| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ignacio Martín-Esperanza Tejada | ||
| Date of birth | (1936-06-05)5 June 1936 (age 89) | ||
| Place of birth | Verín, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft10+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Real Madrid | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1956–1960 | Plus Ultra | 43 | (13) |
| 1956–1957 | →La Felguera (loan) | 40 | (12) |
| 1958–1959 | →Atlético Ceuta (loan) | 22 | (5) |
| 1960–1963 | Betis | 42 | (5) |
| 1963–1970 | Pontevedra | 155 | (19) |
| Total | 302 | (54) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1973 | Pontevedra | ||
| 1973–1974 | Atlético Pontevedrés | ||
| 1974–1975 | Lugo | ||
| 1975–1976 | Portonovo | ||
| 1976–1978 | Algeciras | ||
| 1978–1980 | Lleida | ||
| 1981 | Figueres | ||
| 1982–1983 | Lugo | ||
| 1983–1985 | Hospitalet | ||
| 1987–1990 | Atlético Baleares | ||
| 1999 | Pontevedra | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ignacio Martín-Esperanza Tejada (born 5 June 1936), known asMartín Esperanza, is a Spanish retiredfootballer who played as aforward, and is a formermanager.
Born inVerín,Ourense,Galicia, Martín Esperanza finished his formation atReal Madrid, and made his senior debuts while on loan atCP La Felguera in 1956. He scored 12 goals for the club, whichnarrowly avoided relegation, and was assigned to the former'sreserves in the following year.
Martín Esperanza was also loaned toCA Ceuta, and in 1960 signed forLa Liga'sReal Betis, withLuis del Sol moving in the opposite direction. He made his debut in the competition on 11 September, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 home win againstRCD Mallorca,[1] and scored his first goal on 11 December, netting the last in a 2–1 success atGranada CF.[2]
Martín-Esperanza struggled with injuries during his spell with theAndalusians, and joinedPontevedra CF in the 1963 summer. He was regularly used by the club, and eventually retired in 1970 at the age of 33; he was also called up to thenational team in December 1965,[3] being only an unusedsubstitute in a 0–2 loss againstEngland.[4]
After his retirement Martín Esperanza was appointed manager of his last side Pontevedra in 1973, and eventuallysuffering team relegation. After managing lower clubs in his native region he was namedAlgeciras CF manager, taking the club back toSegunda División B in his first season.[5]
Subsequently, Martín Esperanza had spells withCatalan clubsUE Lleida,[6]UE Figueres,[7]CE L'Hospitalet[8] andCD Atlético Baleares, all of them in the third division. In 1999, after nearly ten years without a club, he returned to Pontevedra, but his reign only lasted six matches.