Lee Crooks (born 14 January 1978) is an English former 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 played as a defender As a combative defensive midfielder, Crooks made 282 competitive appearances in his playing career in the top four divisions of English football, including 251 in league competition. Possessing a powerful strike, he scored a total of 5 goals. He notably played in the

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 ...

for

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

and spent 6 years there during a turbulent period or relegations and promotions, including the 1999 Division 2 playoff final against Gillingham. He went on to play for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, as well as loan spells at Northampton Town and Notts County. He later had spells with non-league sides Guiseley and

Ossett Town Ossett Town Association Football Club was an English football club based in Ossett in West Yorkshire. History Ossett Town AFC were formed in 1936 when, during a public meeting, the Mayor of the Borough of Ossett charged John Carter, a former ...

. At age 32 he embarked on a new career in the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

, joining the RAF Regiment, the infantry unit of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Early life

Crooks was born on 14 January 1978 in the city of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England.

Football career

Manchester City

Crooks was a product of the youth system at

. He also played for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

at school level.As a club trainee, Crooks signed his first professional contract on 1 August 1994 (aged 16 years, 6 months, 18 days). By September 1996 he was being included in the first team squad for games by caretaker manager Asa Hartford as one of three promising youngsters. City were relegated to Division 1 at the end of the 1995–96 season, and two years later, again, falling to Division 2, their lowest ever level. Through two successive promotions however, via the play-offs from Division 2 and then by automatic promotion from Division 1, the club had returned to the Premier League in the minimum time just 2 years later, in time for the start of the 2000–01 season. Crooks was in the Manchester City team that won that 1999 Division 2 play off final 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 ...

against Gillingham in dramatic fashion, albeit substituted on 85 minutes for

Gareth Taylor Gareth Keith Taylor (born 25 February 1973) is a football manager and former player who is the head coach of Manchester City Women. He began his career as a defender at Bristol Rovers, having left the Southampton youth team in 1991. After loan ...

. Having come back from a 2–0 deficit with 2 minutes remaining, City scored twice to take the game into extra time, and then after no further scores, winning the subsequent penalty shootout. On 26 December 2000 he went out on loan to Northampton Town. He made 3 appearances before returning on 23 January 2001. On 7 March 2001 Crooks was sold by City to

for £190,000. Crooks scored two goals for Manchester City, both in the league. It was three years before he scored his first goal, an equaliser against

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 ...

in an away game on 27 February 1999, which ended 1–1.

Barnsley

Crooks didn't make his debut until the start of the 2001–02 season, being delayed for several months as he had operations on an injured medial collateral ligament. With new manager

Paul Hart Paul Anthony Hart (born 4 May 1953) is an English association football, football manager, coach, and former professional player who made 567 appearances in the English Football League, Football League as a Defender (association football), def ...

performing a summer clear out after the 2003–04 season, Crooks was given the chance to prove his fitness during the summer in order to earn a new contract. He was released by Barnsley on 28 June 2004, signing on 1 August 2004 for

Bradford City

In a total of 53 competitive appearances for Bradford he scored 2 goals. He scored once in 47 appearances in the league, with his other goal coming in the FA Cup (an equaliser against Tranmere in November 2005). Due to limited first team opportunities he went out on loan to League Two side Notts County on 9 January 2006. He made 18 league appearances for Notts County under his former Barnsley manager Gudjon Thordarson, scoring 1 goal. After returning to Barnsley, on 8 May 2006 he was released by the club as surplus to requirements. He then entered talks with Notts County, but that did not lead to a contract.

Rochdale

As a free agent, Crooks began pre-season training with League Two side

, before signing a 12-month contract on 3 August 2006, linking up with his former Barnsley manager

Steve Parkin Stephen John Parkin (born 7 November 1965) is an English former professional footballer and manager, who is assistant manager at Wrexham. He played for Mansfield Town, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion and has been manager of Barnsley, Mansf ...

. Crooks made 44 appearances for Rochdale, including 40 in the League. Crooks left Rochdale by mutual consent on 26 March 2008 due to limited opportunities, having made just 5 starts during that season, with no appearances since December 2007.

Later career

Crooks joined the West Yorkshire club Guiseley, playing in the

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. He also began training for an attempt to climb

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

in aid of

Macmillan Cancer Support Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer. It also looks at the social, emotional and practical impact cancer can have, a ...

in June 2008. On 31 December 2008 he moved from Guiseley to another West Yorkshire club,

, playing in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

Playing style and recognition

Icelander Gudjon Thordarson, his manager at Barnsley and Notts County, referred to Crooks as 'The Beast' due to his combativeness. Crooks said before his Notts County debut, "If there is a tackle to be won, I am in there. I do like a good tackle". While not a prolific scorer, his first professional goal in 1999 was described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as a "tremendous shot which thundered in off the post." Similarly, his FA Cup goal for Bradford City in 2005 was described by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

as powerful shot which cannoned off the bar and in. In February 2009, Crooks was described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' as a "versatile defender and midfielder who ... had his most productive season in helping Manchester City win promotion in 1999".

Military career

After quitting football, Crooks chose a new career path in the

. Choosing not to follow his younger brother into the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, Crooks instead signed up as an enlisted member (gunner) of the

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...

, the infantry unit of the

, whose role is to provide force protection of RAF airfields and bases. In February 2011 at 33 years old, he completed his seven months of RAF Regiment basic training, passing out as a

leading aircraftman Leading aircraftman (LAC) or leading aircraftwoman (LACW) is a junior rank in some air forces. It sits between aircraftman and senior aircraftman, and has a NATO rank code of OR-2. The rank badge is a horizontal two-bladed propeller. The ra ...

. Initially posted to No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment based at RAF Honington in Suffolk, in the following weeks he underwent intensive training in the

Sennybridge Training Area The Sennybridge Training Area (SENTA) is a UK Ministry of Defence military training area near the village of Sennybridge in Powys, Wales. It consists of approximately 31,000 acres (12,000 ha) of Ministry of Defence freehold land and 6,000 acres ...

in Wales, and was due to visit the RAF Mount Pleasant base in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

followed by a deployment to the frontline in the War in Afghanistan, in early 2012.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crooks, Lee Living people 1978 births Association football defenders Association football midfielders English footballers Manchester City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Ossett Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Royal Air Force airmen