Forfar's Fantastic Mr Foxy

Sitting at the Station Park boardroom table in 2007 penning a two year contract, the young Martyn Fotheringham could not have imagined that ten years later he’d be back at the same table talking about his testimonial year with Forfar Athletic.

For many players ten years in football most likely means moving from club to club but for the lad from Blairgowrie it has been a happy decade of stability and loyalty, to and from one club. Martyn reflects fondly on these years. “When I started out as a youngster I didn’t look too far ahead but now I can appreciate what an enjoyable career I’ve had … and it’s not over. I can only say good things about Forfar – the way the club is run and all the hard work and commitment people put in behind the scenes on a voluntary basis.  I know it’s rare for a person to stay at a club this long but it’s also rare for a manager and a club to keep a player for a few seasons never mind a decade. I was delighted when the manager (Gary Bollan) gave me another year’s contract this season. Then when the Chairman, Alastair Donald, told me the Club wanted to give me a testimonial year that just topped it all off.  The club didn’t have to do that and so I am really grateful they thought so highly of me to give me this opportunity.”

The first event in Martyn’s Testimonial Year, a celebratory dinner in October 2016, was a resounding success with 240 guests enjoying a great evening.  Surrounded by family, friends, fellow players, club officials and supporters Martyn was very appreciative of all the good wishes and praise he received for his long service to the Loons.  “I was quite overwhelmed by the dinner and all the support my wife, Lauren, and I received, not only from our families and friends, but from the fans and my teammates past and present.  I am also really grateful to the Testimonial Committee for organising such a fantastic evening.”     It was no surprise that the dinner was almost immediately a sell-out. Such is Martyn’s popularity around Station Park and the local footballing community that the decision to reward his loyalty and dedication to Forfar Athletic was met with universal approval. While players and managers come and go at clubs with some regularity those that do show loyalty are admired and respected and are given the highest accolade from those on the terraces – that of ‘legend’ status.    Listed just outside Forfar’s top ten all time appearances with 297, Martyn is rubbing shoulders with Forfar legends such as Ian McPhee, Stewart Kennedy, and Alex Brash in the Forfar history books. Over his ten years at Station Park Martyn has scored 45 goals, many of them stunning strikes and some of which were nerve-tinglingly-vital to ensure success for the club at critical moments.  

Foxy the early years …

But let’s rewind Martyn’s career show reel to before the Foxy moniker came into being when he was but a young cub starting out in the game. Martyn was in his words ‘football daft’, a trait passed on by his dad, Fraser.  “From around the age of four I watched my dad play local amateur and junior football around the Blairgowrie area. He was really into football, still is, and I definitely got the football bug from him. I can remember how desperate I was to play. I used to drive my mum mad with my tantrums – screaming and howling - because I wasn’t able to join a team until I was eight. Unlike nowadays there was nothing for my age group back then.  I would be greeting watching my older cousins going off to play – it was so unfair. I knew I was good enough but the coaches thought I was too young and it didn’t help that I wasn’t very big!”

Martyn eventually got the chance to join a team when he turned eight with Coupar Angus starting an U’9s team.  It was quite a leap playing 11-aside and brought some comical moments not to mention a barrowload of goals. “Looking back it was pretty funny with all these eight year olds running around. The minute you hit the ball above waist height you scored … I’m sure I must have scored about 100 goals that season and we were only an average side!”  He may still have been quite small but Martyn stood heads and shoulders above many of his teammates in terms of his ability and a year later he was signed for Blairgowrie U’12s even though he was a lot younger than the majority of the team. He continued to play in that team until the others caught him up and he fell back to his own age group.     A year later he made his first footballing foray to Forfar, aged 13, joining the Forfar Boys Club under Ray Henderson. This move provided Martyn with a sterner test playing in the highly competitive Dundee leagues.  Martyn joined current teammate and good friend Gavin Swankie at Forfar Boys. It was a great time for Martyn as his team won their league most years holding off the challenge of big city rivals Dundee United Social Club.  It also gave Martyn an early taste of success with a Scottish Cup win – the last Forfar Boys Club to hold that title – beating Fraserburgh 5-1 up in the Broch. “I remember that cup run was a great occasion for everyone. We played the semi-final at Station Park and then for the final there was a supporters’ bus up to Fraserburgh. Graham Fyfe who went onto join Celtic youths scored a hat-trick. Those were great memories!”

