Any goalkeeper will tell you that it is relatively easy to pull off a spectacular save. What really separates the wheat from the chaff is the ability to perform every aspect of the craft to a consistently high standard week in, week out.
In this regard Nigel Martyn can be considered one of the very best keepers this country has produced. His 700-plus professional games can be viewed as a masterclass spread across two decades.
In 2006 Leeds United supporters voted him in as their greatest ever number one while just a couple of seasons in his twilight years at Goodison Park was sufficient for David Moyes – a man who brought Mikel Arteta from Spain and Tim Cahill up from the Championship - to hail him as his shrewdest signing.
So reliably consummate was Martyn that he would surely have played over a hundred times for England if not for David Seaman standing in his way. In this context, 23 caps was a mightily impressive haul.
Here, we take the 53-year-old back through his eventful club career, starting with his jumping off point at Crystal Palace.
Eagles Dare Not Look Down
After making his name at Bristol Rovers, Martyn secured a big-money move to Selhurst Park in 1989 whereupon he embarked on a rollercoaster seven years that included a FA Cup final; the Wright and Bright era; and sadly also a couple of relegations as Palace yo-yoed between the sublime and the sub-par.
With the South London outfit having failed to start off on a positive footing this term does he worry that another drop into the second tier might be on the cards?
“There are probably ten teams that will fight it out and Palace has to be careful not to be one of those. Hopefully if Wilf can repeat his form from last year that should keep Palace outside of that.”
‘Wilf’ of course is Wilfried Zaha, a player who Martyn credits with almost single-handedly maintaining the Eagle’s top flight status in recent years.
Indeed so sensational has been the winger’s displays that his future has begun to dominate the back pages with first Arsenal, then Everton showing keen interest. Can Martyn see him staying beyond the short-term?
“If a player wants to go enough and is desperate enough to leave then it’s possibly not in your best interests to try and keep him because you then have a player who doesn’t want to be there.
“Not that Wilf wants to let the club down in any way. He loves Crystal Palace. He just wants a chance to further his career and go to potentially a bigger club like Arsenal.
That’s the type of club he needs to move to. He needs a club that is challenging for the Champions League because that’s the standard that he’s at.
“I don’t see him lying down and not trying though. He doesn’t strike me as that type of person. He cares enough about his own club and will give his all until he moves on.”
While Zaha stayed put another of the summer’s transfer sagas eventually reached a conclusion when Harry Maguire switched to Old Trafford for a record breaking sum.
Having become the first million pound goalkeeper on leaving the Pirates, Martyn has some sage advice from one defensive record-breaker to another on how to deal with the heightened expectations.
“I was the first goalkeeper to go for a million so there was a lot more pressure. But I didn’t think of it as my valuation: it was other people’s.
"Harry has to do the same thing. He has to simply carry on the way he was playing at Leicester because that’s what got him the move in the first place, that and getting into the England team and being part of that World Cup push. You have to keep it that simple.”
Staying with Palace – and strangely too, United – reminiscing on their FA Cup final encounter in 1990 brings up the rumour that Lee Martin’s winner in the replay essentially saved Sir Alex Ferguson’s job prior to the Reds’ long reign of dominance.
Martyn finds it strange that he inadvertently played a pivotal role in such a seismic moment.
“I heard it said later that Sir Alex would have got the sack had he not won that final. United went on to win the Cup Winner’s Cup final the following year then the Premier Leagues followed.
"It is a bit surreal had we beaten them on that day how football would have been different. There are a lot of supporters around the world who aren’t Man United fans who would have been a lot happier.”
Marching On Together
It was at Leeds where the Cornishman went from being a highly respected shot-stopper to a household name and unsurprisingly so given that the Yorkshire giants was on everyone’s lips at the time via their unlikely elevation into the top four courtesy of a plethora of high-profile signings.
When it all went spectacularly south many years in the wilderness duly followed but now Leeds are seemingly back, making a charge for promotion at the second attempt under the exacting – some might say eccentric – stewardship of Marcelo Bielsa.
The Argentina is known for expecting nothing short of everything from his players and Martyn is clearly a fan.
“It’s a hard way of playing and a difficult way too because of the sheer amount of games in the Championship. His management skills rely on him knowing when to rest certain players at the right time.
"He has all the experience in the world for that and he has been a breath of fresh air for Leeds. The whole club seems to have got itself sorted in the past couple of years. They’re connected again to the supporters and they are one club pushing in the right direction.”
Looking back to their previous high water mark has Martyn spoilt for choice when asked to pick out a favourite memory. At the turn of the century Leeds were exhilarating and anything seemed possible.
