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,

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

On 31 December 2010 it was confirmed that Noone had transferred to

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,

, 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

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

. 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

, 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