Steven Craig (born 5 February 1981) is a retired Scottish 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 ...

. He is currently assistant manager of Gala Fairydean Rovers. Craig has previously 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 ...

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 ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Ross County,

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

and

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

. His father

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

was also a footballer, who played for

and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Early life

He was born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, Lancashire. His father, Joe Craig, was playing for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

at the time.

Career

Craig began his career as a youth player at

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

and after leaving the club in 2000, played one match for junior club Broxburn Athletic He then signed his first professional contract at

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

club

, signing initially for three months, but after scoring on his debut on 30 September 2000 against

, he was given a three-year contract. In January 2003, Craig moved to

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' ...

club

. He made his debut for the club on 29 January 2003 in a 1–0 defeat 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. ...

and scored his first goal on 19 February 2003, in a 2–1 win against

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

. On 5 June 2003, he signed a new one-year contract with the club. On 12 May 2004, Craig, along with Motherwell team-mate

Derek Adams Derek Watt Adams (born 25 June 1975) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is currently manager of Morecambe. Adams played professionally for six clubs, including Aberdeen and Motherwell, where he made over 300 league appearances ...

, signed a pre-contract with

to join the club on 1 June 2004. He made his debut on the opening day of the 2004–05 season against Rangers. On 24 August 2004, he scored against

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

then four days later, scored twice against Livingston in a 2–0 win. These turned out to be his only goals for the club. After falling out of favour with Aberdeen manager

Jimmy Calderwood James Calderwood (born 28 February 1955) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Calderwood played for Birmingham City and Dutch clubs Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo. After retiring as a player, Calder ...

, Craig was allowed to go on trial with Belgian club Sint Truiden and was placed on the transfer list at the end of the season. He also went on trial at

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 ...

, At the end of the summer transfer window in August 2005, Craig was released by Aberdeen. After his release from Aberdeen, Craig had trials at Dunfermline Athletic and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

. On 15 September 2005, he signed for

. After one season with Dundee, Craig signed for

on 19 June 2006. Craig signed for Ross County on 6 May 2008. During the 2009–10 season he scored in Ross County's 2–0 victory against

in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, but was on the losing side as

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

won 3–0. In the 2010–11 season he scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out as Ross County beat

4–3 on penalties to reach the

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season, 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley Bulldogs, Batley and St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Headingley, ...

. He was an unused substitute in the final as Ross County lifted the trophy, beating Queen of the South 2–0. He was also part of the squad as Ross County won the 2011–12 Scottish First Division and promotion to the top-flight for the first time. At the end of the season, he signed a new one-year contract with the club after turning down a move to Iceland. Craig left Ross County in August 2012 to sign for

on loan. After being released by Ross County, he then moved to Partick Thistle on a permanent basis on 1 January 2013. Craig won a second successive Scottish First Division winners medal as Partick Thistle won the 2012–13 title, but at the end of the season he was informed by manager

Alan Archibald Alan Archibald (born 13 December 1977) is a Scottish football coach and former player. Archibald, who played as a defender, has been associated with Partick Thistle for most of his career. Beginning his professional career with the club as a te ...

that he would not be offered a new contract by the club. Craig signed a one-year deal with

on 22 July 2013. On 3 May 2014, he scored Wycombe's second goal in a 3–0 win 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 the final day of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, a result which ensured the club avoided relegation from

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 ...

. With Wycombe having secured their place in League Two for another season, Craig signed a contract extension to keep him at the club for another year. He joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

outfit

in July 2015 Making his first start the following week in a 2–1 victory over Hibernian He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–2 defeat against Hibs in October 2015, just two minutes after coming on as a substitute. However, Craig was released after just 6 months with the club. On 8 February 2016, Craig signed a contract with

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

in a deal until the end of the season. On January 10, 2022, he joined Gala Fairydean Rovers as Assistant Manager to Martin Scott.

Career statistics

:A. Other includes

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

. :B. Falkirk total includes two First Division appearances not recorded on soccerbase. One in 2001–02 and one in 2002–03. :C. Ross County total includes one

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Ross County *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2010–11 *

(second tier): 2011–12

(second tier): 2012–13

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Steven Living people 1981 births Scottish footballers Falkirk F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Footballers from Blackburn Association football forwards Anglo-Scots Worcester City F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Broxburn Athletic F.C. players