RICHARD MARTIN could justifiably be dubbed ‘The Nearly Man’ of goalkeeping.

Once thought to have the potential to play 200 games for the Albion, he left the Seagulls having only ever warmed the first team bench.

In an unlikely turn of events, he went from back-up League One Seagulls ‘keeper to no.3 behind Kasper Schmeichel and Joe Hart at Premier League Manchester City, thanks to former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.

After two years at City, he went on loan to Burton Albion, then worked under Ben Roberts and Nathan Jones as back-up ‘keeper at Yeovil Town before enjoying fleeting fame on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.

Doubtless it wasn’t the career he expected when his teenage promise between the sticks led to him earning trials with Liverpool and Everton.

Born in Chelmsford on 1 September 1987, Martin spent part of his childhood in Liverpool but the family were living in Burgess Hill when the young goalkeeper was picked up by the Albion.

Martin was only 16 when Liverpool took him on a week-long trial and Albion manager Mark McGhee went public in the Argus on 4 February 2004, explaining why he thought the youngster should stick with the Seagulls.

“We have put forward a reasonable argument to the boy and to his parents as to why we think he should stay here,” said McGhee. “The thing we can promise him at a club like ours, like any other young player in any other position, is that if he is good enough he will be fast-tracked into the first team or certainly onto the bench.

“If he goes to Liverpool there is no chance of that happening. At the very best he is going to spend two or three years at youth level, then at reserve level and in five years’ time he might start to make an impression in the first team squad.

“By that time, he would have played 200 games for us and be worth a lot of money and move to Liverpool under different circumstances.”

The Argus reckoned Albion could have got compensation of at least £200,000 if Martin, a Liverpool supporter, had ended up at Anfield. But Liverpool didn’t take him on, he remained an Albion scholar, progressed through the youth ranks and was awarded a two-year professional contract in the summer of 2005, before his scholarship was due to expire.

With Michel Kuipers sidelined by injury, Martin and fellow young ‘keeper John Sullivan shared opportunities to play for the first team in pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2005-06 season. Martin appeared against Le Havre, Oxford United and Bournemouth, as well as coming on as a sub in two other matches.

A sizeable Albion following went over to France to watch Albion’s 2-0 defeat to Le Havre when Martin began in goal in the absence of Michel Kuipers. The Argus reported: “Martin flew high to his right to brilliantly tip away a 12th-minute thunderbolt from Jean-Michel Lesage which was dipping and swerving towards the top corner from 25 yards.”

Goalkeeping coach John Keeley went further and told the matchday programme: “That was an absolute world-class save. I’m sure if Michel had made it people would still have been talking about it – it was that good..

“He can take big positives out of that and the other bits he had to do in the first half.”

When the season proper got under way, Martin found himself on the bench for 14 matches as Irish international Wayne Henderson, on loan from Aston Villa, was the established first choice. But then Frenchman Florent Chaigneau arrived on a year-long loan from Rennes.

In December 2005, Everton took Martin on trial and for a while there was speculation that a nice fat transfer fee from selling the youngster could be reinvested in signing a much-needed striker for the first team. But the move didn’t materialise because Everton boss David Moyes didn’t think Martin was big enough.

The Argus reported: “Martin impressed during a recent trial with the Merseyside giants but Goodison boss Moyes has decided not to sign the slimly-built 18-year-old from Burgess Hill due to his size.”

Instead of heading to Goodison, Martin went on loan to non-league Kingstonian, competition for the no.1 spot at Albion having increased with the permanent signing of Henderson from Villa.

Martin was part of the successful Albion youth side of 2006 from which six players went on to play first team football. But even at youth level he was competing with Sullivan, who eventually edged ahead of him and did manage to break through into the first team.

Competitive football game-time was considered the best option for Martin and the following season he went on a season-long loan deal to Conference South Dorchester Town. But his stay was cut short by injury. Once recovered, in the second half of the season, he joined Folkestone Invicta where he played 12 matches.