Foxy the Saintees years …

Later Martyn returned to play one season for Blairgowrie U’15s and then in 1997-98, while still at school, he joined St Johnstone on a S-form under Alistair Stevenson who still oversees the Saints Youth Academy. Martyn had already been training with the McDiarmid club once a week from the age of nine. “The youth set-up at St Johnstone was one of the best around. You could see a path-way at St Johnstone with young lads getting a chance.   As a S-form you were invited to train next to the main squad in the summer holidays. At that age I went to every St Johnstone home game and so to be training with the guys who played for the first team was unbelievable. It was a really fantastic opportunity to watch and learn from them first-hand.”  

Martyn believes that certain aspects of the youth set-up were better back then. “When I was coming up through the youths you could get close to the senior players and so it encouraged you to see where you could end up. At the same time you saw that you had a lot to learn. Nowadays most youth squads are kept quite separate from the senior players. Also it appears that maybe only one or two make it into senior football. When I was at St Johnstone around 75% went onto make a least one senior appearance, some a lot more and many stayed in the senior game. Possibly the mentality was different back then because many of us that were released still went on to play senior football somewhere. Now I think some young players give up the game altogether if they are released by a ‘big’ club which is a shame for the game”.

Around this time the Foxy nickname came into being. “There were three of us called Martyn/Martin which was confusing so one of the Assistants, George Browning, who has actually helped coach at Forfar a few times, said I was to be called Foxy Fotheringham and it has stuck ever since.”

As a youngster Martyn was a striker. “Believe it or not back then I was quicker than everyone else! So I would run as fast as I could and try to score. There was nothing more complicated than that ... not much skill or tactics at that age! When I joined Forfar Boys Ray dropped me back into midfield because he thought I had an eye for a pass. For a good two or three months I hated it and to be honest there were a few tantrums because at that age you want to be scoring the goals. Eventually I realised I could score from midfield as well and so I settled into that position. St Johnstone also played me in midfield so they must have seen the same thing as Ray, which gave me confidence in the middle of the pitch and since then I’ve been a midfielder.”

Martyn left school at 16 and took up a two-year ‘YTS’ contract with St Johnstone in 1999 becoming a full-time footballer. He learned his trade working in the club laundry, sorting the kit, cleaning boots and the dressing room.  It was an old school grounding in the game which Martyn now values. ‘I know I sound like an old fogey but today young lads think they are footballers the minute they leave school but they still have lot to learn. My start in the game makes me appreciate all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes at a club like Forfar. Martin (Gray) and Jane (Fyfe) are doing all the work that a squad of us used to do at St Johnstone. Although I do say so myself I was a pretty good boot boy – I think I’d give Martin a run for his money”.  Given all the jobs Martyn has done at Forfar from player to a cameo tannoy announcer role it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he did pick up a brush and get to work on the boots on a Saturday!

Under manager Sandy Clark, Martyn made his senior debut aged 18 from the subs bench at home against Aberdeen in April 2001. He played alongside Gary Bollan, Darren Dods, Jim Weir and tonight’s testimonial opponent’s manager Paul Hartley, a veritable line up of SPFL managers coming through the St Johnstone ranks.  At the end of the season Sandy Clark gave him a one-year senior contract and later promised Martyn a new two year contract. Unfortunately Clark was sacked shortly thereafter but former Loon, Henry Hall, the Perth side’s youth coach, put a good word in with the new manager Billy Stark who honoured Clark’s earlier commitment. Martyn’s first senior start came at McDiarmid in nil-nil draw with Hibs in December 2001 and a few weeks later he started against Rangers at Ibrox – both of which starts came as surprise to the 18-year old Martyn.   

