Garth Crooks

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Garth Crooks
OBE
Crooks in 2012
Personal information
Full name Garth Anthony Crooks[1]
Date of birth (1958-03-10) 10 March 1958 (age 66)[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[edit]

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. 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.[citation needed] 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[edit]

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

Media career[edit]

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[edit]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[11]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Stoke City 1975–76 First Division 2 0 0 0 0 0 — — 2 0
1976–77 First Division 23 6 1 0 2 0 — — 26 6
1977–78 Second Division 42 18 2 1 1 0 — — 45 19
1978–79 Second Division 40 12 1 0 5 1 — — 46 13
1979–80 First Division 40 12 1 0 4 2 — — 45 14
Total 147 48 5 1 12 3 — — 164 52
Tottenham Hotspur 1980–81 First Division 40 16 9 4 6 2 0 0 — 55 22
1981–82 First Division 27 13 7 3 7 0 5[a] 2 0 0 46 18
1982–83 First Division 26 8 2 1 4 3 4[a] 3 1[b] 0 37 15
1983–84 First Division 10 1 0 0 1 0 1[c] 1 0 0 12 2
1984–85 First Division 22 10 3 1 2 4 6[c] 3 0 0 33 18
Total 125 48 21 9 20 9 16 9 1 0 183 75
Manchester United (loan) 1983–84 First Division 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 2
West Bromwich Albion 1985–86 First Division 19 5 0 0 6 2 — 3[d] 3 28 10
1986–87 Second Division 21 11 1 0 0 0 — 1[d] 0 23 11
Total 40 16 1 0 6 2 — 4 3 51 21
Charlton Athletic 1986–87 First Division 7 2 0 0 0 0 — 5[e] 0 12 2
1987–88 First Division 28 10 1 0 2 2 — 1[d] 0 32 12
1988–89 First Division 14 2 3 1 0 0 — 0 0 17 3
1989–90 First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1[d] 0 1 0
1990–91 Second Division 7 1 0 0 2 0 — 0 0 9 1
Total 56 15 4 1 4 2 — 7 0 71 18
Career total 375 129 31 11 42 16 16 9 12 3 476 168
  1. ^ a b Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in FA Charity Shield
  3. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Cup
  4. ^ a b c d Appearances in Full Members' Cup
  5. ^ Appearances in Football League First Division play-offs

Honours[edit]

Tottenham Hotspur

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. ISBN 1-874287554.
  4. ^ "Garth Crooks OBE – Football Speaker – Booking Agent". 16 January 2024.
  5. ^ Adrian Chiles (17 November 2016). "The match that pitted white players against black players". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  6. ^ a b Football: Halcyon days for a political footballer, Alan Hubbard, The Independent, 11 April 1999
  7. ^ a b c d "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. ^ "Football: Halcyon days for a political footballer". Independent.co.uk. 10 April 1999.
  11. ^ Garth Crooks at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Garth Crooks.
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