Martin Cranie

Southampton

Following an injury crisis at the club, manager Paul Sturrock was forced to use Cranie in the first-team against Chelsea in May 2004. However, his debut was marred when he inadvertently scored an own-goal, in a 4–0 defeat. After the match, Cranie's teammate Danny Higginbotham said: "He's a very good player with a bright future who certainly didn't look out of place at all." Cranie, one of the youngest post-war players to make their debut for the club, described it as a "good experience". "I was asked to play left wing-back, which I had never played before, but being out on the pitch with some of those players was unbelievable." In October 2004, Cranie spent time on loan to AFC Bournemouth. He made three appearances for the club, and although they were keen to extend his loan spell, their request was rejected. After his loan spell with Bournemouth ended, Cranie made his first appearance of the season, in a 0–0 draw against Charlton Athletic on 26 December 2004. He later made two more appearances in the 2004–05 season, as Southampton were relegated from the Premier League. He was a member of Southampton's youth team that reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2005, losing on aggregate to Ipswich Town. The 2005–06 season saw Cranie make eleven appearances and then, on 7 November 2006, he joined League One side Yeovil Town on loan until January. After spending two months back with Southampton, on 2 March 2007, he returned to Yeovil on loan until Easter.…

Because his parents have different nationalities, Cranie played for the Scotland Under-17s and then decided to commit to England when he was chosen for its Under-17 squad. Cranie was called up to the U-20s for the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside James Milner, Andrew Taylor and Steven Taylor as the youngest players on the squad. He made only one appearance as England crashed out after finishing at the bottom of their group. On 16 August 2007 Cranie was called up for the England Under-21 squad and made his debut against Romania. During the 2009 European Championship qualifying he mostly played at right back as Nedum Onuoha and captain Steven Taylor were preferred in central defence. He scored his first U-21 international goal in a 3–3 draw against Sweden in the semi-finals of the 2009 Under-21 European Championship, finishing off Milner's inswinging corner barely a minute after kick-off. Cranie hoped his move to Coventry City would see him earn a call-up from the national senior team.

Born at Yeovil, Somerset, Cranie attended the local Buckler's Mead Community School between 1998 and 2003 after completing his primary school education at Birchfield Community School.

In October 2014, Cranie became a father when his partner gave birth to their first child.