The life of former Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United
striker Martin Gritton is not one that fits with the stereotype of a
professional footballer.
First of all, when he was five-years old, his family
relocated from the footballing ‘hot bed’ of Glasgow
to the Rugby playing heartland of Cornwall. As a life-long Celtic fan, growing up in a time when the
Cornish rugby side were regular visitors to Twickenham for the County
Championship final, he developed an appreciation for the oval ball game.
“I loved playing rugby at school growing up, as many of my
mates played football so it was all good. Cornwall had a
great Rugby team too, making it to the county
championship final a couple of times, about 40,000 made the trip up,” said
Gritton.
He is also one of the select band of individuals to have
made a living from professional football who have been university educated. He graduated
with a Sports Science Degree from the University
of Portsmouth in 1999, and was also
selected for the England and
British
University
representative sides.
“Travelling up and down when I could was a struggle – but
Uni football was great fun though. We had a great team and I was lucky enough
to get in the England
and Britain Uni sides. I scored against Scotland.”
In addition to this, Gritton also combined his studies with
playing in the Jewson South Western League for Porthleven, after starting out
with his local side, Perranwell.
“We had a great run in the Vase, making it to the Quarter
Finals. I scored a few late winners on the run, but we had a cracking team.”
His displays for Porthleven brought him to the attention of
Plymouth Argyle manager Kevin Hodges who persuaded him to sign for the Pilgrims
ahead of the 1998-99 season. During his time at Home Park under Hodges, the Pilgrims won
the vast majority of games on their own turf, but struggled to replicate that
form on their travels and ended up being confined to mid-table obscurity.
“I remember striking up a good partnership with Ian
Stonebridge and getting a few goals. We had some great players - Paul McGregor
and Chris Hargreaves spring to mind, Steve McCall too – it was just a shame we
couldn't have had more success.
“I was always grateful to Kevin for giving me my break in
professional football. He was and still is a great servant to the football club
so it would have been nice for us to have had more joy as a group.”
Following Hodges’s dismissal early in the 2000-01 season,
Paul Sturrock was appointed as manager. Gritton found himself out of favour
with the former Dundee United favourite and was loaned out to Yeovil Town
and League of Ireland side Shelbourne.
“It was good to go and get experience and I was lucky to
meet some great folk at those clubs that I bumped into many times more in the
future.”
However, with his career seemingly at a crossroads, he made
the short journey to the Pilgrims’ neighbour’s Torquay United as one of Leroy
Rosenior’s first signings as Gulls manager.
It was a move that would help to kick-start his career in
the game.
“Personally, Leroy was the best manager I worked with, not
only as a man-manager, but how he got the most out of the squad on a budget.
Look at some of the players he developed? He seems to be doing OK on telly
though doesn't he? I'm sure he could coach if he wanted to. You see how hard it
is for managers at that level, I admire the resilience of anyone that wants to
do that at a small club and can be successful.”
Initially joining Torquay on loan, he found the target on
his debut – a 2-1 home win over Bristol Rovers on the opening day of the
2002-03 season – and later signed for the Gulls on a permanent basis.These were heady times for Torquay as he became part of a
roster of strikers that included David Graham and Jo Kuffour, which relied on
top quality service from a midfield that featured Alex Russell and Jason
Fowler.
“The Plymouth
squad I left was flying, full of good players and beating everything that was
in front of them. I was surprised when I turned up at Torquay because there was
as much talent in that small squad of players as there was at any other club
I've been at.
“Plymouth
were a hard working solid unit that was hard to beat, Torquay had a bit more
flair, and the Torquay legends like Hilly (Kevin Hill) and Beds (Tony Bedeau)
made it such a unique squad.”
Gritton found the back of the net 16 times in all
competitions to ensure that he ended the campaign as the Gulls’ top scorer. He
was also runner-up to Russell in the club’s Player of the Year award vote, as
Torquay narrowly missed out on the play-offs with a ninth placed finish.The following season proved to be a different proposition as
the Gulls won automatic promotion for the first time in 38 years.
Torquay needed to beat Southend United on the final day of
the 2003-04 season to secure a third-place finish in Division Three at the
expense of Huddersfield
Town. The Gulls won
2-1 against the Shrimpers at Roots Hall, whilst the Terriers could only draw
with Cheltenham Town – thus ensuring that Torquay
secured the third and final automatic promotion spot.
“I didn't play as much as I wanted to that season as I had a
bad injury, but scoring away at Hull
and winning 1-0 was a good day. The final day at Southend will live long in the
memory.”
Midway through the 2004-05 campaign, Gritton left Torquay to
join Grimsby
Town.
This was in the days before the introduction of the transfer window for lower
league clubs, and the deal went through on Christmas Eve 2004.
“The time was right for me to go, it was a great opportunity
to go and I loved my time up there, leaving at Christmas was tough - living in
a hotel over Christmas and leaving the English Riviera for Cleethorpes was an
eye opener!”
He then went on to appear for Lincoln
City, Mansfield
Town, Macclesfield
Town and Chesterfield before returning to Plainmoor on
loan during the 2010-11 season. His return to the Gulls came a year after Torquay won
promotion back into the Football League under Paul Buckle.
“It was a young squad of hungry good players, I would like
to have played more - I split my knee open early in the season and couldn't get
back in the side, but it was another cracking side that Buckle had assembled. I
enjoyed being a part of it in some way for those 6 months. It was nice to see a
couple of familiar faces at the place too!”
Gritton returned to the Spireites, who were then managed by
current Plymouth Argyle manager John Sheridan, after making 15 appearances
without scoring for the Gulls. A brief spell with Chester FC and a return to Yeovil Town followed
before he joined Stockport County
and later finished his career back in Cornwall
with Truro City in the 2011-12 campaign.
“I felt I had played my last days in Cornwall
at my two favourites clubs, Porthleven and Perranwell, but Lee Hodges was a
good friend as a team mate and offered me the chance to play when I left Stockport. I really enjoyed it, with some cracking
players that I keep an eye out for still.”
Gritton currently resides in London
where he has embarked on a new career in Sports PR.
An abridged version of this article appeared in the Sunday Independent on March 8, 2015.
