Stephen Crainey

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Stephen Crainey
Personal information
Full name Stephen Daniel Crainey
Date of birth 22 June 1981 (1981-06-22) (age 26)
Place of birth    Glasgow, Scotland
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Blackpool
Number 3
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1997–2004
2004
2004
2004–2007
2007–		 Celtic
Southampton
→ Leeds United (loan)
Leeds United
Blackpool		 041 (0)
005 (0)
000 (0)
052 (0)
037 (1)   
National team2
2002–2004 Scotland 006 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 16:34, 29 March 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 12:00, 19 November 2006 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Stephen Daniel Crainey (born 22 June 1981 in Glasgow) is a Scottish footballer who currently plays for English club Blackpool. He previously played for Leeds United, Southampton and Celtic.

Contents

[edit] Career

Crainey is a left back. He was signed from Southampton for £200,000 in August 2005, having joined them from boyhood favourites Celtic in 2003. This was Leeds United's first cash signing since relegation from the Premiership in May 2005.

Crainey was a regular at the start of the 2006–07 campaign under former manager Kevin Blackwell, but played less regularly following Blackwell's departure on September 20, 2006. Crainey featured in the heavy defeats that quickly ended John Carver's hopes of becoming the permanent Leeds manager. When new boss Dennis Wise took over, he dropped Crainey in favour of Eddie Lewis and, later, other options at left back. Crainey later regained his place, but then was dropped again before suffering an injury.

However, Crainey's recovery coincided with the return to fitness of the loan player Robbie Elliott who was widely regarded as Dennis Wise's first choice left-back. Elliott featured on the bench for the game against Leicester City on 13 March 2007, in his first outing since returning from injury, but Crainey was not even included in the squad as Wise chose to start Armando Sá in that role. Crainey was eventually released at the end of his Leeds contract on 15 May 2007.

On 9 July 2007, Crainey signed for Blackpool in a one-year deal with an option for a further year. On 13 August 2007, Crainey was named in the Press Association's The Championship "Team of the Week".[1] Crainey scored his first-ever league goal on 19 September 2007, in a 2–2 draw with Bryan Robson's Sheffield United at Bloomfield Road. On 3 December 2007, he was again named in the Press Association's The Championship "Team of the Week".[2] Crainey was also named in the Press Association's The Championship "Team of the Week" on 4 February 2008.[3]

At the end of the season, he won five awards at the clubs annual presentation night on 6 May 2008:

In June 2008 Crainey was linked with a £250,000 move to fellow Championship club Burnley. [5]

[edit] International career

Crainey has been capped at full and under-21 level by Scotland.

[edit] Honours

Celtic

[edit] References

  1. ^ Coca-Cola Championship Team of the Week (PDF). The Football League (2007-08-13). Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  2. ^ Coca-Cola Championship Team of the Week (PDF). The Football League (2007-12-03). Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  3. ^ Coca-Cola Championship Team of the Week (PDF). The Football League (2008-02-04). Retrieved on 2008-02-04.
  4. ^ "Pool Player of Year revealed", Blackpool Gazette, 2008-05-07. Retrieved on 2008-05-07. 
  5. ^ "Crainey Clarets link", Blackpool Gazette, 2008-06-02. Retrieved on 2008-06-02. 

[edit] External links=

v • d • e
Blackpool F.C. – current squad

— Barker • — Bayliss • — Broomes • — Burgess • — Coid • — Crainey • — D'Agostino • — Evatt • — Fox • — Gorkšs • — Green • — Hoolahan • — Jørgensen • — Kay • — Lloyd • — McPhee • — Merella • — Mitchley • — Morrell • — Rachubka • — Southern • — Taylor-Fletcher • — Wiles • Manager: Grayson