'Normally the manager would prepare a player for his first start on the Thursday or Friday but I had absolutely no idea. For the Hibs match I turned up on the Saturday quite relaxed with not a care in the world and my teammate, Nick Dasovic, mentioned in passing that I was starting. I thought it was a wind up until the gaffer confirmed I was on from the start. The good thing was that I didn’t have time to get nervous.  Something similar happened for the Rangers match. Our first choice goalie was struggling with injuries and so we were all winding up Kevin Cuthbert, the young goalie, about him starting at Ibrox. In the dressing room the manager named the team and suddenly I heard ‘Martyn Fotheringham’. I nearly choked and everyone quickly forgot about Kevin and turned to laugh at me – by now shaking in the corner!  My dad was already in the stand and so the first he would have known was when he heard the time lines being read out. I think he was pretty shocked but delighted of course. Rangers scored after a minute in front of 49,500 fans and I thought here we go but we manged to keep it to 1-0 and I played okay. So two pretty good starts for the youngster from Blairgowrie!” 

Foxy the Brechin months … 

St Johnstone were relegated at the end of the 2001-02 season with Martyn only making six appearances. With the Perth side desperate to get back into the Premier League the manager brought in a number of experienced players and Martyn featured only in a couple of matches early in the following season. By January 2003, Martyn was keen to get some game time and went on loan to Brechin where he first encountered Dick Campbell, the then Brechin manager.  He spent a happy few months at Glebe Park forging a friendship with Charlie King which lasts to this day and helping Brechin to turn their fortunes around. “Brechin were second or third bottom when I arrived in the January and although we stuttered a bit to begin with - in my first game we were beaten 7-5 by Cowdenbeath - we did go on a good run including trouncing Forfar 5-1 at Station Park! We ended up getting promoted to the then First Division. We needed a point from the last game of the season to finish runners up to Raith Rovers and big Chris Templeman scored in the 94^th minute from a yard out. The strange thing was that after the game everyone just went home. I remember driving home with my Dad thinking we’ve just been promoted so why are we not celebrating, especially because Brechin had achieved consecutive promotions!” During his spell with Brechin, Martyn took to the field 11 times.

On his return to St Johnstone, Martyn scored his first senior goal against Queen of the South in August 2003. His second and only other goal came almost a year to the day later and co-incidentally against the same opposition.  Over those two seasons Martyn only played on 12 occasions and left at end of 2004-2005 season having made a total of 22 appearances for the Perth side.  By the time Martyn left St Johnstone Owen Coyle had taken over the managerial reins from John Connolly who had in turn replaced Billy Stark in May 2004. “Owen Coyle came in and was very enthusiastic. He gave me a couple of sub appearances but because I had hardly featured in the squad he had no viable way of keeping me.  At the time I thought I was quite mature about it and I understood the situation. It didn’t hit me until I was driving away from McDiarmid for the last time. I phoned Lauren and remember I suddenly burst out crying – what do I do now? I was 22 and without a job. Lauren and I were due to get married that summer and now I had no way of providing an income for my family.”

