Martin Foyle

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Martin Foyle
Personal information
Full name Martin John Foyle
Date of birth May 2, 1963 (1963-05-02) (age 45)
Place of birth    Salisbury, England
Playing position Striker (retired)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1981-1984
1984-1987
1987-1991
1991-2000		 Southampton
Aldershot
Oxford United
Port Vale		 013 00(1)
098 0(35)
126 0(36)
296 0(83)   
Teams managed
2004-2007 Port Vale

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963 in Salisbury, Wiltshire) is an English former football player, and former manager of Port Vale.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

He began his career with Southampton and also played for Blackburn Rovers (on loan), Aldershot and Oxford United before signing for Port Vale in the summer of 1991 for a club record £375,000.

His first game for the Valiants was against his old club Oxford, and he scored both goals in a 2-1 win. Although he finished as leading scorer in the 1991-92 campaign, the club finished bottom of the old Division 2 that season and were relegated.

During the following season Foyle was part of the team which won the Autoglass Trophy and narrowly missed out on automatic promotion before losing the play-off final against West Bromwich Albion. The following season Foyle was again the club's leading scorer as the club finally achieved promotion in 1994.

During his time at Port Vale, Foyle scored 107 goals, making him the club's record post-war goalscorer.[1] Some of his important goals include a late equaliser in a league cup tie at Liverpool in 1991, two at Brighton which sealed promotion in 1994, and one in a game at Huddersfield Town in 1998 which saved the club from relegation.

[edit] Management career

Persistent injuries forced him to retire from professional football in 2000, but he stayed at the club as manager of the youth team. When Brian Horton left the club by mutual consent in February 2004, Foyle took over first team responsibilities[2] and narrowly missed out on a play-off place on goal difference at the end of the 2003-04 season. The following season Foyle had to put up with the loss of top scorer Stephen McPhee and influential midfielder Marc Bridge-Wilkinson. The club also had to make massive cut backs due to having just come out of administration and when Steve Brooker was sold to Bristol City any chance of a playoff push was unlikely. Vale eventually finished 17th in a frustrating season where many players suffered injuries leaving the squad threadbare on more than one occasion. The next two seasons saw an increase in the playing budget as Vale got their house in order after administration and Foyle steered the side to 13th and 12th place finishes in League One. Two cup runs to the 4th round of the FA Cup in 2005-06 and 4th round of the League Cup in 2006-07, coupled with the selling of players such as Chris Birchall and Billy Paynter saw the club make a profit on the financial front.

Despite the improvements, the standard of football on offer was becoming a concern to some, with losses to League Two Hereford in the FA Cup and at eventually relegated Chesterfield singled out in particular for criticism. Foyle did enough to stave off the critics at the end of the 2006-07 season with a some improved performances which saw the side finish in the top half. With a positive pre-season, which included beating a young Manchester United team and some exciting prospects signing things appeared to be looking up, with chairman Bill Bratt claiming that the club's ambition would be challenging for play off places. However, the team had a poor start to the 2007-08 campaign claiming just 5 points from their first 7 games and scoring just 3 goals and also losing in the League Cup to League Two Wrexham. In September 2007, Foyle's tenure as Port Vale manager came to an end as he left the club by mutual consent.[1] He joined Wrexham in January 2008 as first team coach to manager Brian Little.[3][4]

[edit] Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Port Vale Flag of England February 13, 2004 September 26, 2007 176 67 78 31 38.07


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Foyle and Port Vale part company", BBC Sport, [2007-09-26]]. Retrieved on 2008-05-19. 
  2. ^ "Port Vale appoint Foyle", BBC Sport, 2004-02-13. Retrieved on 2008-05-19. 
  3. ^ "Foyle joins Wrexham's management", BBC Sport, 2008-01-04. Retrieved on 2008-05-19. 
  4. ^ "Foyle signs new Wrexham deal", Wrexham Evening Leader, North Wales Newspapers Ltd, 2008-05-19. Retrieved on 2008-05-19. 

[edit] External links

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Port Vale F.C. – Managers

Gleaves (1896–05) • Clare (1905–11) • Walker (1911–12) • Myatt (1912–14) • Holford (1919–24) • Schofield (1924–30) • Morgan (1930–32) • Holford (1932–35) • Cresswell (1936–37) • Morgan (1937–38) • Frith (1945–46) • Hodgson (1946–51) • Powell (1951) • Steele (1951–57) • Low (1957–62) • Steele (1962–65) • Mudie (1965–67) • Matthews (1967–68) • Lee (1968–74) • Sproson (1974–77) • Harper (1977) • Smith (1977–78) • Butler (1978–79) • Bloor (1979) • McGrath (1979–83) • Rudge (1984–99) • Dearden (1999) • Grew (1999) • Horton (1999–2004) • Foyle (2004–07) • Glover (2007) • Sinnott (2007–)