Chris Martin has praised manager Nigel Pearson for putting his faith in him this season, five years after the manager wasted little time in loaning him out to Fulham following his appointment at Derby County.
The Bristol City manager has complimented the veteran's professionalism throughout the season having scored his 11th and 12th in the 5-0 victory at home to Hull on Saturday. It was the 33-year-old's 44th game of the season, having started 42 coming back from a serious injury that limited him to 26 appearances last campaign.
Martin's form and fitness have seen the striker become one of the first names on the team-sheet, helping spearhead City's ruthless attacking trio that have scored 42 goals between them this season.
The relationship during their time at Derby couldn't have been much different. Pearson was appointed manager of the Rams in May 2016 and allowed Martin to move to Fulham on loan with a view to a permanent deal before the end of the transfer window. The transfer split opinion between the Derby supporters after Martin scored 52 times across three seasons during his time in the East Midlands.
Martin admits that he has become more of a well-rounded person since his time at Derby, becoming more receptive to decisions on and off the field but says any fractures in their relationship were "sensationalized."
"I was definitely a different person 100 per cent - six or seven years ago," he said. "The older you get the more experience you get and you also probably appreciate the less that you really know. The younger you are at that time, you think you know everything.
"I'm not saying that I was pig-headed or anything but I just reflect on it now and understand that maybe I'm a bit more well-rounded and probably more receptive to things and I wasn't then.
"I think more was made out of that situation than there actually was, there was never a big fall out and never a huge clash actually.
"I think people looked at the situation and said 'well, he was a big character at the time and the manager came in obviously with his personality and they must have had a huge bust-up' but that wasn't actually the case. I think, people like to sensationalise and it certainly helps stories to grow legs and move but that never really happened.
"Ultimately the manager was trying to build something in his way and what he wanted and that didn't include me at that time. It was one of those as a player, I've seen it a few times, it's fair enough - if the manager says it's not for them or they don't see a future for you or want to go in a different direction.
"It's happened to me a couple of times - you shake hands and you move on, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I might disagree and if I do I'd probably say - 'I think you're making a mistake' but ultimately okay, we move on and I'll find somewhere that somebody wants me and I can be successful and that's all I've wanted throughout my career."
City are just Martin's third permanent club since emerging through the Norwich academy and making his breakthrough in 2006.
He's had loan spells at seven different sides including Luton, Swindon, Crystal Palace, Derby, Fulham, Reading and Hull. Martin conceded it is more than he would have liked although it's only because he wanted the opportunity to play regularly.
That's certainly been the case since Pearson arrived in Bristol and Martin was keen to show his appreciation towards the manager.
"I've probably had a few too many loans looking back on it but every time it's because of a real thirst to play and that's where I feel like I do my best work, what I want the opportunity to do," he added. "Going back to the manager, I'm actually extremely grateful for how he has dealt with me since he's come in, even when I was injured.
"He's been fantastic with me and has given me a great opportunity and really shown his faith in me throughout the season and I'm glad that I've been able to pay back some of that."
That has, of course, been part of City's WSM striker-force, alongside Andi Weimann and Antoine Semenyo as the trio have accumulated those 42 goals between them, plus provided 28 assists - often in setting each other up.
Just a few days after Pearson revealed that Derby manager Wayne Rooney had branded them as good as anything in the Championship, the Robins frontline delivered five pieces of hard evidence with each contributing to the scoreline, and all delivering fantastic individual performances.
Putting a finger on exactly what's made them click isn't easy, that's part of the beauty of it, but Martin believes it's a combination of a marriage of different styles and the positional set-up they operate in, with Weimann playing in an unusual attacking No10 role, making the Austrian especially hard to mark.
"Everyone brings their own thing to the table," he added. "We've all got our own attributes but they gel very, very well together and I think from an opposition point of view it must be very difficult, we've got pace, imagination, we can go long, we can go short into feet, we can hold it up.
"Having Andi in that position starting just behind us with that ability his awareness of space and movement as well is very difficult to mark so from that point of view we all bring something different and it's very difficult to defend against."
Martin also paid tribute to strength and conditioning coach Del Bonsu and physio Gill Holt for their hard work during his rehab last season and for helping him rediscover the form he has shown throughout this campaign.
He said: "It was obviously a big goal of mine to be injury-free throughout the season. I remember Andi being injured, Joe (Williams) at times, Jay Dasilva too and the level of work we were putting into our rehab was really top level for a good few months and that's really paying off.
"We work with the guys in the gym Del, and Gill as well the physios were very, very good from my point of view and we spoke when I got injured and said could we use this as a time to improve.
"It's a bit demoralising being injured having surgery and knowing I was going to be out for three months but you get out what you put in. It's a bit of a cliche but we did some really good work in that rehab.
"I actually improved all my numbers in the gym, strength, power and speed-wise all improved when I came back to fitness so that's a testament to the guys behind the scenes that you may not see as often that they are putting in an awful lot of work for us and I'm appreciative of that."
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