With the National League's recent decision to end the league season with immediate effect, it leaves the future of Harrogate Town up in the air. The Town were sat 2nd in the league, four points behind leaders Barrow and on the brink of the EFL promise land before the coronavirus pandemic halted its progression and along with that the footballing world.
Despite the season's postponement, Harrogate have continued to bolster their attacking force, bringing in Guiseley forward Aaron Martin until the end of 2020/21 season, after the prolific striker bagged himself an impressive 17 goals in 23 games.
In terms of his move, Martin said: "I was ecstatic to get the move up to Harrogate as it is my dream to play league football and that gets me one step closer as there 2nd place with a real good chance of getting promotion.
"Unfortunately with what's happening at the minute things are up in the air as to who gets promoted or relegated so fingers crossed." Martin continued to praise his newfound Harrogate side, and in particular manager Simon Weaver, stating: "I believe I can compete in any league under League One, I back myself. I'm a willing player that works hard and from what I've seen from the gaffer [Weaver] I think he will guide me to become a better and successful player."
The Harrogate hitman moved away from his manager and onto the squad, claiming: "I'm looking forward to playing with Jon Stead and learning things from him, he's had a fantastic career and has played at the top level. He's got a lot of experience to pass on.
"It's good to have competition in a team, it makes players better and boots performance. I for one would be keen to make the starting line up, so if I needed to do extra work to get that edge I'd do it, and that's the type of mentality that healthy competition brings."
Before Martin excelled at Guiseley, he was the star of the show at Northern Premier League side Brighouse Town, where he scored 30 goals and got 11 assists in 42 games. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, clubs such as Brighouse are struggling to financially cope and have been forced to pledge to its fans for any available funds.
Martin, who holds a place in his heart for Brighouse, said: "It's a sad time for football at the moment and there are many clubs that are suffering to keep afloat during this pandemic.
"Brighouse holds a special place in my heart having played there and I know the amount of effort the volunteers and community put in. It would sadden me deeply to see the club go into administration."
However Martin gave his plaudits to Gary Neville, who donated a substantial amount to help the club in its fight for survival: "It was very surprising to see such a known footballer donate money to a small non-league team which most of us would have he'd never heard of.
"It's great that he's in a position to possibly save a club like Brighouse. His donation has brought joy to a lot of people, especially to myself."
Staying in the past of Martin's career, he commended the joint management duo of Marcus Bignot and Russ O'Neill who commanded him in his time at Guiseley: "Marcus and Russ are a very good management duo who both have a lot of experience under their belts and it is something I noticed as soon as I got there.
"Marcus is a very good tactician and the most intelligent and professional manager I have worked with so far, the things he brings to the training sessions are advanced. Russ has a different approach, he is more straight to the point, very good at man management and is good at getting the lads mindset ready for a game which isn't easy at times."
For the Harrogate fans who are itching to see Martin in the yellow and black, the frontman related himself to Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, saying: "Thierry Henry is my favourite player of all time, always loved his style of play, his movement, his finishing and flare."
It's fair to say that Weaver has certainly brought in quite the coupe, and Harrogate fans have every right to be excited about Aaron Martin, a striker who at his last two clubs has got a powerful combined total of 47 goals in 65 games, not to mention a bucket load of assists to match that too.
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