Foxy the Montrose and Cowdenbeath years …

Despite a few leads nothing initially came through for the season 2005-06 until Henry Hall, with whom Martyn had established a good relationship over the years at Perth, offered him a two-year contract at Montrose. Martyn made 31 appearances and scored eight goals for the Links Park side (ending up the club’s second top goalscorer that season) although he is less proud of picking up two red cards during this stint – the first of his senior career. To make matters worse one red card came against Arbroath, the other was at home to Berwick. He also missed a penalty against the Gayfield side. These incidents turned Martyn’s time at Montrose a bit sour especially due to the negative reaction from some of the Links Park fans to the penalty miss. Although Martyn had a two-year contract he found out during a player’s close season break in Blackpool that he had been released by Montrose and only then when Cowdenbeath manager, Mixu Paatelainen, called to invite him to join Cowdenbeath for the 2006-07 season.  Mixu had been the reserve team manager at St Johnstone and was keen to bring Martyn to Central Park. By that stage Henry Hall had been replaced as Montrose manager by Eddie Wolecki. To this day no-one from Montrose has contacted Martyn to formally confirm he has been released. Martyn jokes, “It was a bit odd to find out on the beach in Blackpool but I was happy to join Mixu. Although technically Montrose still owe me a year on my contract!”

Cowdenbeath had romped to their first title win for 67 years when they won the third division title in May 2006 and the side started the new season well. “The season started off very well with the club still buzzing from winning the Third Division the season before. Then Mixu got offered a full time job back in Finland which was devastating for us.” Brian Welsh became the manager and then things went a bit downhill with Cowdenbeath finishing mid-table.  Martyn made 32 appearances bagging three goals along the way. Martyn was then offered a ‘derisory’ new contract which he turned down and, through Elliot Smith who Martyn had known at Montrose, he was invited to come up to Forfar to meet with manager Jim Moffat at the start of the 2007-08 season. “Jim sat me down and asked ‘how long a contract do you want?’ I was surprised as I’d never been asked that before! I asked for a two year contract and got it! The rest as they say is history!”

Foxy the Forfar years …

Ten years of a career is a huge amount to fit into one interview and many Forfar fans will be familiar with the highs and lows of Martyn’s decade at the club.  The start to Martyn’s Forfar adventure was inauspicious with Forfar experiencing the club’s worst league standing in recent times, ending up at the foot of the bottom tier of Scottish Football (Third Division).  Martyn has rarely captained the Loons – one such time was towards the end of his first season in a two-nil defeat away to Stenhousemuir. Less than a week after he captained the side Jim Moffat was sacked. Forfar’s plight was most likely enjoyed a little bit by East Stirling because Forfar’s poor form meant they avoided dropping out of the senior leagues which would had been the case had they finished bottom for another season.  With the Loons having been relegated to the bottom tier only the season before a huge rebuilding job was required.

During that first season Martyn made 26 appearances for the Loons scoring two goals.   When Moffat was sacked Willie Gardner took the side for a couple of games before Dick Campbell was appointed to pull the Loons up from the bottom rung of Scottish Football in 2008.  “I got on well with Dick at Brechin although if I am honest my first impression at Brechin’s training was ‘who is this mad, loud Fifer shouting out instructions - what have I let myself into?’  I still had a year left on my contract at Forfar when he took over so I wasn’t too worried. I remember being out shopping with Lauren in Dundee when the phone rang. This familiar voice blasted out ‘Foxy son it’s Dick Campbell.  I’ve got no issues with you being at Forfar because I ken you and but I am getting rid of a few of the lads. You can’t finish bottom of the bottom league and expect to stay at the club.  I’ll tell you right now our aim for the season is promotion.’ That was his level of confidence.”  Although Forfar didn’t achieve that ambitious goal they did end up mid table a clear improvement on bottom of the Scottish football heap. Martyn’s goal tally for the season was five from 36 appearances.

The 2009-10 season saw a huge step forward with Forfar finishing runners up to Livingston (managed by Gary Bollan). This was Martyn’s highest number of appearances for Forfar, 37, in which he scored seven goals. Forfar went onto win the play-off final against Arbroath in memorable match at Station Park. The first leg had ended nil-nil but Martyn had not featured due to injury. The second leg gave rise to the iconic Foxy celebration picture featured on many of the testimonial posters capturing Martyn’s delight at opening the scoring in the fifth minute of the tie. Stephen Tulloch was sent off shortly after half time leading to a nervous finish for the large home crowd before Bryan Deasley came on and scored with seconds to go.  “It was a great day – the sun was shining and we were playing in front of a lively crowd. The goal was a bit of a blur to be honest. Someone at my work actually asked me a few days ago about the celebration – had the Arbroath fans been giving me pelters? But they hadn’t – I’ve got nothing against them – so I’m not sure where it came from. It was just a feeling of pure enjoyment.”

