Gary Martindale is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former professional footballer who played as a striker. After retiring as a player, Martindale started coaching.

Playing career

Born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Martindale began his senior career in non-League football with Burscough

Burscough F.C.

Burscough F.C. is an English football club based in Burscough, Lancashire. The club are members of the Northern Premier League Premier Division and groundshare with Skelmersdale United...

. He later played in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 for Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

, Peterborough United

Peterborough United F.C.

Peterborough United Football Club are a professional English football club based in Peterborough. Peterborough United formed in 1934 and played in the old Midland League, which they won six times; eventually being admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead. Their home ground is...

, Notts County

Notts County F.C.

Notts County Football Club are an English professional football club based in Nottingham. They are the oldest of all the clubs in the world that are now professional, having been formed in 1862. They currently play in League One of The Football League, the third tier of the English football system...

, Mansfield Town

Mansfield Town F.C.

Mansfield Town Football Club is an English football club from the former mining town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The club was formed in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans and changed its name to Mansfield Wesley in 1906 before settling on Mansfield Town in 1910...

 and Rotherham United

Rotherham United F.C.

Rotherham United Football Club are an English professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, who compete in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club's colours have traditionally been red and white, although these have evolved through history...

, before returning to non-League football with Telford United

Telford United F.C.

Telford United F.C. was an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire.The club existed under various names for a total of 132 years from its formation in 1872. The club was founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979 and played at this level for 25 years before being wound up in...

 and Burscough.

Despite having played in League One

Football League One

Football League One is the second-highest division of The Football League and third-highest division overall in the English football league system....

 (then the Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

) with Notts County, his most outstanding moment came after he returned to Burscough. In May 2003 they reached the final of the FA Trophy

FA Trophy

The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams...

 against Tamworth

Tamworth F.C.

Tamworth Football Club are an English semi-professional football club based in the town of Tamworth, Staffordshire. Nicknamed 'The Lambs', they are currently members of the Conference National, the fifth highest tier in the English league system....

. Having started the competition as 400-1 outsiders, they had narrowed the odds but were still far from favourites. They pulled off a shock 2-1 win, with Martindale scoring both their goals.

Coaching career

Martindale was appointed manager of Formby

Formby F.C.

Formby F.C. are an English football club based in Formby, Merseyside. They currently play in the North West Counties Football League Division One and are members of the Liverpool County Football Association...

 in July 2010. Without time to rebuild the severely depleted squad before the season began, Formby had a disastrous first few games. Lacking a striker, Martindale reluctantly picked himself for the team. He scored in four out of his first five matches.

Despite turning Formby's fortunes around, including signing notable players like John Paul Kissock

John Paul Kissock

John Paul Kissock is an English association football player who currently plays professionally as an attacking midfielder for Luton Town in the Conference National, English football's fifth level...

, Adam Farley

Adam Farley

Adam Farley is an English footballer who currently plays for Formby. He is a defender.He joined Everton as a schoolboy and was part of their 1998 FA Youth Cup winning team, he was man of the match in both legs of the final...

 and John Lawless

John Lawless (footballer)

John Lawless is an English footballer who currently plays for Burscough in the Northern Premier League Premier Division...

, he felt unsupported by the club and after internal restructuring of the club he resigned in January 2011. He expressed an immediate desire to continue his management career elsewhere. Two months later he took up a backroom coaching role at Prescot Cables

Prescot Cables F.C.

Prescot Cables F.C. is a football club based in Prescot, Merseyside. It was established in 1884 and has also been known as Prescot and Prescot Town...

, before being hired in June 2011 as Assistant Manager of Vauxhall Motors F.C.

Vauxhall Motors F.C.

Vauxhall Motors Football Club is an English football club based in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, who play in the Conference North. It was originally the works team of the car manufacturer Vauxhall...

by their new manager Anthony Wright.