After some reflection he concentrates on their European exploits.
“On a personal level it was probably when we drew at Roma away in the Olympic Stadium. We got battered for most of the game and we managed to come away with a 0-0 draw.
"I was quite pleased with how I played that day and that was a really nice moment personally. But for the team it was winning some of those Champions League games. Beating AC Milan at home was a real highlight because the place was absolutely rocking.”
As previously stated however it was soon after that it all began to horribly unravel.
“There were a lot of players being bought. I guess when you’re playing you hope that everything is okay. There was investment. We got £10m from Sky and a similar amount from Lurpak.
"So I guess we thought if such investments were coming in that’s how we could afford to buy all of the players that we were at that time. After that - it was probably right at the end of David O’Leary’s reign really - the cracks started to appear.
"Then obviously when Terry (Venables) took over it was a culling session and all of the big earners were sent on their way one by one. It was sad to see.”
Returning to the present-day it is not all positivity and optimism in the Dales. In former Real Madrid star Kiko Casilla they possess a keeper distrusted by the Elland Road faithful after a series of errors last term halted their progress.
In order to rectify this Martyn espouses a return to basics.
“People (have) jumped onto his back a bit and what he’s got to do now is string performances together where he is very consistent. He doesn’t have to make great saves. You just cut the errors out and do what you should be doing. The saves will look after themselves.
“He’s very keen to come for high balls and in the Championship with lots of bodies around sometimes you can get caught out doing that. Choosing the right time to come for his crosses is what he needs to do and he will be working hard on that.”
Wise Words For A Toffee To Chew On
If Casilla has faced criticism that pales to the flak dished out to young Everton stopper Jordan Pickford last season after he committed a number of errors, including a disastrous derby-day gaffe.
Having spent the last few years of his distinguished career on Merseyside, Martyn still holds an affinity with the club and in Pickford sees a goalie with huge potential but who is still on a learning curve.
“Making mistakes happens. It’s part of being a goalkeeper. It’s how you deal with them.
“As a general rule young goalkeepers make more mistakes and as you progress you make less of them because you develop as a person.
"When you’re young you’re keen to show everybody what you can do but as you get older and mature you’re happier when the ball is not around you but you’re comfortable when it is.
"You can only deal with each situation as it comes along and obviously the more situations you deal with the fewer mistakes you make.”
With this in mind how highly does Martyn rate the 25-year-old? Can he ultimately become one of the world’s elite for his position?
“He can be and the way you do that is through pure consistency and limiting your mistakes to probably two or three a season. You pull off the great saves but you also make the saves you’re expected to make.
"That makes you a great keeper and there is no reason why Jordan can’t become that. He may not think this but he will be a lot better goalkeeper in five or six years’ time than he is now because he will develop so much.
"As he gets older the game will become easier for him.”
So speaks the wisdom of experience which is fitting because Martyn did not join Everton until the ripe age of 36.
There he enjoyed a remarkable autumnal resurgence, first staving off the threat of relegation before providing a defiant backdrop to a surprise ascent all the way to a Champions League spot.
This was all in stark contrast to his latter, unhappy time at Leeds and is a period still recalled fondly.
“I loved it at Everton. Obviously what happened at Leeds wasn’t very nice. I sat on the bench for a long season and at that stage of my career it was a bit of a waste.
"So when I was offered the opportunity by David Moyes to go there I was always going to take it with both hands.
“It was tough at the start because we were one of the favourites to go down and we stayed up by the skin of our teeth. It was nice – but also not nice – for me to play a big part in us staying up.”
And what of the subsequent campaign, one that Evertonians still hold dear? Typically modest Martyn attributes it to the organisational skills of his gaffer rather than his own immense contribution.
“We weren’t the fourth best team in that league by any stretch of the imagination but we were one of the very best prepared teams. “
And with that our time is up. But before we go we couldn’t resist asking a guy whose living was to frustrate the finest forwards of our time who gave him the most sleepless nights before games. Who, in short was the deadliest striker he ever faced?
“Shearer was obviously up there, both in training and playing against him. Ian Wright was a very good finisher. He didn’t always necessarily have to blast the ball. He would pass it.
"Robbie Fowler used to get a few and the way Liverpool played meant he got lots of tap-ins. They would get around the back of you then roll it along the six yard line.
“Those three were the best ones. Then there was Duncan Ferguson who was uncomfortable to say the least.
"Playing against him you’d think ‘here we go’ every single time so it was quite nice to move to Everton and have him as a team-mate. You’d see the other goalie squirming instead.”
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Uwe Lein / AP Photo*
