What were you doing when you was 17? 

Playing football for your local Sunday league team and maybe playing a bit of Football Manager maybe? 

Well Archie Cramer is putting us all to shame as he is experiencing real management as he steps up as interim manager for his club. 

I sat down with him to find out just how this has all come about and what he hope it will mean for his future in the game. 

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Name – Archie Cramer
Age – 17
Favourite team – Brighton
Occupation – Coaching
Thing I love about football – Winning
My football pet hate – Players being late

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Take us back to the beginning. How did you first get involved with the club, and what was it about coaching that grabbed you at such a young age?

I first got involved with the club through the U18s. Del Tobias, who was the manager at the time, asked me to come in as his assistant, and I’ll always be really grateful to him for giving me that opportunity and putting that trust in me at such a young age.

Football and coaching have always been something I’ve been massively passionate about. Even when I was younger, I found myself interested in much more than just playing. I loved the tactical side of the game, putting teams together, working with different players and trying to get the best out of people.

Since first getting involved at YM, my opportunities and responsibilities have just continued to grow, and I’ve tried to grab every opportunity that’s come my way. The club has given me a platform to learn, make mistakes, develop and experience things that I probably never expected to experience at 17, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.

You were leading first-team training and matches at just 17, which is pretty remarkable. What was going through your head the first time you found yourself in that position?

It was definitely a bit surreal. You do have that moment where you think, “I’m 17 and I’m standing here leading a session with a men’s first team who are actually all older than me.” But once you’re actually out there, I don’t really think about my age. My focus is on making sure the session has purpose and that the players get something from it. I’ve always believed that if you’re confident in what you’re delivering and you treat people properly, they’ll respect you regardless of age. The players were brilliant with me as well, which made it much easier.

What have you learned from working alongside Liam Giles, both as a coach and as a person?

Loads. I’ll always be grateful to Gilsey for giving me the opportunity to be around the first team at such a young age. He didn’t have to trust me or involve me as much as he did, but he did, and that gave me experiences I probably wouldn’t have got anywhere else at 17. From a coaching perspective, I learned a lot about managing a group, setting standards and dealing with the different situations that come with senior football. But as a person as well, he was always really good with me. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for him and what he achieved at YM. Also Harrison Williams was top. I really enjoyed working with both of them.

When Liam resigned and the rest of the staff and first-team players followed, what was your immediate reaction? Did you ever imagine you’d suddenly be in this situation?

Not at all. Everything happened incredibly quickly. First and foremost, I was gutted because I’d really enjoyed working with Liam, Harrison and the rest of the staff, and they’d built a brilliant group at the club.

But suddenly we had first-team fixtures that needed fulfilling and effectively didn’t have a first-team squad. The club asked me and Truss if we’d step in and take charge for the two games. The main reason I agreed to do it was because we knew the bulk of the squad would have to come from our U18s. It was a great opportunity for those lads to experience senior men’s football and, because I was already their manager and knew them so well, it made sense for me to be the one leading them through it.

You’ve now got two games as interim first-team manager, despite not really having a first-team squad around you. How do you even begin to approach a challenge like that?

You have to be realistic about the circumstances, but you also can’t use them as an excuse. The biggest thing has been getting a group together and making sure everyone understands what we’re asking from them. We’ve had a lot of U18s stepping into senior football, so I’m not going to overload them tactically or put unnecessary pressure on them. It’s about being organised, competing, working for each other and enjoying the opportunity. In the first game, we were 1-1 at half-time and only 2-1 down until the 77th minute against senior opposition, which I thought was a massive credit to the lads. The scoreline eventually got away from us, but there was so much to be proud of.

Is there a part of you that’s actually excited by the challenge, despite how chaotic the circumstances are?

Definitely. Obviously, I would never have wanted the opportunity to come about in these circumstances, because people I really respect have left the club. But once you’re asked to do the job, you have to embrace it. How many people get the opportunity to manage a senior men’s first team at 17? I’m going to learn an unbelievable amount from it. There’s pressure, but that’s part of football, and I’d rather challenge myself than hide away from something because it might be difficult.

You’ll be doing it alongside the person you normally work with at U18 level. How important is having someone you trust beside you when you’re thrown into something like this?

Massive. When everything around you changes so quickly, having someone alongside you who you know and trust makes a huge difference. We already understand how each other works from the U18s, and we can be honest with each other. There’s so much happening around these games that people probably don’t see — getting players together, organising things, speaking to people and then actually preparing the team. Having someone beside you who shares that responsibility and who you can bounce ideas off is really important.

What do you think coaching at such a young age has taught you about dealing with different personalities, pressure and responsibility?

Probably that you have to adapt. You can’t speak to an u9 player in the same way you would an u18 and same for first team. Some players need an arm around them, some need challenging and others just need clear instructions and then to be left to get on with it. Being young means I’ve had to learn quickly how to earn people’s respect without trying to be something I’m not. I think responsibility has helped me mature as well. When you’re responsible for a team, your decisions affect a lot of other people, so you have to take accountability when things don’t go right as well as when they do.

Away from the touchline, what sort of person are you? What keeps you motivated when football isn’t taking up all your time and energy?

Football takes up a massive amount of my time, to be fair. When I’m not coaching or managing, I’m normally going somewhere to watch a game, and if I’m not at a game, I’ll probably be watching one on TV! Football is just a massive part of my life and something I genuinely love being involved in.

Obviously, I still enjoy spending time with my mates and family and switching off when I get the chance, but even then football normally finds its way into the conversation somewhere. I think when you’re as passionate about something as I am about football, you don’t really see the time you put into it as a chore — it’s just what I enjoy doing.

Has football always been something you’ve wanted to pursue seriously, or was there a particular moment when you thought, “I could actually make a career out of this”?

I’ve always loved football, but I think the more responsibility I’ve been given, the more I’ve realised that coaching and management is something I’d genuinely love to pursue. Being involved around a senior first-team environment has probably strengthened that even more. You see everything that goes into management that supporters might not necessarily see, and rather than putting me off, it’s made me want to learn more. I’m only 17, so I’ve got an unbelievable amount still to learn, but I definitely want to see how far I can take it.

Looking ahead, where do you see yourself in a few years? Is management something you’d love to pursue, or are you still figuring that out?

Management is definitely something I’d love to pursue. I’m not going to sit here at 17 and pretend I know exactly where I’ll be in five or ten years, because football changes so quickly. My focus is on learning as much as possible, getting my qualifications and gaining experience. Ultimately, though, I want to go as far as I possibly can in coaching and management. Experiences like this only make me hungrier to do that.

And finally, when you look back at everything that’s happened, what would you like people to remember about you and the job you did during these two games?

I’d want people to remember that when the club was in an extremely difficult position, we stepped up. I’m not expecting praise because I’m 17, and I don’t want the story just to be about my age. I’d rather people looked at the group of players — particularly the U18s — who were willing to step into senior football and represent the badge when the club needed them.

For me personally, I hope people see that I didn’t shy away from it. I knew how difficult it was going to be, but I was prepared to put myself out there, take responsibility and give everything I could for the players. Results will always matter in football, but sometimes circumstances are bigger than a result. If, after these two games, people can say that they’ve got 2 senior games of football under their belt, competed, stuck together and left the club in a better position to move forward, then I’ll be incredibly proud of that.

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