View source for Craig Fleming

{{Short description|English footballer (born 1971)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Craig Fleming
| image = 
| fullname = 
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1971|10|6}}
| birth_place = [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]], England
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=11}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/skysportsfootbal0000unse_a5w3/page/510/mode/2up |title=Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2004–2005 |date=2004 |publisher=Headline |isbn=0-7553-1311-9 |editor-last=Rollin |editor-first=Glenda |location=London |pages=510 |oclc=56539982 |editor-last2=Rollin |editor-first2=Jack}}</ref>
| currentclub = 
| position = [[Defender (association football)|Defender]]
| youthyears1 = 
| youthclubs1 = 
| years1 = 1990–1991
| clubs1 = [[Halifax Town A.F.C.|Halifax Town]]
| caps1 = 57
| goals1 = 0
| years2 = 1991–1997
| clubs2 = [[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic]]
| caps2 = 164
| goals2 = 1
| years3 = 1997–2007
| clubs3 = [[Norwich City F.C.|Norwich City]]
| caps3 = 343
| goals3 = 12
| years4 = 2007
| clubs4 = → [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolverhampton Wanderers]] (loan)
| caps4 = 1
| goals4 = 0
| years5 = 2007
| clubs5 = [[Rotherham United F.C.|Rotherham United]]
| caps5 = 17
| goals5 = 0
| years6 = 2007–2008
| clubs6 = [[King's Lynn F.C.|King's Lynn]]
| totalcaps = 621
| totalgoals = 13
}}
'''Craig Fleming''' (born 6 October 1971) is an English former professional [[association football|footballer]] who played as a [[defender (association football)|defender]]. Fleming was first team assistant Coach at [[Premier League]] club [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]], a position he held since 2018 until his departure in 2022.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=25 May 2022 |title=Club Statement: May 25th |url=https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2022-05-25/club-statement-southampton-football-club-coaching-changes |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=Southampton FC}}</ref>

==Playing career==
Fleming began his professional career with his hometown club [[Halifax Town A.F.C.|Halifax Town]] (69 appearances, no goals) where he made his debut aged 16. He also picked up the Barclays Player of the Month award at the same age. In the summer of 1991 he moved to [[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic]], where he made 192 appearances, scoring one goal. His spell at Oldham included three seasons in the top division in the early 1990s. In this period, [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] manager [[Alex Ferguson]] described Fleming as "the best man-to-man marker in the country" after playing some memorable games against a young [[Ryan Giggs]]. In 1993, he was involved in Oldham Athletic's great escape when they narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League on goal difference. He became captain of the Latics in 1997 which was also the season when he left [[Boundary Park]] for [[Carrow Road]], the home of [[Norwich City F.C.|Norwich City]] for a fee of £600,000.<ref>{{cite news |title=Juninho likely to prefer Atletico |first=Tommy |last=Staniforth |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-juninho-likely-to-prefer-atletico-1248432.html |work=The Independent |publisher=Independent Print Limited |date=1 July 1997 |access-date=12 April 2012 }}</ref> In his first season with the Canaries he suffered some injury setbacks but this was soon behind him and he became a first team regular for nearly ten seasons. In this time he also had spells of captaining his team and was a well-respected member of the squad.

In 2003, Fleming was voted into the [[Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame]].

On 23 October 2004, he made his 300th senior appearance for Norwich City in their home match against [[Everton F.C.|Everton]].

Fleming was a key figure in the Norwich side that won the first division championship in the 2003–2004 season, and the supporters recognised his outstanding contribution&nbsp;– not just during that season but over several years&nbsp;– by voting him [[Norwich City player of the year]] ahead of [[Darren Huckerby]] (2nd) and [[Robert Green]] (3rd). During Norwich's Premiership season Fleming played every minute of every game, spending the most minutes on the pitch of any top flight player.

To mark the fact that the 2006–07 season was his tenth with the club, Norwich City granted Fleming a testimonial match against [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] which took place at Carrow Road on 26 July 2006. This game finished 2–1 to Newcastle with Fleming playing for the majority of the game. In January 2007 Fleming joined Wolverhampton wanderers on a one-month loan deal and played once against [[Cardiff City F.C.|Cardiff City]].<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/6258795.stm
|title=Wolves 1–2 Cardiff
|publisher=BBC Sport
|date=20 January 2007 |access-date=5 August 2012}}</ref> There was increasing speculation that [[AFC Bournemouth]] would attempt to sign Fleming during the January transfer window in 2007, but [[Rotherham United F.C.|Rotherham United]] were the club to snap him up on a free transfer on 31 January.<ref>
{{cite news | title = Millers swoop for veteran Fleming
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rotherham_utd/6317259.stm
| publisher = BBC Sport
| date = 31 January 2007
| access-date = 25 March 2007}}</ref>

