Steven Craig Armstrong (born 23 May 1975) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, manager and academy recruitment manager

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. As a player, he was a defender and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from 1992 to 2012 and represented

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

, Gillingham,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

and

Hucknall Town Hucknall Town Football Club are a football club based in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. The club are members of the and play at Watnall Road. History Hucknall Town were renamed from Hucknall Colliery Welfare in 1987 and for ...

. In 2011, he briefly held the position of player-manager of

Eastwood Town Eastwood Town Football Club was an English football club based in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. The club last participated in the Northern Premier League Division One South, the eighth tier of English football. A new club, Eastwood C.F.C., was f ...

and later had a spell as manager of

Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as b ...

Playing career

Nottingham Forest

Born in South Shields, Armstrong started his career at

in graduating from their youth system in 1992. Lack of first team action meant in December 1994 he moved on loan to

. He made his debut for the Lancashire club in the 5–1 win over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on 31 December 1994, playing in place of the injured Chris Vinnicombe. Armstrong appeared in three more league matches for Burnley before being recalled by Forest. In January 1996, he joined

on another loan deal, again making four appearances. However, he was recalled a month later to play a further nine matches at

Twerton Park Twerton Park is a football stadium in the Twerton suburb of Bath, England. The stadium is named after the surrounding area, Twerton. The stadium has a physical capacity of 8,884, 1,066 of which are seats. It has been the home of Bath City F.C ...

. In October 1996, Armstrong was loaned to Gillingham for whom he played 13 matches as a defensive midfielder. In January 1997, he was loaned to

for a month, but his loan deal was cut short through injury. However, he was recalled for a further month in March 1997, with a view to a transfer. However, no move came to fruition. Armstrong scored twice during his spell at Forest with both goals coming in the League Cup in games against Walsall and Cambridge United.

Huddersfield Town

Armstrong left Forest in 1999 when

agreed a £750,000 transfer. He played 112 matches at Huddersfield and in 2001 he won the Hargreaves Memorial Trophy (Huddersfield Player of The Year Award).

Sheffield Wednesday

He then left Huddersfield, moving to First Division club

for £100,000. He played 29 times (scoring once against Rotherham United) before moving on loan to

in a bid to regain match fitness after suffering an injury. During his spell at Grimsby he scored once against Barnsley. When his contract expired at Sheffield Wednesday, Armstrong found himself without a club.

Bradford City

A year later he signed a short-term contract at

, where he played only seven games.

Cheltenham Town

In July 2005, he signed for

, for whom he played 76 times, helping the club gain promotion against former club Grimsby. Although he arrived at the club as a midfielder, he made the majority of his appearances at left-back due to

Jamie Victory Jamie Victory (born 14 November 1975) is an English former footballer. He played as a defender and was last attached to Cheltenham Town, where he wore the number three shirt and usually acted as a left full back. He was born in Hackney. Caree ...

's long-term injury problems. He also operated effectively in the centre of midfield on occasions and was comfortable at centre half. Armstrong's Cheltenham contract ran out at end of the 2006–07 season.

Gillingham

In June 2007 he rejoined Gillingham on a two-year contract. He made his debut on the first day of the season against Cheltenham, but Gillingham lost 1–0. He scored his first and what turned out to be only goal for Gillingham against Dagenham & Redbridge in the Football League Trophy on 13 November 2007. On 31 January 2008, he was released from his contract.

Cheltenham Town (second spell)

On 4 February 2008 he rejoined Cheltenham Town until the end of the season. In November 2008, Armstrong joined

on loan until January 2009. He scored his first goal on his full debut in a 2–0 win against Eastbourne Borough. Following his return from Burton, Armstrong and Cheltenham parted company by mutual consent.

Kidderminster Harriers

Later the same month, he signed with Conference side,

and remained with the club until the end of the 2008/2009 season.

Mansfield Town

Armstrong signed for

for the 2009/10 season. He was loaned out to fellow Conference side

in February 2010. Armstrong made his Forest Green debut on 6 March 2010 in a 2–1 home victory over

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

. Armstrong went on to make 13 appearances for Forest Green but was unable to help his loan club avoid relegation. Forest Green were however later reprieved and returned to the Conference.

Forest Green Rovers

In June 2010, Armstrong signed for Forest Green permanently following his release by Mansfield. As well as signing as a player Armstrong spent the first few months undertaking a coaching role. However, he reverted to being a player when Gary Seward was appointed as assistant manager at the club. Armstrong revealed on his Twitter page following Forest Green Rovers final home league game of the season, a 0–0 draw with Wimbledon, that he would not be offered a new contract with the club at the end of the season. He was released following Rovers final day loss against Tamworth.

Boston United

In September 2011 Armstrong returned to a playing career with Conference North side Boston United. Armstrong made his debut against

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population ...

in a league game on 8 October 2011 and also featured against

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...

and

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

in his month with the Pilgrims.

Hucknall Town

In October 2011, Armstrong signed for

as a player-coach, linking up with manager

Des Lyttle Desmond Lyttle (born 24 September 1971) is an English former football player and manager. He started his career with Leicester City, but dropped into non-League football with Worcester City in 1991. A good season earned him a move to Welsh si ...

. Armstrong left Hucknall because of a budget cut at the club in March 2012.

Coaching career

Having learnt from some of the best managers in the business on 26 May 2011, Armstrong was appointed as joint manager of

alongside Jamie Brough. The season started well with victories against Solihull Moors and Gloucester City. However defeats against

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team ...

and Stalybridge Celtic caused friction and after just eight games in charge Armstrong quit as Eastwood boss in September 2011. After leaving his post as player-coach at Hucknall Town, Armstrong became manager of

in late March 2012. He moved on to work at

as an elite development coach, later working as a regional co-ordinator for Arsenal and presently the academy recruitment manager

side

.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-armstrong-a1aa953/details/experience/

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Craig 1975 births Living people Footballers from South Shields English footballers Association football midfielders Nottingham Forest F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Watford F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Hucknall Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Quorn F.C. managers English football managers Eastwood Town F.C. managers Eastwood Town F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff