Former Norwich City striker Chris Martin is looking forward to making a fresh start after joining up with his new club Derby for pre-season.
Martin ended his 14-year association with the Canaries at the end of last term and linked up with the Rams earlier this week.
“I think my move to Derby County can only be a positive thing,” he told the Derby County website.
“It was a shame to leave Norwich after such a long time there; it was my local team, I had been there since I was a 10-year-old and my family were just 20 minutes down the road.”
“But things didn’t work out and in football sometimes that is the case and you have to get on with it. I think they moved on from me and I have moved on from them.”
“I believe that I am really lucky to have found a great club like Derby who wanted me to sign, and I wanted to sign here as well; hopefully this partnership can be a successful one.”
Derby travel to Ireland to face Bohemians in their first friendly of pre-season on 13 July and Martin believes this period of the year, which has already involved a white water rafting expedition is crucial to developing team spirit ahead of the new campaign.
“We have got a great group here, and I have spoken about that previously during my loan spell it felt as though I had been here all season because I had settled in so quickly.”
“Hopefully it will be the same for the other new faces here, and we can help them settle in really quickly with the team bonding activities.”
“I have got a new Club to focus on and I cannot wait to get started; we have got a big fixture on the opening day of the season, and all the preparation starts now.”
