Since leaving Hampton Max Kretzschmar has played for a number of sides in both the Football League and non-league. Having signed for Wycombe Wanderers in 2012 he has also played for Woking and Hampton and Richmond Borough.  

Max recalls his time at Hampton with great fondness. “I made a lot of friends there and still talk too many of them today. The exceptional standard of teaching and coaching at the school was a massive thing for me looking back on it and it something you take for granted when you are a pupil. “

He also added that the school helped provide a spring board for his footballing career. From a sporting perspective, the school supported me so much in regards to my football away from the school. The headmaster at the time Mr Martin and Mr Mills allowed me to prioritise my club football over school football which really did help me become a professional player in the end.

However he says one biggest regrets from his time at Hampton was that fact “I never got to win an ISFA cup with the school”. However he would be in the stands for Hampton’s 2011-12 clash of the schoolboy footballing titans, Hampton and Millfield, as Hampton recorded a famous 2-1 victory.

However as a 14 year old Max was dealt the crushing blow of being told by Southampton academy that he would not make it. For an academy with a track record of producing talent such as Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Theo Walcott this could have been a significant setback but alas Kretzschmar took it in his stride.

“Looking back on it now it was a really positive thing for me. The standard of coaching is well renowned at Southampton of course with the youth system producing so many youth products, so it was great to reap the benefits of the coaching there. I went on to sign for Wycombe Wanderers thereafter where I became a bigger fish in a smaller pond so to speak. I was lucky to work under a great youth coach there in Richard Dobson who brought through several young players at that time. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise."

During his time with the youth sides at Wycombe Kretzschmar played with one of the highest rate English talents of the time, Jordan Ibe. “I was lucky to captain Jordon Ibe in the Wycombe U18s. He was playing up 3-4 age groups and tearing defences apart every week. He went on to make his debut for the first team at 15 years old! He was a special talent at that age and has obviously done brilliant to make it all the way to the Premier League.”

Over the years he has played against many other quality players such as “Mohammed Salah, John Terry, Tom Huddlestone, and Andros Townsend”. However the one that stood out for him was the Manchester United defensive midfielder Nemaja Matic, having played for Wycombe against Chelsea in 2014. He remarked that the Serbian “was so physical and never lost the ball.”

Kretzschmar enjoyed a happy time at Wycombe and it was here that he enjoyed his career highlight during the 2013/14 season scoring his first two goals away against Hartlepool. He scored 6 goals that season but the Chairboys (as Wycombe are nicknamed) were stilled three points adrift heading into the final game. According to Max Wycombe “looked dead and buried” but a 3-0 away win at Torquay coupled with a Bristol Rovers defeat to Mansfield Town saw them stay in the Football League on goal difference.

Also during his time at Wycombe Max scored against Halifax in the FA Cup first round. Max added that having “grown up surrounded by the ‘magic’ of the FA Cup as a child so to score in such a historic competition was great.”

Nowadays Kretzschmar pile his trade at local side Hampton and Richmond Borough, having previously played for Woking. I asked Max about the differences between the league and non-league system and what makes the step up.

“There is of course a difference in the standard of the football but I must say there’s some real talent on the non-league scene in the form of both players and managers. I think in the football league budgets are a little bigger so first team pitches are a little better and the general day to day running on the club is a little easier. I’ve certainly realized playing in non-league for the past two years that the sense of community around clubs is incredible. I’d really recommend going to your local club and watching a game. More and more fans now prefer it to your usual Premier League outing.”

This season Max Kretzschmar has been one of the players of the season in the National League South, scoring 19 goals in all competitions from midfield, and firmly endearing him to the HRBFC faithful. This has helped the team to go on “an incredible winning run mid-season which propelled us towards the top end of the table” and has left the Beavers in the hunt for an automatic promotion spot to the National League.

Though still young at 24 for a footballer, Max is already looking forward to the next chapter of his life.

“I’m looking to study Sports Media and Journalism at Staffordshire University in September next year so a job in sports journalism is something I’d like to do in the future.” The sporting theme continues as he seeks to complete his coaching badges. “A coaching role at a professional football club would be something I’d love to do” he adds.

Having already worked so hard to make a career as a footballer, few would bet against him doing so as a coach in the future.