686 Martin Carruthers

Biography

Martin George Carruthers was born in Nottingham and played for Nottingham Boys during his school days, but the striker came through the youth team setup at Aston Villa, where he signed trainee professional terms in July 1988 despite at the time recovering from a broken leg. He made his debut for Villa in November 1991 in a Full Members’ Cup tie against Nottingham Forest and made his Division One debut three months later against Wimbledon. However at the start of the 1992/93 season, the first of the Premier League era, Carruthers was out of the Villa first team picture and in October 1992 he joined Terry Dolan’s League Division 2 Tigers for three month loan to gain first team experience. Carruthers immediately improved the Tigers forward line with his express pace, powerful running and deadly finishing. He scored his first City goal in his second start, an ugly 1-3 defeat at Mansfield, then netted four times in five matches in late November and early December, including a brace in a 4-0 thumping of Exeter City. During the Christmas and New Year period the goals dried up for Carruthers, as they did for City as a whole, and he scored just once more in a January 1993 win at Preston before returning to Aston Villa at the end of the month. His absence was immediately filled by another Nottingham-born loan striker Gary Lund.

Carruthers made his only Premier League appearance in May 1993 against Queens Park Rangers, taking his Villa tally to 6 appearances. In July 1993 League Division 1 side Stoke City paid £300,000 for his services. after spending the first three months of the 1993/94 season used as a substitute Carruthers carved out a place in the Potters’ first team from October 1993 onwards and ended his first season with nine goals. He remained an important part of the first team squad at Stoke for two more seasons though the latter half of the 1995/96 season was spent almost exclusively coming off the bench. By the time he made his final appearance for Stoke CIty in November 1996 he had made 119 appearances and scored 20 goals.

In November 1996 Carruthers joined League Division 2 side Peterborough United for a £75,000 fee, his six goals in the remainder of the 1996/97 season were unable to steer Posh away from relegation to League Division 3 – this drop into the fourth tier for Carruthers ended up defining the rest of his professional career. Martin scored eighteen goals in the 1997/98 season as Peterborough finished in mid-table, including nine goals in eight matches during August and September 1997. He started the 1998/99 season in less productive form and in January 1999 he began a two month loan at League Division 2 strugglers York City, where 6 appearances yielded no goals. In March 1999 Carruthers left Peterborough United having scored 27 times in 85 appearances, joining League Division 3 side Darlington where in seven months he scored twice for the Quakers in 19 appearances.

In October 1999 League Division 3 rivals Southend United paid £50,000 to take Carruthers to the Essex coast. The move to Southend revitalised Carruthers’ career and he scored 19 times in his first season, then netted another ten times the following season. By March 2001 his Southend tally reached 83 appearances and 29 goals, numbers that encouraged another Laegue Division 3 side Scunthorpe United to pay £20,000 and bring him back to the East Midlands. For the next two seasons Scunthorpe floated around the upper reaches of the League Division 3 table driven on by Carruthers’ goals – 17 goals in the 2001/02 season and 21 goals the next season as the Iron reached the play-offs only to be dumped out at the semi final stage by local rivals Lincoln City. This led to a restructuring at Glanford Park and Carruthers was allowed to leave the club having scored 39 times in exactly 100 senior appearances.

Martin spent the 2003/04 season at League Division 3 side Macclesfield Town, scoring ten times in 45 appearances. He began the 2004/05 season at League Two rivals Boston United, but within two months and 7 appearances he had switched the divisional and county rivals Lincoln City, where he made 12 appearances. After a January loan spell at League Two side Cambridge United, where he made 5 appearances, Carruthers elected to give up the Football League life in the 2005 close season having scored a total of 133 goals in 503 senior appearances.

Martin enjoyed a lengthy second career playing in the Nottinghamshire non-league scene while working for the Football in the Community team at Notts County, rising to Education Manager in 2011. After spending the first half of the 2005/06 season at Grantham Town he moved to Ilkeston Town in January 2006, a club he served for two and half years. Four years at Northern Counties East League side Arnold Town, three as player/manager, were followed in 2012 by an appointment to a player/coach role at ambitious phoenix club Basford United. He upgraded to player/manager at Basford in 2013 and led the club to several promotions that culminated in reaching the Northern Premier League. He retained his manager role at Basford until March 2019 when he took over as manager at Midland League side Quorn. Six months later he was appointed manager at Northern Premier League Midland Division side Ilkeston Town and piloted the club to the league title in the 2021/22 season. Carruthers left Ilkeston Town in September 2022, three months later in December 2022 he was appointed manager at Northern Premier League rivals Matlock Town and led the Gladiators to the end of season play-offs. Carruthers left Matlock Town in March 2024 after a run of bad form, days later he was appointed manager at Northern Premier League side Basford United, the job he had vacated five years earlier.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 7 August 1972, Nottingham
Hull City First Game: 31 October 1992, West Bromwich Albion H (League Division 2), 20 years, 85 days old
Hull City Final Game: 30 January 1993, Chester City A (League Division 2), 20 years, 176 days old

Clubs

Aston Villa (1990-1993), Hull City (1992-1993, loan), Stoke City (1993-1996), Peterborough United (1996-1999), York City (1999, loan), Darlington (1999), Southend United (1999, loan), Southend United (1999-2001), Scunthorpe United (2001-2003), Macclesfield Town (2003-2004), Boston United (2004), Lincoln City (2004-2005), Cambridge United (2005, loan), Grantham Town (2005-2006), Ilkeston Town (2006, loan), Ilkeston Town (2006-2008), Arnold Town (2008-2012), Basford United (2012-2019)

Hull City Record

Career: 16 apps, 6 goals

Martin Carruthers
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1992/9313 (0)6------3 (0)0

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