- Gary Croft
Football player infobox
playername = Gary Croft
fullname = Gary Croft
nickname = Crofty
height = height|ft=5|in=9
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|2|17|df=yes
cityofbirth =Burton upon Trent
countryofbirth =England
currentclub =
position = Left Back
clubnumber =
years = 1992–1996 1996–1999 1999–2002 2002 2002 2002–2005 2005–2007 2007-2008
clubs = Grimsby Town Blackburn Rovers Ipswich Town → Wigan Athletic (loan) → Cardiff City (loan) Cardiff City Grimsby Town Lincoln City
caps(goals) = 172 (4) 052 (1) 037 (1) 007 (0) 008 (1) 080 (2) 061 (0) 014 (0)
nationalyears = 1995
nationalteam = England U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 004 (0)
pcupdate = 09:03, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 13:40, 24 October 2006 (UTC)Gary Croft (born
February 17 1974 inBurton upon Trent ,Staffordshire ,England ) is an English football player, who currently is without a club after being released by Lincoln City. In June 2008 it was reported he was in discussions with Hucknall Town but indicated that he was on the verge of moving to the USA to play in the National Soccer League. [ [http://www.hucknalltownfc.com/news-article.asp?item=294 News Article ] ] [ [http://www.hucknalltownfc.com/news-article.asp?item=349 News Article ] ]He is most famous nationwide for being the first footballer to play whilst wearing an electronic tag, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/604637.stm BBC News | FOOTBALL | Football first for tagged player ] ] when playing for Ipswich Town.Gary made his under-21s debut against Brazil under-21s on
6 June 1995 ,David Beckham also made his debut in the same match. [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-u21-intres86.html England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details ] ]Croft started out as a young pro playing for Grimsby Town in 1992, and his decent performances earned respect from Premiership teams, and in 1996 Blackburn Rovers payed Grimsby £1.6 million for his services. Although not usually a regular for the Rovers, Croft made over 50 appearances for Rovers until he made a move to Ipswich Town in 1999.
Croft returned to the Premiership with the tractor boys in 2000, and was a first team regular in the side managed by
George Burley . Injury problems stunted, Croft's latter time at Ipswich and after a loan spell with Wigan Athletic in 2002 he moved to play for Cardiff City.Following more injury woe, Croft was sidelined for the majority of his stay at
Ninian Park , and following his teams rise up the league table, he was deemed surplus to requirements and was released at the end of the 2004/2005 season. In July 2005, Croft made a return too Grimsby Town joining first on trial, and then two weeks later signing on a permanent basis.Gary struggled too break into the Grimsby side in his preferred position of left back due to the good performances of
Tom Newey , but due to an injury to John McDermott, Croft played the majority of his first season at right back. After two seasons at Grimsby, Croft was released by new managerAlan Buckley .In a surprise move Croft's next port of call, was Lincoln City following an trial with Burton Albion, Grimsby's smaller county rivals. Gary fell foul to more injuries while at
Sincil Bank and was released at the end of his first season.Gary retired from the game in the summer of 2008. He is currently obtaining his UEFA coaches badges, and also joined the Compass FM commentary team and is often the expert summariser for Grimsby Towns matches.
Honours
Cardiff City
*
Grimsby Town
*Supporters Player of the Year: 1995
*Supporters Young Player of the Year: 1993,1994,1995Ipswich Town
*First Division playoff winner: 2000
External links
*soccerbase|id=1767|name=Gary Croft
References
Persondata
NAME=Croft, Gary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=17 February 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH=Burton upon Trent ,Staffordshire ,England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=
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