Garth Crooks
OBE
Crooks in 2012
Personal information
Full name Garth Anthony Crooks[1]
Date of birth (1958-03-10) 10 March 1958[1]
Place of birth Stoke-on-Trent, England[1]
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1980 Stoke City 147 (48)
1980–1985 Tottenham Hotspur 125 (48)
1983–1984 → Manchester United (loan) 7 (2)
1985–1987 West Bromwich Albion 40 (16)
1987–1990 Charlton Athletic 56 (15)
Total 375 (129)
International career
1979–1980 England U21 4 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Garth Anthony Crooks, OBE (born 10 March 1958) is an English football pundit and former professional player. He played from 1976 to 1990, for Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic.[1][3] Throughout his career he was an active member of the Professional Footballers' Association and was elected the first black chairman of the union.

Club career

Crooks was born in Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent, and is of Jamaican descent.[4] He progressed through the youth ranks at Stoke City signing professional contract forms in March 1976.[3] He made his debut in April at home to Coventry City becoming the first black player to play for Stoke since Roy Brown in the 1940s. In the 1976–77 season his first full season he was top-scorer albeit with just six goals as Stoke's financial problems saw them relegated to the Second Division.[3] Many black players at the time suffered racist abuse from the stands. Crooks was no exception, but his "cocky arrogance" meant it did little to affect him.[3] His pace caused problems for Second Division defences as he again top-scored with 19 in 1977–78 as Stoke failed to mount a serious promotion attempt. Manager Alan Durban decided to play Crooks as a winger at the start of the 1978–79 season, a decision which Crooks openly criticised.[3] He was restored to his striker role with the season coming to an end which saw Stoke gain promotion by beating Notts County on the final day of the season.[3] He scored 14 goals in 1979–80 as Stoke safely avoided relegation but tensions between Crooks and Durban resurfaced which led to Crooks handing in a transfer request.[3]

In 1979, he played in a benefit match for West Bromwich Albion player Len Cantello, that saw a team of white players play against a team of black players.[5]

He was sold to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 1980 for a fee of £650,000. He scored on his debut against Nottingham Forest, and formed a successful striking partnership with Steve Archibald. With Crooks leading the line, Spurs won the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982, and the 1984 UEFA Cup Final against Anderlecht (he was an unused substitute in the final's second leg). Crooks is frequently credited as the first black player to score in an FA Cup final for his equalising goal in a 3–2 win over Manchester City in 1981,[6] though this was pre-dated by Bill Perry in 1953 and Mike Trebilcock in 1966. He later went on loan to Manchester United and had spells at West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic before a knee injury forced his retirement in 1990. His career ended on a low note as Charlton were relegated from the First Division, just as the West Bromwich Albion side he had played in four seasons earlier had been.[7]

International career

Crooks represented England at international level, making four appearances for the England under-21s, for whom he scored three goals.

Media career

In 1988, Crooks became the first black chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association but gave up the role after retiring in 1990.[7] He first worked in the media as a guest presenter on 25 March 1982's Top of the Pops on BBC1 (with Peter Powell), then as a match analyst at the 1982 and 1990 World Cups, he later worked as Match of the Day's reporter at the England camp at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.[7] In the 1999 Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to the Institute of Professional Sport."[7][8] Until 2022, he appeared regularly on Final Score as a pundit and on rare occasions on Match of the Day as a replacement for regular pundits and interviewing players for Football Focus. He continues to name his Premier League team of the week each week on the BBC website.[9] Away from football, he hosted the BBC Two political late-night programme Despatch Box in the late 90s/early 00s. [10]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[11]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Stoke City 1975–76 First Division 200000——20
1976–77 First Division 2361020——266
1977–78 Second Division 42182110——4519
1978–79 Second Division 40121051——4613
1979–80 First Division 40121042——4514
Total 1474851123——16452
Tottenham Hotspur 1980–81 First Division 4016946200—5522
1981–82 First Division 271373705[lower-alpha 1]2004618
1982–83 First Division 26821434[lower-alpha 1]31[lower-alpha 2]03715
1983–84 First Division 10100101[lower-alpha 3]100122
1984–85 First Division 221031246[lower-alpha 3]3003318
Total 125482192091691018375
Manchester United (loan) 1983–84 First Division 720000000072
West Bromwich Albion 1985–86 First Division 1950062—3[lower-alpha 4]32810
1986–87 Second Division 21111000—1[lower-alpha 4]02311
Total 40161062—435121
Charlton Athletic 1986–87 First Division 720000—5[lower-alpha 5]0122
1987–88 First Division 28101022—1[lower-alpha 4]03212
1988–89 First Division 1423100—00173
1989–90 First Division 000000—1[lower-alpha 4]010
1990–91 Second Division 710020—0091
Total 56154142—707118
Career total 37512931114216169123476168

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  2. ↑ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. ISBN 1-874287554.
  4. ↑ "Garth Crooks OBE – Football Speaker – Booking Agent".
  5. ↑ Adrian Chiles (17 November 2016). "The match that pitted white players against black players". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  6. ↑ Football: Halcyon days for a political footballer, Alan Hubbard, The Independent, 11 April 1999
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Garth Crooks". BBC. 10 August 2001. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  8. ↑ "No. 55513". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1999. p. 10.
  9. ↑ Team of the week Retrieved 3 September 2008
  10. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-halcyon-days-for-a-political-footballer-1086496.html
  11. ↑ Garth Crooks at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Garth Crooks.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.