Ray Crawford (footballer)

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This article is about the footballer. For the racecar driver, see Ray Crawford.

Ray Crawford (right) with former team-mate Ted Phillips at Portman Road

Raymond Crawford (born Portsmouth 13 July 1936) is a former English international footballer.

Starting out at Portsmouth, Ray Crawford joined Ipswich Town in 1958. A prolific striker, he helped Ipswich to win back-to-back titles, the Second Division in the 1959/1960 season and the First Division in 1961–1962. During his first spell at Ipswich he won the first of his two caps, and became first Ipswich Town player to be capped for England.

In the latter season he was joint leading scorer in Division One – alongside Derek Kevan of West Bromwich Albion – with 33 goals.^[1]

He was sold to Wolves in 1963 where he scored 39 goals in 57 appearances, before moving to West Brom for a season. Rejoining Ipswich in 1965, he played another three seasons before joining Charlton in 1968.

He stayed for a single season before moving to non-league Kettering Town on a free transfer.

Crawford signed for Colchester United from non-league Kettering Town in 1970 for £3,000 and in his only season scored 24 goals from 45 appearances. Most notably, he scored two goals for Colchester United in a giant-killing 3-2 victory against Leeds United in the fifth round of the FA Cup in 1971.

His scoring rate was exceptional, scoring 289 career goals in 476 football league appearances, including:
- Portsmouth (1954-1958) 19 appearances 9 goals
- Ipswich Town (1958-1963) 197 appearances 143 goals
- Wolverhampton Wanderers (1963-1965) 57 appearances 39 goals
- West Bromwich Albion (1965-1966) 14 appearances 6 goals
- Ipswich Town (1965-1969) 123 appearances 61 goals
- Charlton Athletic (1969-1970) 21 appearances 7 goals
- Colchester United (1970-1971) 45 appearances 24 goals

His international career was surprisingly brief - only two caps against Northern Ireland in 1961 and Austria in 1962, with his solitary international goal scored in the latter match. He also represented the Football League. It can be argued that Crawford's low amount of caps was due to the fact that he was around when Jimmy Greaves was also creating a reputation as a proflic goalscorer. In 2007 Crawford published his autobiography entitled Curse of the Jungle Boy.