Raymond Crawford (born 13 July 1936) is an English former international footballer, who played as a striker in a career that saw him score over 300 goals at club level.
 Crawford (left) and former team-mate Ted Phillips at Portman Road | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Raymond Crawford | ||
| Date of birth | 13 July 1936 | ||
| Place of birth | Portsmouth, England | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1954–1957 | Portsmouth | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1957–1958 | Portsmouth | 19 | (9) |
| 1958–1963 | Ipswich Town | 197 | (143) |
| 1963–1965 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 57 | (39) |
| 1965–1966 | West Bromwich Albion | 14 | (6) |
| 1966–1969 | Ipswich Town | 123 | (61) |
| 1969 | Charlton Athletic | 21 | (7) |
| 1969–1970 | Kettering Town | ||
| 1970–1971 | Colchester United | 45 | (24) |
| 1971 | Durban City | 6 | (1) |
| Total | 482 | (290) | |
| International career | |||
| 1956 | Malaya[1] | 1 | (0) |
| 1961–1962 | England | 2 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| Fareham Town | |||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Career
Club
Crawford began his career as a trainee at his home town club Portsmouth. He made his league debut on 24 August 1957 in a goalless draw with Burnley. He managed 19 appearances for the club at senior level before joining second flight Ipswich Town in August 1958.
A prolific striker, he helped Ipswich to win back-to-back titles, the Second Division in 1960-61 and the First Division in 1961-62. In the latter season, he was joint leading scorer in Division One – alongside Derek Kevan of West Bromwich Albion – with 33 goals.[2] During this time, he won the first of his two England caps, becoming the first Ipswich Town player to be capped for England.
He was sold to Wolves in September 1963 where he scored 41 goals in 61 appearances (in total), before moving to rivals West Brom in January 1965, shortly before Wolves dropped out of the top flight. He failed to establish himself though at The Hawthorns and rejoined Ipswich in March 1965, where he played another three full seasons, lifting his tally for the club to 259 goals in all competitions.
He joined Charlton in March 1969, but soon dropped into the non-league with Kettering Town. He signed for Colchester United in June 1970 for £3,000 and in his only season with the club, scored 24 goals from 45 appearances. Most notably, he scored two goals for Colchester United in a giant-killing 3–2 victory against Leeds United in the fifth round of the FA Cup in 1971.
Crawford left English football after this season, heading to Durban City in South Africa, leaving an exceptional scoring rate in the Football League of 289 goals in 476 games. In his only season in South Africa, he won the cup and finished runner-up in the league.
He became youth-team coach at Brighton in 1972 but left after Brian Clough became manager the following year. He then worked as youth team Manager and assistant Manager to Jimmy Dickinson at his former side Portsmouth until 1979 and later managed non-league Fareham Town and Winchester City for a short while before retiring from the game in 1984, and becoming a merchandising representative. He is now retired but still plays a big active role within the community of Portsmouth, appearing at a lot of charity events and is a popular figure at Fratton Park every home game.
In 2007, he published his autobiography entitled "Curse of the Jungle Boy".[3]
Crawford now works as a summariser on Express FM commentaries on Portsmouth matches and occasionally on Radio Suffolk on Ipswich Town games. He is known for his loud cheers and shouts and became an instant hit on Express FM. The former frontman also provides a weekly column for the Yellow Advertiser online newspaper discussing the fortunes of Colchester United FC.
International
Crawford's international career was surprisingly brief, winning three caps with two different countries. He made his international debut with Malaya national football team in 1956.[4][5] After that, he played for England national football team against Northern Ireland on 22 November 1961 and played in their next fixture, versus Austria on 4 April 1962, where he opened the scoring in a 3–1 win.[6]
He also played for the Football League representative team.
Honours
- Champions: 1961–62
Individual
- Football League Second Division top scorer: 1960–61
- Football League First Division top scorer: 1961–62[9]
- Ipswich Town Hall of Fame: Inducted 2007[10]
- Colchester United Player of the Year: 1970–71[11]
- Colchester United Hall of Fame[12]
Notes
- ^ From 1888 to 1992 the Football League First Division was the top tier of English football. It was superseded by the Premier League in 1992.
References
- ^ "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". RSSSF. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ "English League Leading Goalscorers 1889–2007". RSSSF. 14 June 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
- ^ Mark Metcalf & Tony Matthews (30 August 2012). The Golden Boot: Football's Top Scorers. Amberley Publishing Limited. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-1-4456-1118-1.
- ^ "Ray Crawford Profile". England Football Online. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- ^ "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- ^ Ray Crawford at Englandstats.com, Retrieved 16 January 2019
- ^ "Tier One (Premier League) Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
- ^ "Tier Two (Championship) Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
- ^ "England - All-Time Topscorers". www.rsssf.com.
- ^ King, Elvin (10 August 2007). "Wark 'honoured' to be on Hall of Fame". Ipswich Star. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
- ^ "Colchester United — Appearances - 1970–71". Coludata.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
- ^ "Colchester United Hall of Fame". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2019.