There was further promotion drama for Martyn the following season with the Forfar finishing third in the Second Division in May 2011 but missing out to Ayr in the plays-off semi-finals.  Less excitement came in 2011-12 with a seventh placed league finish but that season saw Martyn achieve the highest goal-scoring total of his Forfar career to date with eight.  Again the Loons made the promotion play-offs in the 2012-13 season after placing fourth in the league. Martyn was injured for both legs so endured the agony of the second leg from the side-lines as the Loons’ comfortable 3-1 lead from the home tie evaporated in a catalogue of mishaps and misfortune. Even although Forfar took the lead at East End Park the final score was 7-4 to the Pars after extra time with the Loons having had three players sent off, scoring an own goal, giving away a penalty and with both managers sent to the stand for an altercation on the side-lines.  The Pars also conspired to miss a penalty in an incident filled match.

A major highlight for Martyn came at the start of the 2013-14 season when the Loons pulled off a 2-1 victory at home to Rangers  in the League Cup after extra time.  Although Martyn was subbed due to a calf injury he was pleased to have set up Gavin Swankie for his first goal.  “Obviously I wanted to play the whole game but I was really struggling so had to come off just after half time. It was worse watching it to be honest but in the end I thought we were the better team but Rangers still had internationalists in their team so to beat them was some achievement. Swankie was inspired that day.” That season’s league campaign resulted in a seventh placed finish.

Martyn feels that the 2014-15 team is up there with this season’s squad in terms of the best Forfar team he has played in. The team reached the play-off final against Alloa but again all connected with Forfar suffered heartbreak.  “We had a great group of lads but looking back I don’t think we fully believed we could win the league outright. We were every bit as good as the teams around us and matched them all the way but just fell short at the end. The play-off final has been well documented with us losing 4-3 on aggregate. At Alloa it was the biggest Forfar support I’ve ever seen which was brilliant but we just could not get over the line and that goes down as one of the biggest disappointments of my career.”

Bringing Martyn’s record up to date the 2015-16 season and relegation was a further low point.  It was also the only season in which Martyn has failed to notch a goal for Forfar.

Foxy the Testimonial Season 2016-17 …

Martyn’s testimonial year, marking the twilight of his career, coincides with the rebuilding of the Forfar team following the disappointment of last season’s relegation. It has been a fresh start in many ways with a raft of new players arriving and a number of familiar faces departing the scene. Martyn knew the gaffer from his time at St Johnstone and playing against Airdrie and Livingston. “I respected Gary when I was a young lad at McDiarmid. He was part of the senior squad and I knew he had achieved a lot in his career. I’m enjoying working with him, Ian (Flaherty) and Stuart (Balmer) although I wasn’t quite so happy with the pre-season running regime!  Running doesn’t suit me and I do moan quite a bit. I also reminded the boss that he was murder at running at St Johnstone.  I remember watching him and he moaned until he was almost greeting!  Now it’s what he preaches and he ran the legs off us in pre-season and still does - even if you are not playing he has you running after the game so we are all still working hard. That’s not something that’s happened before at the club and I think we’ve seen the benefit of that in games where we’ve kept pushing to get a late winner.”

