Liam Craig (born 27 December 1986) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He is an attack-minded creative midfield player who operates on the left side of midfield or in a central position. He has played for

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

and Hibernian during a sixteen-year career. Upon retiring at the end of the 2020

– 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 ...

21 season, he will become a coach with St Johnstone.

Career

Craig began his career at Ipswich Town and skippered the youth side to victory in the 2005

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

final. However, after finding it difficult to break into the first team he joined

in January 2006. Craig moved to

on a month's loan in December 2007 and scored on his home debut against

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

. He then signed on loan until the end of the season with the Saints and then signed on a permanent basis in July 2008. A transfer tribunal ruled that Saints would pay Falkirk £25,000 for his services, with a further £12,000 if the club was promoted to the SPL during his time at McDiarmid Park and also 25% of any future transfer received by Saints from another club. Craig made over 200 appearances for St. Johnstone in his first spell. In his last game for St. Johnstone, Craig scored a goal which would help seal third position in the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

and qualification for the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The 2014 UEFA Europa League Final was played between Sevil ...

. Craig signed a pre-contract agreement with Hibernian in January 2013. He scored his first goal for Hibs on 24 August, scoring twice in a 2–1 victory against

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. ...

. Craig scored his first ever career hat-trick on 24 September, in a

2013–14 Scottish League Cup The 2013–14 Scottish League Cup was the 68th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition. Format The competition is a single elimination knock-out competition. In each round, fixtures are determined by random dr ...

tie against

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

. Craig was appointed Hibs captain in November 2013 by new manager Terry Butcher. Shortly after this, on 2 January 2014, Craig scored the winner in the

Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce r ...

against city rivals Hearts from the penalty spot. Craig was not offered a new contract by Hibs at the end of the 2014–15 season, after they failed to secure promotion from the Scottish Championship. In July 2015, Craig signed a one-year contract with St Johnstone. On 27 March 2017, he signed a new two-year contract, keeping him at McDiarmid Park until the summer of 2019. On 29 December 2018, Craig played his 362nd game for St Johnstone and scored in a 2–0 away win over

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

; This put him second place behind teammate

Steven Anderson Steven James Stuart Anderson (born 19 December 1985) is a Scottish people, Scottish Association football, footballer who plays for Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers. Anderson plays in Defender (association football), central defence. Career ...

in the club's all-time appearances list. In the same week, he was also appointed as chairman of the PFA Scotland (players' union) management committee. Craig was one of three St Johnstone players to sign a short-term six-month contract extension in May 2020, as the club formulated plans amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2020

21 season, at which point he will become a coach with St Johnstone.

Career statistics

Honours

Ipswich Town Youth *

: 2004–05 St Johnstone * Scottish Cup: 2020–21 * Scottish League Cup: 2020–21

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Liam 1986 births Living people People from Berwickshire Sportspeople from the Scottish Borders Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Ipswich Town F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish trade unionists