Former Exeter City midfielder Lee Martin has landed his first managerial role with non-league Welling United.
The 38-year-old enjoyed a stellar playing career in English football, playing in all four of the top divisions. He rose through Manchester United’s academy, making one Premier League appearance before several loan spells at the likes of Stoke City, Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield United.
He joined Ipswich Town on a permanent deal in 2009 where he made over 100 appearances. A move to Millwall materialised in 2013, where he spent three years before joining Gillingham. Two years later, the winger headed to the south coast with Exeter, where he was an ever-present during a two-year stint, scoring eight times in 77 appearances.
The last few years has seen Martin travel around the non-league scene, featuring for Ebbsfleet United, Dover Athletic, Ramsgate and Ashford United.
Martin Calls Time On Playing Career
With over 550 appearances during his career, Martin has now turned his attention to management. His first position sees him take over at Welling United, who were recently relegated from the National League South. Speaking to official club media, he said:
“I’m making that transition from playing into management and I’m delighted to get it over the line – I can’t wait to get started.
“The rebuild has started. We’re ahead of the curve in terms of recruitment, we’ve highlighted some good players and the big thing we’re going after now is character. We want good characters around the place because we want to merge the players and supporters back together.
“The fans are fundamental to what we want to create here. By all accounts, there’s been a disconnect and we want them to feel apart of us so we can be one team together.”
Continuing, he said:
“We want to have control of possession.
“We want to be aggressive, play through the thirds and create goalscoring opportunities. We want supporters to be coming here excited watch an entertaining game of football and one in which we score plenty of goals.”
Writer’s View
Welling will be hoping that Martin can translate his excellent playing career to the dugout and help them return to the National League South at the first time of asking. Next season will be the first time they have played in the seventh tier since the 1980s and Martin has already stated that he is keen to bring an entertaining, attacking element to Park View Road.
