Former Bristol City striker Chris Martin understands Nigel Pearson’s decision to release him from his contract at Ashton Gate six months ahead of schedule and holds no sense of animosity towards the Robins.
Martin’s contract was mutually terminated on deadline day of the January transfer window with the veteran frontman having not made an appearance for City since December 17 and was left out of eight straight matchday squads in league and cup before his departure.
In an interview with Football League World, Martin admits he was told well in advance of his exit that his contract wouldn’t be renewed beyond the summer and that, coupled with his lack of first-team minutes, meant it was a decision that was best for both parties.
Seven days after leaving BS3, Martin signed for Championship rivals QPR where he has started three games, scoring once, and has already matched the number of league starts he’d made for the Robins in 2022/23.
“It was a case of a longer-term thing in the fact that I wasn’t going to be there beyond the end of the season anyway,” said Martin. “That was made clear to me obviously before this move happened. There were just a couple of things that maybe could have gone slightly differently but I wouldn’t say there was a breakdown, that’s a totally wrong way of putting it.
“It was just a case of they went in a different direction. They’ve got some really good young players there in the academy and that’s what they chose to focus on. They probably didn’t see my future beyond this season, which is fair enough from a business point of view.
“From a club’s point of view, if they’re going to go in that direction then why have someone around that they don’t see being there longer-term? That is totally fine by me. They’ve got some good young forwards coming through and they’ve chosen to go down that route.
“I think it’s probably working for them, so fair play. There’s no animosity for going in that direction from my point of view.”
Pearson admitted last week that the decision to move Martin on, along with Timm Klose and Dan Bentley, was in part driven by a desire to freshen up the dressing room as that trio were impacting the atmosphere in the group due to their awareness of having no future at the club.
The City manager also highlighted the club’s recruitment strategy as the club and first-team evolves, with a sole focus now on fast and players at the younger end of the scale; a profile that could be seen as the direct opposite to Martin’s attributes.
The minutes that Martin played last season, in which he scored 12 goals in 45 league appearances - including a match-winning brace in the Severnside Derby - have effectively been taken by academy products Tommy Conway and Sam Bell who have successfully made the step up from the Under-21 set-up.
The arrivals of Anis Mehmeti and Harry Cornick in the wake of Antoine Semenyo’s sale to Bournemouth was also further confirmation of the direction of the club and Martin not being a part of that.
If there’s one regret the Scotland international appears to have of his two-and-a-half seasons in the West Country it’s that City were largely a lower mid-table side who could, and perhaps should, have performed better in the Championship. Martin signed for City under Dean Holden's management, after leaving Derby County, with the Robins finishing 19th and 17th in his two completed seasons in BS3.
“There were lots of positives. Last season I had, on a personal level, a fairly successful season but we probably didn’t do as well as we could over my two and a half years at the club,” Martin added. “That’s football for you. I think it’s a good club, it’s got great potential and there are lots of good players there.
“It was unfortunate the way that it ended, it wasn’t ideal. I felt like things maybe could have gone slightly differently but there we go. It is no skin off my nose, essentially. It’s on to the next one.
“You have disagreements or you don’t see the same picture as a club or a manager all the time and that’s how this game works. No hard feelings from my point of view.
“I think being kind of greedy, I look back and say: Could I have done a bit a better? Yeah, probably. Would I have hoped that we would have done better as a team and as a squad? Yeah, probably.”
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