Personal
Date of Birth: Monday, 21st March 1966,
Birthplace: Walthamstow, London, England
Nationality: English
International Caps 0
International Goals 0

Playing Career

Years	Club
1985-90	Arsenal
1990-92	Celtic
1992	Wimbledon (loan)
1993	Swansea City
1994	Peterborough United

Celtic Career Review

London-born midfielder Martin Hayes was a £625,000 buy from Arsenal in May 1990. It was rumoured at the time that Arsenal had been about to sell him for around £150,000 to a lower division English club and that Celtic had come in with an absurdly high bid. No evidence for this was produced however.

Hayes had been a steady if unspectacular performer for the Gunners and was most frequently used from the bench. He did however chip in with some fine and important goals during a near 7-year professional career with the Highbury club.

He had first come to the attention of the Celtic support with a double in Arsenal’s 5-1 destruction of the Hoops at Parkhead in the summer of 1987. His next performance at Celtic Park would be his Bhoys debut when Celtic defeated Ayr United 4-0 in a League Cup tie on August 22nd.

However, despite being part of a Celtic squad thin on real quality, he was unable to cement a first team starting spot and his appearances became increasingly rare. He is viewed as being another flop from the early 1990s and when someone can’t get into a Celtic side that bad it is a fair assumption to make. However, in truth, with only 10 appearances to his name Hayes never really was given much of an opportunity to show what he could do.

One anecdote that reveals exactly how much out of the picture Hayes was at Parkhead tells of the time that the player arrived an hour early for training. With time to spare before the session began Hayes got changed at Parkhead and drove the short distance to the training pitch at Barrowfields.

He pulled up in the corner of the car park and decided to have a quick nap before his team-mates arrived. Unfortunately for the player he fell into a deep sleep and awoke only just in time to see his mud covered team-mates and boss Liam Brady walking off the training pitch. A panic stricken Hayes rushed out of his car and over to Brady and desperately tried to explain his absence. A slightly bewildered Brady turned to the player and said matter-of-factly: "To be honest Martin, no one even noticed you were missing".

Martin Hayes was released in January 1992 and after a short spell at Coventry he went on to sign for Wimbledon in the first month of 1993.



Further Links
Martin Hayes Wikipedia Page
Martin Hayes Kerrydale Wiki Pics