Fleming signed for non-league [[King's Lynn F.C.|King's Lynn]] shortly after the start of the 2007–08 season, where he was under the management of former coach Keith Webb. On 12 March 2008, however. Fleming announced his retirement due to a persistent ankle injury.<ref>[http://www.pinkun.com/content/KingsLynn/story.aspx?brand=PINKUNOnline&category=KingsLynn&tBrand=PinkUnOnline&tCategory=KingsLynn&itemid=NOED11%20Mar%202008%2017%3A57%3A46%3A683 The Pink'un<!-- Bot generated title -->]{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Fleming ended his Norwich City career finishing 11th in the all-time appearance list after clocking up 382 appearances.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/norwich-city-top-100-appearances-craig-fleming-11-he-was-warned-what-would-happen-1-5080626 |title=Norwich City top 100 appearances: Craig Fleming (11) – He was warned what would happen &#124; Norwich City News - PinkUn |access-date=4 January 2019 |archive-date=4 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104124027/https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/norwich-city-top-100-appearances-craig-fleming-11-he-was-warned-what-would-happen-1-5080626 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Coaching career==
In 2008, Fleming joined [[Lowestoft Town F.C.|Lowestoft Town]] as first-team coach guiding them to two successful promotion seasons. In the 2009–10 season they were promoted from [[Isthmian League]] Division One North to [[Isthmian League]] Premier Division. Subsequently, in 2014 Lowestoft were play off champions and promoted to the Conference league.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

Fleming has finished studying his UEFA 'A' licence.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

In March 2015, he left Lowestoft Town and joined the [[Southampton F.C. Academy]] as under-18 coach.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bullen|first1=Terry|title=Fleming to join Southampton|url=http://www.lowestofttownfc.co.uk/news/fleming-to-join-southampton-1386680.html|publisher=Lowestoft Town FC|access-date=8 August 2015|date=March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Easterby|first1=Tom|title=Ex-Canary Fleming relishing Norwich test|url=http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20150326-ex-canary-craig-fleming-relishing-norwich-test-2359854.aspx|publisher=Southampton FC|access-date=8 August 2015|date=26 March 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924114643/http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20150326-ex-canary-craig-fleming-relishing-norwich-test-2359854.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2018, Fleming was appointed First Team Assistant Coach at [[Premier League]] club [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]], before his departure from the club in 2022.<ref name=":0" />

In August 2023, Fleming joined the coaching staff at [[Derby County F.C.|Derby County]]'s [[Derby County F.C. Reserves and Academy|academy]], taking up the role of Head of Academy Technical Development.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2023/08/academy-confirms-new-appointments-august-2023|title=Academy confirms new coaching staff structure|date=30 August 2023|work=[[Derby County F.C.]]|accessdate=30 August 2023}}</ref>

In March 2024, Fleming left his role at Derby, taking up a new role as [[Ralph Hasenhüttl]]'s assistant coach at [[VfL Wolfsburg]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/derby-county-craig-fleming-wolfsburg-9177376|title=Derby County departure for big Bundesliga move confirmed|date=20 March 2024|work=[[Derby Telegraph]]|accessdate=20 March 2024}}</ref>

==Career outside football==
During his time at Norwich, Fleming became patron of two charities, The Matthew Project and Radio Broadland Kidz. During his testimonial season he held  events to raise money for both charities, including a hike 'n' bike around Norfolk in which he raised in excess of £23,000.

In January 2009, Fleming became an Ambassador for Sport in Norfolk. In this role he visits schools and other youth organisations to help encourage young people to achieve through hard work and dedication.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Soccerbase}}
*[http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/fleming.htm Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk]

{{Norwich City F.C. Player of the Year}}
{{Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Craig}}
[[Category:1971 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English men's footballers]]
[[Category:Men's association football defenders]]
[[Category:Halifax Town A.F.C. players]]
[[Category:King's Lynn F.C. players]]
[[Category:Norwich City F.C. players]]
[[Category:Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players]]
[[Category:Footballers from Halifax, West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Premier League players]]
[[Category:Rotherham United F.C. players]]
[[Category:Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players]]
[[Category:Southampton F.C. non-playing staff]]
[[Category:Derby County F.C. non-playing staff]]
[[Category:VfL Wolfsburg non-playing staff]]