Sixteen-year-old St John Fisher Catholic High School student and talented footballer Archie Gray enjoyed jubilant scenes in the Leeds United dressing room yesterday after the club secured their Premier League status.
But the celebrations didn’t last long as he had to be at school for 9am this morning to sit a geography GCSE.
Archie was an unused substitute in Leeds United‘s dramatic win over Brentford yesterday.
He’s in year 11 at the Harrogate secondary school and is still two years from legally being able to have a celebratory alcoholic drink with teammates.
Less than 24 hours after celebrating survival in Brentford with star internationals like Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips he was back in Harrogate to sit in a silent exam hall for his GCSEs.
St John Fisher deputy head Matthew Flanagan said Archie’s quick progress in his football career has been a “fantastic achievement”.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“From the school’s perspective, what impresses us about Archie is not just his sporting aptitude. He is polite, engaging and has a real humility about him.”
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The midfielder is yet to make his debut for the first team but scored a wonder goal for the under-23 team against rivals Manchester United earlier in the season.
In April he also captained England under-16s at a tournament in France.
Mr Flanagan called him a “wonderful ambassador” for St John Fisher.
“There is no sense of arrogance, he is popular with his peers. He’s a nice young man who deserves all the accolades and success that will come his way.”
Archie is highly rated by the club and was just 15 when former manager Marcelo Bielsa put him on the bench for a Premier League game.
He’s the great-nephew of Leeds legend, and Kirkby Overblow resident, Eddie Gray.
Harrogate student scores wonder goal for Leeds youth teamSt John Fisher Catholic High School student and Leeds United player Archie Gray scored a wonder goal at Elland Road last night in front of almost 10,000 supporters.
The 16-year-old midfielder scored the third goal as the club’s under-23 team beat rivals Manchester United.
Gray is the great-nephew of Leeds legend, and Kirkby Overblow resident, Eddie Gray.
Highly rated by the club, he’s already featured as an unused substitute twice for the first team in the Premier League aged just 15.
Leeds director of football Victor Orta has compared Gray to a young Sergio Aguero and former manager Marcelo Bielsa said he will eventually achieve elite status in the game.
Take a look at his goal last night, which was struck from 35 yards.
https://twitter.com/LUFC/status/1503832673529311246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1503832673529311246%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.leedsunited.com%2Fnews%2Facademy%2F29651%2Fu23s-live-updates-leeds-united-vs-manchester-united
St John Fisher has also sent its congratulations to the young player:
Huge congratulations to Year 11 student Archie Gray who scored for the @LUFC under 23 team last night. https://t.co/6HaRJ3bwnU
— St John Fisher Catholic High School, Harrogate (@sjfchs) March 16, 2022
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