Ex-Portsmouth title-winner and Norwich and Arsenal man suffers fresh devastating career blow

Notts County threw Josh Martin a lifeline in September, having struggled to find a club since the Blues claimed the League One crown in 2023-24.

Having featured nine times in last season’s successful campaign, the attacker was among those released by John Mousinho last summer as Pompey prepared for the Championship.

However, Martin subsequently found it difficult to get a new employer, other than a week-long trial at Italian club Como under Cesc Fabregas.

Based in Lovedean, instead he trained most days at King George V Playing Fields under a personal trainer, with Sundays spent at the David Lloyd Centre gym in Port Solent.

Then came the Notts County opportunity - yet the ex-Arsenal man’s short-term deal wasn’t extended last week.

Martin featured 12 times for the League Two club as he attempted to early himself a long-term contract, with three consecutive league starts since Christmas.

Despite impressing as a left wing-back in recent weeks, with successive assists against Cheltenham and Notts County, Magpies boss Stuart Maynard has now opted to release him.

Martin departed ahead of Saturday’s trip to Accrington, along with loanee and former Pompey target Jevani Brown, who failed to find the back of the net in 14 league appearances and has now returned to parent club Bristol Rovers.

Maynard told BBC Radio Nottingham Sport: ‘Jevani has gone back to Bristol (Rovers), and Josh Martin, we won’t be renewing his deal but I thank them for all of their hard work and when they were with us they were excellent’

Martin was named in every Notts County squad during his brief Meadow Lane stay, yet, tellingly, on nine occasions in League Two, he remained unused.

He also scored in a 5-3 success at Cheltenham in the final match of 2024, representing his first goal in more than two years, having last netted for Barnsley in October 2022.

Now the likeable 23-year-old is seeking his next footballing opportunity, albeit now with competitive minutes under his belt, having spent four months training with a League Two club.

Speaking to The News in September before his Notts County switch, Martin spoke of the importance of remaining upbeat in testing times.

He said: ‘I believe if you’re being negative then you will get a negative outcome, it’s about trying to take a positive out of every single point of life. Wherever I am, there is always a positive, it’s a glass half full.

‘Training without a club is tough, sometimes you don’t want to do it, but the rewards are greater. I’m not feeling sorry for myself, I still know I’m blessed in life.

‘I always say the worst is never the worst, there is always a worst to come. I have a home, a family, I have my religion, and I’ll be playing football very soon. It’s not all doom and gloom, life is good, I’m not worried.

‘I trust my agent, I trust in God, I trust in myself to make that happen. In two or three years, I want to look back at this scenario and say “Wow, that was part of the process. Look what I had to go through to get here - now I’m in such a great position”. It will happen, I know it.’