He began his career with the Southampton youth academy before moving to local rivals Portsmouth and later to Coventry City after several loan spells, then followed by three years at Barnsley.

[11][12] After his loan spell with Bournemouth ended, Cranie made his first appearance of the season, in a 0–0 draw against Charlton Athletic on 26 December 2004.

[14] The 2005–06 season saw Cranie make eleven appearances and then, on 7 November 2006, he joined League One side Yeovil Town on loan until January.

With lack of first team opportunities, Cranie hinted at leaving the club when his contract expired at the end of the 2006–07 season, though he said that he was "keeping his options open".

[21] He made his Portsmouth debut in the first home game of the 2007–08 season against Manchester United on 15 August 2007, with a solid performance at right back.

[31] Two days after signing with the club, Cranie made his Coventry City debut, coming off in the 72nd minute, in a 2–0 win over Barnsley.

[32] Thirty days later, Cranie scored his first career goal in Coventry's 3–2 home win against Sheffield United on 15 September 2009.

[33] In mid-November Cranie found himself in an unfamiliar role as a right-back and on the bench, slipping down to the pecking order following the arrival of Leon Barnett and Richard Wood.

[35] Ahead of a match against Middlesbrough on 24 April 2010, Cranie suffered a knee injury in training,[36] but eventually recovered and was in the squad, which played to a 1–1 draw.

[41] Cranie regained his first team place throughout the rest of the season until he was sent-off after a second bookable offence in a 1–1 draw against Leicester City on 26 February 2011.

[44] As the 2011–12 season started, Cranie continued to be on the first team until he sustained a rib injury, and had to be substituted in the 49th minute, in a 2–0 defeat to Barnsley on 1 October 2011.

[55] On 12 July 2012, Cranie joined Leeds United on a trial basis and started training with the team during the pre- season.

Following the tour Leeds manager Neil Warnock expressed an interest in offering Cranie a contract at Elland Road.

[61] Eleven days later on 1 September 2012, Cranie provided an assist for Jacob Mellis, who scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Bristol City.

[69] After making his recovery,[70] Cranie made his first team return, as a substitute in the 46th minute, in a 3–2 loss against Nottingham Forest on 14 September 2013.

[73] Between 28 September 2013, and 11 March 2014, Cranie captained the club for half of the season until he suffered a hamstring tear during a match against Leicester City, requiring several weeks recovery.

[76] Ahead of the 2014–15 season, it was reported that Barnsley were trying to sell Martin Cranie along with Chris O'Grady and Tom Kennedy, to reduce costs.

[89][90] He was brought in as a potential replacement for fellow full-back Cyrus Christie, who had left the club on the same day to join Fulham.

[91] Cranie made his first appearance for the Boro on 10 February, coming on as a substitute for Stewart Downing in the final minutes of a 2–1 victory over Reading at the Riverside Stadium.

[92] The full-back made back-to-back continuous substitute appearances for the club, which resulted in the team climbing up the league table into the play-off positions.

[99] During the 2009 European Championship qualifying he mostly played at right back as Nedum Onuoha and captain Steven Taylor were preferred in central defence.

He scored his first U-21 international goal in a 3–3 draw against Sweden in the semi-finals of the 2009 Under-21 European Championship, finishing off Milner's inswinging corner barely a minute after kick-off.