Salisbury-born Martin Foyle was a Saints fan with an idol: his fellow-Moonraker, Mick Channon. Who would have thought that he would join his idol at The Dell? The answer is Football League referee, Tony Glasson, who saw enough potential in Martin, playing for the Salisbury side, Bemerton Athletic, to recommend him to Lawrie McMenemy. John Mortimore’s endorsement clinched the deal.

Martin’s first two professional seasons at The Dell would coincide with his idol’s last two – not to mention the “Kevin Keegan era”. When that era ended, however, in the summer of 1982, he was on loan in Sweden. He returned to make his debut as McMenemy, now in want of a striker to play alongside Steve Moran and Danny Wallace, rang the changes. So Martin got a few games and scored his only League goal for Southampton in front of the Match of the Day cameras at Old Trafford. But then Frank Worthington came to complete the strike-force for 1983-84, the club’s best-ever season, and there were few opportunities for the likes of Foyle.

He merited a sell-on clause, however, when he moved to Aldershot – which netted Southampton £40,000 when he left there for Oxford, three seasons later.

In 1991, he joined Port Vale. Having notched up his 150th League goal in October 1999, he was persuaded by a persistent knee injury to take up coaching full-time, although, as he reached 40, he was turning out for a local amateur side. He then had four years as manager until he ended his 16-year association with Vale in 2008. After a brief turn at Wrexham, Martin took over as manager of struggling Conference side, York City. Working on a shoe-string budget, he took them to Wembley in 2009 – to be defeated by Stevenage in the FA Trophy Final – and again in 2010, for the play-offs Final. They were denied a return to the Football League when they lost to Martin’s old club, Oxford United, managed by Chris Wilder, who’d become a Dell apprentice in 1984, just as Martin was leaving.

During the summer of 2010, York sold star striker, Richard Brodie, to Crawley Town for an eye-­watering non-league record of £275,000. Foyle resigned as manager a few weeks later. After a brief spell at Bristol Rovers, he accepted the job of managing Northwich Victoria until the end of the season.  They were lying second in the Northern Premier when they were expelled – reduced to a one-step demotion on appeal – for financial irregularities. Martin swiftly returned to Conference, taking over at freshly-relegated Hereford. In more recent years Martin has concentrated more on scouting and in 2019 completed three years as Head of Motherwell’s Recruitment department. In 2010, Martin talked to the Echo about his time at The Dell. “It was a great, well-run club,” he reflected, “but it was hard to get a look-in. There were 12 or 13 internationals and some of them couldn’t get in the side.”