Martyn is clear that despite recent poor results the aim at the start of the season still holds – to secure automatic promotion although itwill be tough.   “A lot of new lads came in during the pre-season and then in January Eddie (Malone) and Chris (McLaughlin) joined the other loan signing Eoghan (McCawl). With Michael (Travis) just back from injury that felt like we had gained another new player. I think we have a great squad with a good balance of youth such as Michael (Kennedy), Frankie (Devine), Matthew (Aitken) and Murray (Mackintosh) from the Development squad and let’s say some older heads in the dressing room with me, Gavin (Swankie) and Danny (Denholm). When Gary had the summer to make signings he handpicked some great guys from Airdrie in David (Cox), Jim (Lister) and Jamie (Bain) and also brought in some real talent in Grant (Adam), Lewis (Milne), Josh (Peters), Marc (Scott) and Andy (Murno) as well as bringing back Stuart (Malcolm) with Thomas (O’Brien) still going strong.   It maybe took the first week to see what those new guys were like but pretty soon everyone settled in and we have a great spirit in the dressing room.”

Even when Martyn is on the bench he feels he is learning, especially from the Assistant Manager. “Stuart has had a sterling career.  He looks at things differently from Gary and Ian and that is what you need in a good management team – different perspectives and experiences. When I am sitting on the bench next to Stuart I’ll ask him about things in the match and how he sees it. It’s fascinating how he describes the match is playing out.”  Martyn is on a one-year contract and he is not sure what the future holds so has the small insight into the mind-set of this experienced coach given Martyn any thoughts for his own future in the game?  “I’m football mad and I couldn’t see myself without some kind of football involvement at a weekend. Obviously it will depend on what opportunities come along and up until recently I might have said I’d be more an assistant than the number one. But I have found myself to be more vocal in the dressing room encouraging the lads – that is a side of me that has developed in the last few years so you never know I may end up the boss! For now I still have a lot to give on the pitch so I am not hanging up my boots just yet!”

Although he has been at the club for a decade there was still one challenge Martyn had yet to take on – playing in goal and keeping a clean sheet.  The opportunity came earlier this month at Broadwood when the Loons were reduced to ten men against Clyde following Grant Adam’s dismissal with 16 minutes to go and the score standing at two all.  With all the subs having been used Martyn quickly assessed the situation and offered to go in goal. “I could see the position we were in and with the players we had available I thought we could sacrifice my role so I volunteered.  It's just another thing I can add to my CV - not everyone has had the pleasure of going in goal. If the situation came up again I would definitely be the first one to grab the gloves. In fact I was disappointed I wasn't considered for the number one jersey last week! Grant wasn’t for talking after the game given the circumstances but I did make a passing comment to him that he makes goalkeeping look a lot harder than it actually is!”  The fact that Martyn now signs off emails as ‘Foxy (Forfar’s No 1)’ doesn’t mean the attention he has received for his 100% goalkeeping record has gone to his head. Well maybe not much!

So a decade on at the same club what is the main change Martyn has witnessed over the years?  “The club has always been well run – it’s well known throughout the game that Forfar is very professional on and off the park but I think we’ve kicked on even more this year with the improvements to the medical / physio side of things. Craig and Lara have been working really hard to get the lads back playing more quickly and the new equipment which the fans helped to purchase with the Cycle challenge has really helped.”

Foxy’s Family Ties …

While football has played a central role in Foxy’s life his family eclipses that. Most important is wife Lauren who is a constant strength to Martyn working tirelessly during the testimonial year to support the members of the committee. Together for 16 years and married for 12 years in June, Martyn’s usual modesty disappears as he recalls with a mischievous grin Laruen chasing him at high school. Or at least that’s his story.  “Lauren used to follow me around at school but I really wasn’t that interested in girls. I only had time  for football. Then later when I started going out I noticed Lauren around and about but by then I was chasing her!” He continues on a more serious note, “Lauren is amazing. She is not only my wife but also my best friend and has supported me through my career. There have been some tricky times especially when I left St Johnstone with no club to go to and we were about to be married that summer. She has stuck by me and it means everything to be celebrating this testimonial with her and the kids.”   Completing the Fotheringham household are their three children – Mia, 13, who like her dad is very competitive (ie hates losing!) and is a top class ScottishCountry dancer with many titles to her name, Ava, 8, is the laid back one and little Luca, 3, who is more Toy Story than football daft at present.

