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STEVIE CRAWFORD
Full Name: Stephen Crawford
Born: 09 January 1974
Came from: Dunfermline Athletic Went to: Dundee United
First game: 07 August 2004 Last game: 28 December 2004
Appearances: 27 (20/7) Goals: 7
Crawford began his career with Raith Rovers, winning the Scottish League Cup and receiving a call-up to the Scotland squad, before moving to Millwall for one season. Returning to Scotland with Hibernian, his goals helped them gain promotion to the Premier League after which he joined Dunfermline, initially on a season long loan. He scored over 70 goals in nearly five seasons with the Pars and helped them reach the UEFA Cup and Scottish Cup Final.
Eager to play again in England, Crawford chose to move to Argyle but, despite some impressive form, he was unable to settle in Plymouth and returned to Scotland with Dundee United after just six months. However, he will be best remembered for one extraordinary incident. After a Pilgrim injury in a League Cup match at Yeovil, a back-pass by the home side was overhit and the ball sailed into Argyle's net. To the Glovers' great credit, their players stood back at the restart to watch Crawford dribble from the halfway line to equalise.
Crawford had just one season at Tannadice, moving on to Aberdeen and then back to Dunfermline. After two more seasons there he was released and moved to East Fife, becoming player-manager towards the end of his first season. He remained in post for just over a year before resigning as manager in October 2010. Twelve months later he was appointed assistant manager of Falkirk, where he stayed for three years before taking up the same role at Heart of Midlothian in 2014, working with Robbie Neilson.
In December 2016 he followed Neilson to England and MK Dons, to become the assistant manager at the third-tier club. However, with the team in 21st place in League One, Crawford and Neilson left Stadium MK in January 2018. He was not out of the game long though; in July 2018 he returned north of the border to rejoin Dunfermline Athletic, his hometown club, as First Team Coach/Reserve Team Manager, and in January 2019 he was promoted to the top position of Head Coach.
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From John Pickford in Sainghin-en-Melantois, France on 10/01/2018 ...
Not many Argyle players provide the answer on 'Question of Sport' - indeed Steve Crawford may be unique in this respect. The question...'Who is the first player to be capped by Scotland while playing for Plymouth Argyle?'
As an exile I only managed to see Steve Crawford twice in the home games against Burnley - 1-0 with a Wotton last minute penalty, and Gillingham - 2-1 with two Friio goals in injury time. By the time I was next able to see Argyle in the return match against Gillingham - 0-1 with Scott Taylor up front, Steve Crawford had gone back to Scotland.
Signing Steve Crawford showed admirable ambition by Bobby Williamson for 2004-5, Argyle's first season back in the second tier or Championship as we were getting to know it. You could say he was a Ron Blindell signing - someone who had played at a higher level ready to make an impact at Home Park. I really rated him, albeit on the evidence of just those two games. He had pace and skill, could do the fetch and carry spadework just behind the strikers and play a solid up-front game himself. He brought a different dimension to the shape of Argyle's attacking options. Had he stayed there was every chance he would have been a 15-goal-a-season player and players like Micky Evans and perhaps even Nathan Lowndes could have really developed the range of their games. Steve Crawford was genuinely a class act.
APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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