THE head teacher disappears and the football manager comes out to play today as Jamie Vermiglio attempts to mastermind another Chorley FC giant-killing act.

Somehow the 38-year-old manages to juggle his full-time career at Locking Stumps Primary School with his football duties at the non-league club, who came from 2-0 behind to knock Wigan Athletic out of the prestigious knockout in the first round and are now seeking to do the same to another League One outfit Peterborough United live on BT Sport 2 at 5.30pm.

And as well as handling two high-pressured roles the father-of-two manages to balance it all with his family life, too.

“I’m not going to lie, it isn’t easy in terms of the time restraints,” said the former midfielder at Chorley, Scarborough, AFC Telford United and Northwich Victoria.

“Ultimately, I’m dedicated to my role as a head teacher – that’s first and foremost, it’s my career. I trained to be a primary school teacher and I have made good progress to be a head teacher, which is something I’m proud of.

“When I was applying to be deputy head teacher and then as a head teacher, I came with the football side of me already. I’d been involved in football since the age of 18/19 – I always played non-league and always had a commitment to it.

“And I’ve always been used to travelling the length of breadth of the country, having played for the likes of Scarborough. I played for Scarborough as I was teaching but my job has always come first.

“The main way that I do it is by having good people around me. I’ve got such a strong team at Locking Stumps, where we have a fantastic deputy head teacher, senior leadership team and staff.

“They all understand the football part and they’re all invested in it as well. They understand it’s just my life and they play a bit of a part and take an interest which is great.

“I’ve never had any time off work for football, but I know that when I’m leaving at the end of the day if there’s one or two jobs I’ve not done I’ve got a great team that I can rely on.

“Similarly the club want me to be dedicated to the role there, and it’s quite a high pressured job.

“It’s a results driven business, just as school is. Your investors, governing body, anyone who is involved, they want results. At school they want the kids to be happy, the parents need to be happy and likewise at football the players, supporters and board of directors need to be happy with what you’re doing.

“So, again, I give a lot of my time and dedication there. And I want to do the best by the club, but again there I’ve got a fantastic team of people around me too.

“My assistant manager Andy Preece is an ex-Premier League footballer and he’s someone I can lean on. For example Mondays are a day when the players come into training earlier in the day because we have a few lads who are full-time. It’s a bit of a hybrid model at the club, so training on a Monday is often in the day-time. So he led the training session on Monday after we’d consulted about it the day before. I’ve got some good coaches around me too.

“And then obviously the other side is the family side of me. I’ve got two kids of primary school age, Sam who is in year four and Emily who is in year one.

“And my wife Carla works at St Philip Westbrook Church of England Primary School, another local link, and I’ve got my family’s support as well.

“They’re very invested in it and are very interested to find out how we get on. Hopefully we win because I’m in a better mood for them. My wife does a lot at home for me and takes off a lot of the pressures.”

He added, laughing: “So what I’m telling you is that everyone else does everything for me.

“Having good people around me does make it a little bit easier but it’s about time-tabling. My weekend is very much my family and my football. If anything needs to give, the main thing that gives in my life at the moment and for the last 10 to 15 years is sleep. Fortunately I cope on less than the average amount of sleep.”

He finds that the football and teaching roles help each other in some ways.

He said: “Being a head teacher is quite a responsible role, quite a lot of pressure, and especially with what’s going on at the moment – every day is a different day and you are kept on your toes.

“It can also be a really good distraction from football, particularly when football’s not going your way. You can’t dwell, you need to be ready to come back into school and be prepared on a Sunday night as most teachers do ready to hit the ground running on the Monday. The kids can not see me coming in being bothered by whatever’s happened at football. Myself, the senior leadership team and staff need to make sure the children come into a positive environment so there’s no time to dwell, no time for me to worry about any negative results, I need to be positive all the time.

“But likewise, if the going gets tough in school and I can say, you know what, tonight I leave school behind, I go through the door and I need something else to think about, something that can be quite cathartic for me and that for me is my football and my family.

“So it helps in that respect, but it also helps because a lot of the skills are transferable – certainly the people skills on the relationship side, the communication element.

“A lot of the lads at football do joke about my teacher side coming out every now and again when I give them a little bit of a roasting. And I guess in school as well they see a little bit of the football manager side at times.

“But I do think they are only beneficial to each other.”