Tears with cheers for West Brom Ladies boss
West Bromwich Albion Ladies manager Graham Abercrombie was reduced to tears when he told his double-winning team he was moving on from the club.
The 41-year-old, who was born and bred in Tipton, is moving to the east coast of the United States,
He is to join the non-profit Next Gen USA development program, where he will head up the whole girls section.
Abercrombie has been manager of the Baggies team for the past two seasons and enjoyed unparalleled success in that time.
In his first season in charge he consolidated the team's position in the Northern Division of the Women's Premier League, before guiding them to an historic double in the season just gone.
Not only did Albion win the County Cup, they were also crowned champions of the Northern Division, the joint third tier of women's football.
Unfortunately, the Baggies just missed out on promotion to Division Two of the Women's Super League when Southern Division champions Brighton defeated them 4-2 in a play-off.
After a such an emotional rollercoaster of a season, Abercrombie had one more tear-jerker to deliver.
He said: "Telling the team was horrendously difficult, it was like giving the worst tragic news. Lots of people, me included, were streaming with tears. It was tough."
But the Baggies boss walks away proud of his stint in charge. adding: "What we achieved in two seasons is unbelievable.
"Professionalism wasn't even on the agenda when I arrived, the culture of the club had to change. Now it's a priority.
"When we finished 10th we embedded ourselves in the league. It was fantastic just to stay in the league with what we had financially.
"Then we went and won the County Cup and the Premier League, which was phenomenal. The play-off was heartbreaking, we came extremely close.
"But we haven't done well because I'm a fantastic manager or because we've got the best of everything. We've got very limited support, financially, it really is no thrills.
"The reason we've done well is because these players are all together. People talk about the football family, there's no truer version than what we had.
"We embraced the youngsters coming in, we made average players brilliant, now they're all superstars. Everybody felt valued."
Albion are now looking for a new manager to step into Abercrombie's shoes and have advertised the position.
Some of the team's best players could be lured into joining teams in the Women's Super League, who can offer them professional football.
Abercrombie said: "All of them are capable of playing in the league above, so there's always that danger.
"If I was managing in the Super League, I would be cherry-picking our team because there's unbelievable talent there.
"But the bottom line is that they're so close that they'll stick together and go again. That's what I'd advise."
The former Chelsea man is now embarking on a new journey across the pond.
Based in New Jersey, on the east coast of the most successful women's football nation in the world, he'll be in charge of inspiring the next generation of girls to take over soccer.
He said: "It's about giving kids with no financial backing a chance to play football."
