Craig Thomas Lawton (born 5 January 1972) is a Welsh former

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 played for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in the early 1990s, before playing football in the Welsh leagues for

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

, Connah's Quay Nomads, and

Bala Town Bala Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Bala) is a Welsh football team from Bala, Gwynedd, who play in the Cymru Premier. They play their home games at Maes Tegid. History For a full history see; '' List of Bala Town FC seasons'' Al ...

Club career

Born in

Mancot Mancot is a village in Flintshire, Wales, approximately 1 mile from Queensferry, and Hawarden and 6 miles from Chester. According to the 2001 Census, Mancot had a population of 3,462. In 1849 the population of the village was 282. Following ...

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

, Lawton began his career at

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

, signing his first professional contract at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in July 1990. The closest Lawton got to making an appearance for the "Red Devils" came in a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

match against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in January 1993, when he was an unused substitute. He was given the number 22 jersey for the 1993–94 season, but did not make a single appearance for United. Soon after, he suffered a broken leg, and was allowed to join

on a free transfer in July 1994. He made his First Division debut as a substitute in a 3–2 defeat at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

on New Year's Eve 1994, but broke a leg in a reserve game in March 1995. His full debut came in a goalless draw with

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

in an

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup ( it, Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football c ...

game at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

on 8 November 1995. Unable to gain a first team place with the "Valiants" with only five appearances in 1994–95 and 1995–96, manager

John Rudge John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

gave him a free transfer to

in May 1996. He played for Colwyn Bay for six years, before moving to Connah's Quay Nomads, and then

four years later.

International career

Lawton was capped for Wales at schoolboy, youth, under-21 and "B" internationals.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawton, Craig 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Flintshire Welsh footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Wales men's B international footballers Men's association football midfielders Manchester United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Colwyn Bay F.C. players Connah's Quay Nomads F.C. players Bala Town F.C. players English Football League players