Martin Foyle

Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club St Mirren.

In his 20-year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals.

As a manager, he took charge of Port Vale and York City, Northwich Victoria, Hereford United and Southport.

He joined Southampton as a trainee in 1980, signing as a professional on 13 August of that year.

He had grown up supporting the club and would get to play alongside his idol, Mick Channon.

He spent the summer of 1982 from May to October playing on loan with Swedish Division 5 side IFK Munkfors, which helped his development, scoring 30 goals in 22 appearances as Munkfors were promoted for the first time since 1959.

Shortly after his return to Southampton he made his first team debut on 15 January 1983 in a 1–1 draw at home to Coventry City.

On 25 October 1983, he came on as a second-half substitute for Ian Baird in a League Cup match at home to Carlisle United.

He started his career with Southampton as a trainee and after spending four years at the club, during which he was loaned out on two occasions, he joined Aldershot for a £10,000 fee in August 1984.

He spent a few weeks on loan with Blackburn Rovers in March 1984, without making any first team appearances, before joining Aldershot on 3 August 1984 for a fee of £10,000.

He made 98 appearances and scored 35 goals in the league for Aldershot, as the "Shots" posted mid-table finishes in the Fourth Division in 1984–85 under Ron Harris.

Foyle was named as Aldershot Town Player of the Season for the 1984–85 campaign.

Harris was replaced by Len Walker for the 1985–86 campaign, and another mid-table finish ensued.

His 86th-minute goal brought the tie level on aggregate and was followed by the winner in extra time.

In the next round, Foyle came on as a sixth-minute substitute for Mark Wright, who had broken his nose in a collision with his own goalkeeper, Alistair Sperring, but was unable to prevent Southampton going out 2–1 to Rotherham United.

The club won promotion in 1986–87 after beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–0 in the play-off final.

The club avoided a relegation play-off in 1986–87 by two points, before a last place finish in 1987–88, after which manager Maurice Evans was replaced by Mark Lawrenson.

An £140,000 move to Oxford United followed in March 1987, and he became Port Vale's record signing when they paid £375,000 for him in June 1991.

He spent nine seasons at the club, where he scored 108 goals in 353 appearances.

However, Foyle missed out on the celebrations, as he was transferred to Oxford United on 26 March 1987 for a fee of £140,000, of which Southampton received £40,000.

He featured for Oxford in the First Division during two seasons and scored 44 goals in 151 appearances for the club.

Lawrenson resigned in October 1988, and was replaced by Brian Horton; Oxford then posted mid-table finishes in the Second Division in 1988–89, 1989–90, and 1990–91.

He missed two-thirds of the 1989–90 season with injury.

He signed for Port Vale on 25 June 1991 for a club record fee of £375,000.

His first game was against former club Oxford at Vale Park, and he scored both goals in a 2–1 win.

Although he finished as leading scorer in the 1991–92 campaign with 16 goals, the club finished bottom of the Second Division that season and were relegated.

During the following season Foyle was part of the team which won the Football League Trophy and narrowly missed out on automatic promotion before losing the play-off final against West Bromwich Albion.

He was twice voted the club's Player of the Year and helped the Vale to win the Football League Trophy in 1993.

He opened the home campaign of the 1993–94 season with a hat-trick in a 6–0 win over Barnet, scoring a left-footed, right-footed and headed goal.

He ended the season with 18 goals, Foyle was again the club's leading scorer as the club finally achieved promotion in 1994.

One of his 20 goals in the 1994–95 season was the winner in Vale's 1–0 victory in the Potteries derby at the Victoria Ground in 1995, and later he was voted as the club's player of the year for 1995.

He played in the 1996 Anglo-Italian Cup final, scoring twice as Vale lost 5–2 to Genoa.

In 1998–99 the ageing striker became the club's top scorer for a fourth time, with nine goals.

After retiring as a player, he managed Port Vale's youth team and in February 2004 took charge of first team affairs, eventually leaving the club in September 2007 by mutual consent.

A spell as caretaker manager at Wrexham preceded his appointment as manager of York City in November 2008.

Foyle took York to an FA Trophy final and Conference Premier play-off final, but resigned in September 2010.

He was put in charge of Northwich Victoria for a three-month spell in February 2012 before being appointed manager at Hereford United in May 2012.

He stayed with Hereford until departing in March 2014.

He was appointed as Southport manager in May 2014 but resigned five months later.

Foyle was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where he made his name in local football, before Football League referee Tony Glasson saw him playing for Bemerton Athletic and recommended him to Lawrie McMenemy, manager of Southampton.