better of us.

So if PC is, as i think he is, a great deal more tactically agile then removing CM will not be so damaging. I think we are building a team with threats from all over the pitch which is a good thing.

And as for CM not having a chance in the Prem. Rubbish. In the right setup he can still be effective. Look at Glen Murray. Who would have thought he would have been effective? Not me

Welcome; always good to have fresh input. A nice thoughtful post, delivered with gusto.

[SlimyLimey]

As much as I like Chris Martin I have one concern. The injury he sustained that kept him out of action toward the end of last season was, as I understand it treated with a series of injections. I worry that this could flair up again to a point where surgery is required.
If someone in the Prem. decides he is worth between 7 & 10 million I think we have enough attacking options to fill the void.
Our concern at this time should be to stabilize our porous defense. Does anyone else feel the same way?

[2.4Ram]

I've been thinking the same Slimylimey, its nice to have these attacking options but our defence was and is our weakest area. I'm not really fussed about shackell, yes he's a good player but I'm quite comfortable with the CB's we have if they get the right protection from midfield. Proper competition for both full back spots would be my priority.

As for Chris Martin, I hope and believe he will stay. I read a newspaper article on PC before he joined us and part of it mentioned he is a horses for coursed type of coach. If the opposition play deep he will play wide and try to get round them, if the opposition push up then he will go over them, with this and who we have signed in mind, I'm wondering if he is going to choose his formation and side on a game by game basis depending on who and how they play.

[Stringer_Bell]

I don't think so just people making stories up again and hapless fans swallowing it.

He's a very good championship striker but not even close to a premiership striker as he proved before. You could clearly see that when he played for Scotland just to confirm.

Much in the mild of players like steve bull, billy sharpe etc. he's better but not good enough for that level.

You may be right and it might be people making things up, but [b]I don't think you can judge his suitability for the Premiership on his performance for Scotland.

He was asked to play in an unsuitable role with unfamiliar team mates and wasn't it Scotland v Ireland, which is only Championship standard at best anyway so he'd hardly be out of his depth there.

Strikers can only really be judged on the goals they score and, in CM's case, create for others. In that respect he's

[AnagRam]

Hi. New here so be gentle.
Martin was a key pivotal point of an effective team and was the main man in Steve Mc's Plan A. When people stopped our Plan A he looked pretty ordinary. There were teams that figured us out pretty early and got the better of us.

So if PC is, as i think he is, a great deal more tactically agile then removing CM will not be so damaging. I think we are building a team with threats from all over the pitch which is a good thing.

And as for CM not having a chance in the Prem. Rubbish. In the right setup he can still be effective. Look at Glen Murray. Who would have thought he would have been effective? Not me

Agree with all that and the questions raised by Slimy and 2.4Ram. If we now have, as I hope, a more 'tactically agile' leader then he'll be able to get the best from both Martin and the team without him.

I really rate Chris Martin (some aspects of attitude apart) but last season's failure was, imo, as

[swaledale]

Hi. New here so be gentle.
Martin was a key pivotal point of an effective team and was the main man in Steve Mc's Plan A. When people stopped our Plan A he looked pretty ordinary. There were teams that figured us out pretty early and got the better of us.

So if PC is, as i think he is, a great deal more tactically agile then removing CM will not be so damaging. I think we are building a team with threats from all over the pitch which is a good thing.

And as for CM not having a chance in the Prem. Rubbish. In the right setup he can still be effective. Look at Glen Murray. Who would have thought he would have been effective? Not me

I don't think Murray will be quite so effective this season, he will have been sussed, as Holt was in his second season for Norwich -