Craig William Clay (born 5 May 1992) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

central 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 club Sutton United. He has previously had spells as a professional for

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, York City, Grimsby Town and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

before a four-year spell with Leyton Orient where he won several promotions and was voted the player of the year in 2019. He has also played semi-professionally for

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

, Alfreton Town, FC Halifax Town and Worksop Town. In 2016 he was capped once by England C.

Club career

Chesterfield

Clay was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, Nottinghamshire. He started his career with

's youth system in 2008 and was part of the team that won the Youth League. He was named Chesterfield's Young Player of the Year for the 2008–09 season. His first involvement with the first team came as an unused substitute in a

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 ...

match against

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

on 16 January 2010. He made the bench on a number occasions through the rest of 2009–10, but did not make an appearance. He signed a two-year professional contract with Chesterfield in June 2010. He made his debut for the club on 18 September 2010, in a 3–0 home win over

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 ...

, replacing

Mark Allott Mark Stephen Allott (born 3 October 1977) is an English former footballer. Career Oldham Athletic Allott initially came through the youth ranks and was highly rated as a centre forward, scoring on his debut as a substitute in a defeat agai ...

in the 85th minute. On 2 October 2010, he scored his first professional goal with a 25-yard shot during

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

to earn a 5–5 draw at home to Crewe Alexandra. On 28 October 2010, Clay joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

with Chesterfield teammate

Tendayi Darikwa Tendayi David Darikwa (born 13 December 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a right back for EFL Championship club Wigan Athletic. Born in England, he represents the Zimbabwe national team internationally. Early life Born to Zimb ...

. His only appearance for Barrow came two days later, in a 5–0 defeat away to Rushden & Diamonds. He made four appearances and scored one goal for Chesterfield in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, in which the club was

promoted Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to League One as League Two champions. Clay was loaned out by Chesterfield for a second time on 20 January 2012, joining Conference Premier club Alfreton Town on a one-month loan. Four days later, he scored Alfreton's third goal in a 3–0 win away to Bath City on his debut with a shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 90th minute. Clay finished the loan with one goal in four appearances. He made one more appearance for Chesterfield before the end of 2011–12, which he finished with eight appearances as the club was relegated to League Two in 22nd place. He signed a new one-year contract with Chesterfield in May 2012. His only goal of

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

came in a 6–1 win over League One team

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

first round on 3 November 2012. Clay had a double hernia operation in March 2013 and after returning made one more appearance before the end of the season, as an 89th-minute substitute in a 2–0 victory away to

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on 6 April. He was released by Chesterfield on 29 April 2013 after making 23 appearances and scoring one goal in 2012–13.

York City

Clay signed for League Two club York City on 17 May 2013 on a two-year contract. He made his debut in a 1–0 home win over Northampton Town on 3 August 2013, in the first match of 2013–14. Having made 10 appearances for York, Clay left the club by mutual consent on 13 January 2014, along with

Jamal Fyfield Jamal Nehemiah Fyfield (born 17 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back for club Boreham Wood. He has played in the Football League for York City. Fyfield started his career with Leyton Orient's youth syst ...

FC Halifax Town and Worksop Town

He signed for Conference Premier club FC Halifax Town on 16 January 2014 on a one-month contract and made his debut two days later in a 1–1 home draw with Cambridge United. After making four appearances for the club he was released on 24 February 2014. Nearly a month later, Clay signed for

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Premier Division club Worksop Town on 21 March 2014. He made his debut the following day as an 84th-minute substitute for

Shane Clarke Shane Robin Clarke (born 7 November 1987) is an English footballer who plays for Lincoln United, where he plays as a midfielder. Clarke notably played professionally in the Football League during a four-year spell with Lincoln City. He has sin ...

in a 2–0 away win over

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

Grimsby Town

Clay signed for Conference Premier club Grimsby Town on 28 July 2014 on a one-year contract, having spent the pre-season on trial. On 15 May 2016, he started for Grimsby as they beat Forest Green Rovers 3–1 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in the

2016 National League play-off final The 2016 National League play-off Final, known as the 2016 Vanarama National League Promotion Final for sponsorship purposes, was an association football match between Forest Green Rovers and Grimsby Town on 15 May 2016 at Wembley Stadium in Lond ...

. This meant Grimsby were promoted to League Two, after a six-year absence from

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. Clay was released when his contract expired at the end of the 2015–16 season.

Motherwell

Upon his release from Grimsby, Clay joined

South African Premier Division The South African Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is the premier men's professional football/soccer league and the highest division in the league system of South Africa, organized sinc ...

club

Bidvest Wits Bidvest Wits Football Club, (simply often known as Wits University F.C. or Wits) was a South African professional football club from Johannesburg which played in the Premier Soccer League the first-tier of South African league football system. ...

on trial. Clay then joined

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

on trial, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 victory over

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

on 26 July 2016. Clay made his league debut on 6 August 2016 in a 2–1 victory away to

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, before signing a two-year contract with the club on 10 August. He scored his first goal for the club on 28 December 2016, in a 2–1 win away to

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

Leyton Orient

Clay signed for newly relegated

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club Leyton Orient on 17 July 2017 on a two-year contract. He went on to win both the National League and EFL League Two titles with the club over the 6 years he was with them. His contract was not renewed at the end of the 2022/23 season.

Sutton United

On 30 June 2023, Clay signed for

EFL 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 Sutton United.

International career

Clay made his debut for the England C national team as a substitute in their 2–0 away win over Ukraine under-20s in the

International Challenge Trophy The International Challenge Trophy, originally known as the European Challenge Trophy, is an international association football competition. It is open to national teams featuring semi-professional U-23 footballers who have not yet won senior inter ...

on 22 March 2016.

Career statistics

Honours

Grimsby Town *

play-offs:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Leyton Orient *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

*National League: 2018–19 *

runner-up: 2018–19 Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2008–09 * Grimsby Town Young Player of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

Profile
at the Leyton Orient F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Craig 1992 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football midfielders Chesterfield F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players York City F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Worksop Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players