Stephen Crainey

Personal information
Full name	Stephen Daniel Crainey
Date of birth	22 June 1981 (1981-06-22) (age 28)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Blackpool
Number	3
Youth career
	Celtic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2004	Celtic	41	(0)
2004	Southampton	5	(0)
2004	→ Leeds United (loan)	0	(0)
2004–2007	Leeds United	52	(0)
2007–	Blackpool	74	(1)
National team‡
2001–2002	Scotland U21	7	(0)
2002–	Scotland	6	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:56, 30 November 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12:00, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Stephen Daniel Crainey (born 22 June 1981) is a Scottish footballer who plays for English club Blackpool. He has played in the top flights in both Scotland and England with Celtic and Southampton respetively as well as playing for Leeds United.

He is a left back and has also represented Scotland at under-21 and has been capped by the national team.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Celtic and Southampton 1.2 Leeds United 1.3 Blackpool 2 Club career statistics 3 International career 4 Honours 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Celtic and Southampton

Born in Glasgow, Crainey started his playing career with Scottish Premier League side Celtic in 1997. He made a total of 58 appearances for the Hoops. He scored one goal when Celtic beat Hearts 5-2 in the quarter-final of the 2000–01 League Cup on 1 November 2000.^[1] On 18 March 2001 he helped Celtic win the League Cup at Hampden Park when they beat Kilmarnock 3-0. The following season he made 15 appearances as Celtic won the SPL.

Crainey started the 2003–04 with Celtic. On 6 February 2004 he moved to England when he signed for Premier League side Southampton. He made his debut four days later as the Saints lost 2-1 away to Arsenal. However, he was to make a total of just five Premier League appearances for Southampton.

[edit] Leeds United

On 6 August 2004 he joined Football League Championship side Leeds United, initially on loan before the move was made permanent four days later for a fee of £200,000. This was Leeds United's first cash signing since relegation from the Premier League in May 2004. He made his debut on 14 August in a 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. He made a total of 11 appearances in the 2004–05 season. The following season he played a total of 30 games as Leeds United reached the Play-offs. However, Crainey was sent off in the 68th minute in the second leg of the semi-final, as the Whites beat Preston North End to reach the final, which they then lost 3–0 to Watford.

Crainey was a regular at the start of the 2006–07 campaign under former manager Kevin Blackwell, but played less following Blackwell's departure on 20 September 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.

Crainey's recovery coincided with the return to fitness of loan player Robbie Elliott who was 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. His last appearance was on 30 January 2007, in a 2-1 win over Hull City. Crainey was eventually released at the end of his Leeds contract on 15 May 2007 as the Whites were relegated to League One.

[edit] Blackpool

On 9 July 2007, Crainey signed for Blackpool in a one-year deal with an option for a further year. On 13 August 2007, he was named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week".^[2] 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.^[3] On 3 December 2007, he was again named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week".^[4] Crainey was also named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week" on 4 February 2008.^[5] He made a total of 43 appearances in the 2007–08 season as the Seasiders finished nineteenth in the Championship, the club's highest-place finish in the Football League in 27 years.

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

• Leyland & Chorley Seasiders player of the season
• BBC Radio Lancashire player of the season
• Blackpool Supporters Association player of the season
• Players' player
• John Schofield Memorial Trophy Blackpool F.C. player of the season.^[6]

In June 2008 Crainey was linked with a £250,000 move to fellow Championship club Burnley.^[7] He missed the start of the 2008–09 season with a groin injury and Blackpool brought in Mohammed Camara on loan to cover for him. On 9 September the club confirmed that Crainey had undergone an operation the day before which would keep him out of action for a further four to six weeks.^[8] He made his comeback on 24 January 2009 as an 87th minute substitute in a 2-0 win over Birmingham City at Bloomfield Road. That season he made a total of 17 appearances.

Crainey was named in The Championship "Team of the Week", along with fellow teammates Matthew Gilks and Marcel Seip, following his performance in Blackpool's 0-0 draw with Swansea City on 24 October at the Liberty Stadium.^[9][10]

[edit] Club career statistics

As of 30 November 2009.

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Scotland			League		Scottish Cup		Scottish League Cup		Europe		Total
1999-2000	Celtic	Scottish Premier League	9	0	-		-		-		9	0
2000-01	Celtic	Scottish Premier League	2	0	1	0	2	1	-		5	1
2001-02	Celtic	Scottish Premier League	15	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	19	0
2002-03	Celtic	Scottish Premier League	13	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	19	0
2003-04	Celtic	Scottish Premier League	2	0	-		2	0	2	0	6	0
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
2003-04	Southampton	Premier League	5	0	-		-		-		5	0
2004-05	Leeds United	Championship	9	0	-		1	0	-		10	0
2005-06	Leeds United	Championship	24	0	2	0	2	0	-		30	0
2006-07	Leeds United	Championship	19	0	-		3	0	-		22	0
2007-08	Blackpool	Championship	40	1	1	0	2	0	-		43	1
2008-09	Blackpool	Championship	17	0	-		-		-		17	0
2009-10	Blackpool	Championship	17	0			1	0			18	0
Total	Scotland		41	0	5	0	7	1	5	0	58	1
	England		131	1	3	0	9	0	0	0	145	1
Career Total			172	1	8	0	16	0	5	0	203	2

Notes

a. 2 league play-off appearances for Leeds United in 2006 (included in 2005-06 total)

[edit] International career

Crainey has been capped at under-21 and full level by Scotland. He made his full debut on 27 March 2002 as Scotland lost a friendly 5–0 to France at the Stade de France in Paris.

[edit] Honours

Celtic

• Scottish League Cup winner: 2001
• Scottish Premier League winner: 2001–02
• UEFA Cup runner-up: 2003

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stephen Crainey profile at blackpoolfc.co.uk
• Stephen Crainey career stats at Soccerbase

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