However, on his return to the Albion his contract wasn’t renewed, and he was without a club until the surprise opportunity arose at Manchester City, where the goalkeeping coach at the time was ex-Albion No. 1 Eric Steele.

Martin told the Argus: “This is completely unexpected. I’d like to think Brighton were wrong to let me go but these things happen.

“I went up to City initially just for a week to do a bit of training, because my agent knows Eric.

“(First choice Andreas) Isaksson and Joe Hart picked up injuries, they had a reserve game which I played in and then I carried on training.

“I don’t think I am in contention for the first team, I will just be in the reserves and go from there. Hopefully the month will be extended if I can keep on doing well.”

Sure enough, it was and boss Eriksson was happy to give Martin a season-long contract.

His only first-team action came on 22 May 2008 when replacing Schmeichel for the second half in an end-of-season charity match in Hong Kong against a South China Invitational XI.

Even after Steele switched allegiance to Manchester United and Eriksson had moved on, Martin had done enough to establish himself as third in line behind Hart and Schmeichel.

Mark Hughes took over as manager and Martin remained at the club working with ex-Chelsea ‘keeper Kevin Hitchcock, who Hughes had taken with him from Blackburn.

Martin was given the no.13 squad number for the 2008-09 Premier League and UEFA Cup campaign and it was an irresistible opportunity for the Argus to catch up with him ahead of Brighton’s home Carling Cup tie against City at Withdean in September 2008 when Albion sprung a big shock by winning the penalty shoot-out.

Reporter Andy Naylor discovered Martin had been philosophical, rather than disappointed, about the way things turned out with Albion. “When I look back at the situation at that time it was all about getting results and Michel (Kuipers) and Wayne (Henderson) were the two generally ahead of me,” he said. “I got a lot of good experience at Brighton and that set me in good stead for coming up to Manchester.”

Unfortunately, a knee injury Martin sustained shortly after sidelined him until the following March. Then in April, City allowed him to move temporarily to Burton Albion as cover because their first choice ‘keeper Kevin Poole was injured.

When released by City in the summer of 2009, more Albion connections provided him with his next opportunity, and finally the opportunity to play league football, at Yeovil Town.

In the Seagulls’ 2004 play-off winning season, Martin was a youth-teamer when Glovers assistant boss Jones was Albion’s left-back and goalkeeping coach Roberts was between the sticks.

Ahead of Brighton’s 2-2 draw at Huish Park on 10 October 2009, Martin told Brian Owen of the Argus: “I was fortunate I got the call from Yeovil in the summer and went down there for a trial. They liked what they saw. Of course, I know Nathan and Ben well and the fact they knew about me must have helped them make a decision.”

Martin was on the bench for the Albion fixture but had made his league debut shortly before as a substitute when first-choice Alex McCarthy (at the time on loan from Reading) was sent-off 20 minutes into a 2-2 draw with Stockport County. With McCarthy banned, Martin got his first start in a defeat at Southampton.

However, in total he made just three league and two cup appearances in that first half of the season and in January 2010 was loaned to Conference National bottom-placed side Grays Athletic – and within the space of a fortnight had conceded 11 goals in three matches!

Although he returned to Yeovil after a month, McCarthy’s fine form denied him any further first team action at Huish Park and he was released in July 2010. After brief spells with Havant & Waterlooville and Crawley Town, Yeovil re-signed him on 31 December 2010.

However, in March 2011 he had the opportunity to head to the Caribbean and play for Puerto Rico Islanders, who at the time were in the second tier of the North American Soccer League. He made his debut in May 2011 having initially been back-up ‘keeper and then signed for a second season, during which he established himself as first choice and played a total of 33 matches.

In August 2012 he was named NASL player of the month, and he was interviewed about the experience of playing for the Islanders. There is an excellent montage feature in which the commentator purrs in this YouTube footage: “Richard Martin has the reflexes of a jungle cat.”  

Back in the UK in 2013, Martin played briefly for Whitehawk and Burgess Hill before retiring.