Callum Thomas Ainley (born 2 November 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Career

Ainley began his career in

's youth system and made his professional debut, aged 17, on 5 September 2015 in a 3–1 defeat against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. He scored his first goal for Crewe in a 3–1 win against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

on 30 April 2016. Exactly four months later, he scored his second senior goal in a 3–0 win at

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

tie on 30 August 2016. Two days after his 20th birthday, on 4 November 2017, he scored the 89th-minute winner in a 2–1 victory over

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in the FA Cup first round at Gresty Road. On 3 May 2018, Ainley signed a new three-year contract at Crewe. In December 2020, Ainley had surgery to repair a hamstring injury sustained in an FA Cup tie at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

. He returned to first team action on 14 March 2021, coming on as a second-half substitute against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

. He scored his first goal of the season in a 1–0 win at

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on 1 May 2021, and Crewe manager

David Artell David John Artell (born 22 November 1980) is a professional football manager and former player who most recently was manager of club Crewe Alexandra. He began his career as a centre back with Rotherham United, as the "Millers" won successive p ...

was keen to get him to sign a new contract. On 13 May 2021, Crewe announced that it had offered Ainley a new contract, and Ainley signed a two-year deal on 30 June 2021. On 25 September 2021 at Rotherham United, Ainley suffered a new hamstring injury ruling him out of first team action for two months. He returned to the side on 1 December, playing the first half of Crewe's 2–0 win over

in the Football League Trophy, and played a total of 36 games as Crewe were relegated from League One. After suffering a shoulder injury during a League Two game against

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

at Gresty Road on 24 September 2022, Ainley required surgery and was ruled out for around three months. He was potentially set to return in a

Cheshire Senior Cup The Cheshire County Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Cheshire Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament founded in the 1879–80 season and involves teams from Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. It ...

tie on 10 January 2023.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ainley, Callum 1995 births Living people English footballers English Football League players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players People from Middlewich Association football midfielders