They understood this was my chance and they wished me well."The wishes have come true. Since he arrived at Elland Road Martyn's form has been outstanding to a point where George Graham, a man not easily impressed when it comes to the defensive side of things, has advocated his inclusion in the England squad "He has surprised me," the Leeds manager said. "I hadn't realised how good he was."I'd seen him play for Crystal Palace lots of times but when you've got a player like David Seaman on your books you don't appreciate the goalkeepers immediately beneath him until you work with them He has a similar personality to Seaman, very gentle. He doesn't get excited the way some goalkeepers do."These compliments might have been coming from Everton's Joe Royle, but the Goodison club lost Martyn when they seemed to have him. His wife has family on Merseyside and he was inclined to go there until he went for the interview. The manager was unavailable, the chairman, Peter Johnson, too busy and when he told director Cliff Finch that he was also talking to Leeds the reaction was, well, strange."He went away for 15 minutes," Martyn said, "and when he came back he gave me the directions to the M62 and told me to leave as early as I could because the traffic was building.

I can understand they didn't want to get involved in an auction, but they had me there If they'd worked harder they might have kept me I came over to Leeds and was treated completely differently. They made more effort."That early work has proved worthwhile because Graham estimates that his goalkeeper has made only two mistakes since the two joined forces. That, Martyn puts down to the eagerness to impress new supporters, colleagues and managers which gave him access to "an extra 10 per cent you didn't know was there" and to his goalkeeping coach.John Burridge played for 18 clubs, including Palace, in a 25-year career and is passing on his experience to Martyn. "I missed out on goalkeeping coaching at Selhurst Park," he said.

"When I first went to the club we had Peter Bonetti, but unfortunately he moved further north and he wasn't replaced."You try to do it yourself but perhaps you don't push yourself as much as you should do. It's hard to say what John gives me without getting too technical, but he gets you sharper in your mind, quicker on your feet."Sharp enough to add to his three England caps? "You have always got to be hopeful," he replied. "Ray Clemence toured the country at the start of the season seeing English goalkeepers saying that I and they hadn't been forgotten, but I've heard nothing since. You just have to train as hard as you can, play to the best of your ability and keep your fingers crossed when the squad is announced."If he is picked, Leeds will be delighted although Palace supporters will be pretty chuffed too. Particularly if he gets there despite a nightmare game tonight.. Kilmarnock's Rugby Park will host an international for the first time since 1910 when it stages Scotland's World Cup qualifier with Estonia, and Celtic Park will host a potentially crucial tie on 2 April against qualification rivals Austria. The Scottish Football Association have stuck by their pledge to take the five matches to different venues as a result of redevelopment work at the national stadium, Glasgow's Hampden Park. A crowd of 46,738 turned up at Rangers' Ibrox ground in November to see Craig Brown's side beat Sweden 1-0 thanks to a John McGinlay goal.

Now Rugby Park will stage the Estonia fixture on Saturday, 29 March, 87 years after Scotland beat Wales there 1-0 The Ayrshire ground is capable of holding 18,128. Celtic Park will have a capacity of around 50,000 for the tie against Austria five days later.Before these games, Scotland travel to Monaco to face Estonia on Tuesday, 11 February in the controversial replay of the 9 October "match-that-never- was".West Ham last night emerged as surprise bidders in the race for Celtic's unsettled Dutch striker Pierre van Hooijdonk. The Dutchman is at the centre of a long-running contract row with the Glasgow club after demanding a pay rise and he has attracted the interest of Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven among others.It seems unlikely that the London club could meet Celtic's valuation of around pounds 3-4m. However, they do have Romanian international striker Florin Raducioiu, once a transfer target of Celtic's rivals, Rangers, as a possible makeweight in any cash-plus-player deal.The Manchester City manager, Frank Clark, has agreed to a request from his former club Nottingham Forest to keep Nigel Clough for another month's loan. The 30-year-old striker, who has made an impact since returning to the City Ground, was due to return to Maine Road after Sunday's Premiership game against Tottenham.But now he will stay on and, as part of the deal, City will take Northern Ireland goalkeeper Tommy Wright for a month's loan.

Wright, who has just returned from a successful three-month stint with Reading, is likely to go straight into City's first team.. The game has welcomed back its prodigals from rugby union with a prediction that they will not repeat this winter's diversion. As players like the Paul brothers, Gary Connolly and Jason Robinson return to their league clubs this week, the game's chief executive, Maurice Lindsay, said he was not surprised by their success in the other code. "They are world-class athletes with breathtaking ability. We are pleased to see them back and can assure them that they will be taking part in one of the greatest seasons in rugby league's proud history," he said."Our top players are likely to be involved from February until the middle of November. Surely after all that it will be time to lie on a beach and let mind and body recover."St Helens have denied receiving an approach from Richmond or Bath for their captain, Bobbie Goulding.