Craig Stephen Noone (born 17 November 1987) 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 ...
who plays as a
winger for
A-League club
Macarthur FC
Macarthur Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in South Western Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). On 1 ...
. He has also played professional football for
Plymouth Argyle,
Exeter City
Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
,
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
,
Cardiff City,
Bolton Wanderers and
Melbourne City.
Early life
Noone was born in
Kirkby
Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...
. He joined
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
when he was nine years old and was released 7 years later.
He then played junior and amateur football before signing with
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
when he was 15. Having been released after a year there, Noone played non-league football and went to Myerscough football college for six months.
He trained as a
roofer while a non-league player and in 2008 worked on an extension at Liverpool captain
Steven Gerrard's house.
Playing career
Non-League football
He joined
Skelmersdale United
Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Footb ...
as a youth team player and made his
first team debut during the 2005–06 season. Noone had a trial with Belgian club
Royal Antwerp
Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...
in January 2007 and later that year joined
Burscough
Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale.
The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin ...
, which Skelmersdale manager Tommy Lawson described as a "great opportunity" for him. Having been signed by
Liam Watson, Noone played regularly in the
Conference North
The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...
in 2007–08. Watson left Burscough for
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
in June 2008 and Noone joined him a few days later. In August, he made his league debut before Southport received a club record offer of £110,000 for him from
Plymouth Argyle.
Plymouth Argyle
Noone signed a two-year contract with Argyle the next day.
"I am very excited by this signing," said manager
Paul Sturrock
Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player.
As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...
. "Craig comes to us with a glowing reputation. It is now up to him to prove that it is merited."
He made his debut at the end of the month in a 0–0 draw at
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
, and scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 win at
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...
in November.
After 10 substitute appearances for Plymouth, Noone made his first start for the club in the league match versus
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
on Boxing Day 2008, where his team won 2–0. On 3 January 2009, Noone made his FA Cup debut coming off the bench during a 3–1 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. On 10 September 2009, after Noone had only made two league substitute appearances so far in the 2009/10 season,
Exeter City
Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
signed him on a 3-month loan deal. He made his debut against
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...
and scored the equaliser in a 1–1 draw. Noone scored in his final appearance for Exeter against
Brentford before being recalled on 2 November.
Brighton & Hove Albion
![Craig Noone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Craig_Noone.jpg)
On 31 December 2010 it was confirmed that Noone had transferred to
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
for an undisclosed fee. He became a fan favourite at Brighton with his pace and his unerring ability to beat the defender. He scored twice for Brighton in their
League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
title season, a great individual goal at home against
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
and a volley at home against
Hartlepool United
Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system.
They were founded i ...
.
He was part of Brighton's first match of pre-season in preparation for the 2011–2012 season against
Burgess Hill. He played 45 minutes and impressed, having a long range effort well saved and he earned a penalty which he subsequently scored to make it 2–0.
On 21 September 2011, Noone was announced as the stadium sponsor's man of the match in a 1–2 defeat against his former employers and boyhood club,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, in a third round
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
match at
Falmer Stadium
The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31, ...
. The Liverpool-born player hit the crossbar from a long-range shot during the game and was praised by his boyhood hero Steven Gerrard.
In January 2012, Noone was subject to a £500,000 bid from
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
rivals
Cardiff City, which was rejected by Albion. Noone extended his contract at Brighton in March 2012, keeping him at the club until June 2015.
Cardiff City
In August 2012, Noone joined
Cardiff City for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £1m, and signed a four-year contract. He made his debut in a 3–1 win against
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
at the start of September, and scored his first goal for the club later in the month as Cardiff won 2–0 at
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...
. Two months after joining the club, Noone scored in three consecutive games; a win against
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
in October, and defeats at
Bolton Wanderers and
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...
in November. He was sent off for two bookable offences against
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 188 ...
later that month. Noone's goal against Bolton in April ensured that Cardiff avoided defeat in their final home game of the season, which was followed by the club being presented with
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
title for winning the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
. Noone made 32 appearances in his first season with Cardiff and scored seven goals. Noone scored his first Premier League goal in January 2014 against
Manchester City and was praised for his performance by Cardiff manager
Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward who last managed Premier League club Manchester United. As a player, Solskjær spent the majority of his car ...
. Cardiff however suffered relegation at the end of the season and returned to the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
, where he only managed to find one goal in 39 appearances.
The following season, Noone started off brightly, coming on to score the equaliser against
Fulham and scoring the winner against
AFC Wimbledon. However, he didn't manage to find another goal until December where he scored against
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
in a 2–2 draw, before scoring against
Milton Keynes Dons
Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...
.
Bolton Wanderers
On 31 August 2017, Noone joined
Bolton Wanderers on a two-year contract.
Melbourne City
On 17 June 2019, Noone signed a two-year contract with
Melbourne City in the
A-League. He scored his first goal on debut against
Campbelltown City in the Round of 32 in the
2019 FFA Cup
The 2019 FFA Cup was the sixth season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 32 teams contested the competition proper (from the Round of 32), including 10 of the 11 A-League teams (with Western United n ...
.
Career statistics
Honours
Brighton & Hove Albion
*
Football League One:
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. ...
Cardiff City
*
Football League Championship:
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 ...
Melbourne City
*
A-League Premiership:
2020–21
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 ...
*
A-League Championship:
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
Macarthur
*
Australia Cup:
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...
Individual
*2020-21
A-League PFA Team Of The Season
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noone, Craig
1987 births
People from Kirkby
Living people
English footballers
Association football midfielders
Skelmersdale United F.C. players
Burscough F.C. players
Southport F.C. players
Plymouth Argyle F.C. players
Exeter City F.C. players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
Cardiff City F.C. players
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Melbourne City FC players
Northern Premier League players
National League (English football) players
English Football League players
Premier League players
English expatriate sportspeople
English expatriate footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in Australia