Martyn’s dad never misses a game and is often accompanied by his mum Yvonne. “I owe my mum and dad a lot. They gave up a lot of their time to ferry me around when I was young including when I played in youth tournaments at home and abroad. My dad and maybe only a couple of other dads would be there watching.  Other lads would say ‘Martyn - there’s your dad’ and being young I’d think ‘oh no – how embarrassing’. But now as a dad myself I can now appreciate my parent’s unbelievable dedication and support and I’m grateful to have great memories of those days.”  Lauren’s mum (June) and dad (Arthur) and their partners are also supportive of Martyn along with his big sisters Lorraine and Sharon and their families who all live around the Blairgowrie area. 

Away from football Martyn is quick to say how fortunate he is to work for highly respected family business, Graham Pest Control, based in Blairgowrie and managed by Ross Graham, a Forfar Director and former senior footballer. “Ross is a top boss and it is an absolutely brilliant business to work for – great people and with Ross also being football mad that helps. Most of the people who work there enjoy football so there is good banter.”

Foxy the fans’ favourite …

Martyn is keenly aware of the responsibilities that come with being a role model for young supporters, especially now that he is a father. He claims to have been ‘brainwashed’ into supporting Rangers at a very early age by his cousins. That early allegiance fell away aged nine when as part of the St Johnstone youth set up he received free tickets for McDiarmid and from then on went along to every home game with his dad. As for his heroes he cites Dutch internationalist Marco van Basten and Ally McCoist as early inspirations along with one other former Ibrox player who will remain nameless but Martyn has met in recent times. He admits to having the scales fall from his eyes in meeting the latter.  “Maybe it is better not to meet your heroes because often they disappoint in ‘real life’. I suppose they are only human and you build them up so when you meet them it can be disappointing to find out they are perhaps not the nicest of people! So I do try to keep that in mind when chatting to younger fans – I may not be up there with Marco and Ally, who do seem like great guys, but if in a small way I can inspire a youngster to get into the game by posing for a selfie or signing an autograph then I don’t want them to be disappointed in the real me.”

It’s hard to imagine anyone being disappointed in meeting Foxy. The cheeky grin, happy go lucky personality and generally all round good guy persona is certainly not an act. Ten years have proven that with his true character emerging through all sorts of good and bad times.  “People say I am a favourite with the fans – I’m not sure why but I suppose I do try to support club events and I enjoy helping out at the children’s community coaching sessions. I feel like I’ve got a good relationship with the fans and you get to know people on a personal level with it being a small club and can have a laugh with them, which I enjoy.  Through my testimonial I’ve met a lot more people and I’ve been quite overwhelmed by all the kindness and good wishes. I’ve got nothing but thanks for the way that my family and I have been treated by everyone at Forfar over the years.”

Tonight Martyn faces one of the toughest challenges of his career – taking centre stage with all eyes on him. That will be a struggle for this self-effacing individual who hates the limelight, unless of course, as part of a goal-scoring celebration. Martyn confesses that he’ll probably shed a tear when he runs out onto the pitch with Mia, Ava and Luca at his side and Lauren proudly cheering him on from the side-lines alongside their family, friends and fans. 

It’s time to take a bow Martyn and no matter how hard you try to shy away from it you are the well-deserved star of tonight’s show. Loving family guy ... good friend … midfield maestro … fans favourite not to mention Dundee’s top pest controller.  The one and only Forfar’s Fantastic Mr Foxy … forever a Loons legend.

Martyn ‘Foxy’ Fotheringham was in conversation with Louise Taylor for the Martyn Fotheringham Testimonial Programme, Forfar Athletic  v Dundee FC on 21 March 2017. 

Foxy Goalkeeping photo courtesy of Michael Schofield. Testimonial Dinner photos courtesy of David Lozowy Photography.