Garth Crooks

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Garth Crooks
OBE

| image = Garth Crooks 2012.jpg

| caption = Crooks in 2012

| fullname = Garth Anthony Crooks

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|3|10|df=y}}

| birth_place = Stoke-on-Trent, England

| height = {{height|ft=5|in=8}}{{cite book |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88 |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Dunk |publisher=Queen Anne Press |location=London |date=1987 |page=[https://archive.org/details/rothmansfootball00lond/page/118 118] |isbn=978-0-356-14354-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/rothmansfootball00lond/page/118}}

| position = Forward

| youthyears1 = |youthclubs1 =

| years1 = 1976–1980 |clubs1 = Stoke City |caps1 = 147 |goals1 = 48

| years2 = 1980–1985 |clubs2 = Tottenham Hotspur |caps2 = 125 |goals2 = 48

| years3 = 1983–1984 |clubs3 = → Manchester United (loan) |caps3 = 7 |goals3 = 2

| years4 = 1985–1987 |clubs4 = West Bromwich Albion |caps4 = 40 |goals4 = 16

| years5 = 1987–1990 |clubs5 = Charlton Athletic |caps5 = 56 |goals5 = 15

| totalcaps = 375 |totalgoals = 129

| nationalyears1 = 1979–1980 |nationalteam1 = England U21|nationalcaps1 = 4 |nationalgoals1 = 3

}}

Garth Anthony Crooks, {{postnominals|country=GBR|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.{{cite book|last=Matthews|first=Tony|title=The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City|year=1994|publisher=Lion Press|isbn=0-9524151-0-0}}{{cite book|title=Stoke City 101 Golden Greats|year=2002|publisher=Desert Islands Books|isbn=1-874287554}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://champions-speakers.co.uk/sports-speakers/football-speakers/garth-crooks-obe/|title=Garth Crooks OBE – Football Speaker – Booking Agent|date=16 January 2024 }} He progressed through the youth ranks at Stoke City signing professional contract forms in March 1976. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37924448|title=The match that pitted white players against black players|date=17 November 2016|access-date=18 November 2016|author=Adrian Chiles|publisher=BBC}}

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,[https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-halcyon-days-for-a-political-footballer-1086496.html Football: Halcyon days for a political footballer], Alan Hubbard, The Independent, 11 April 1999 though this was pre-dated by Bill Perry in 1953 and Mike Trebilcock in 1966.{{Citation needed|reason=No source provided for this, and no mention of it in the Perry article. Raised on Wiki-Footballl taskforce page.|date=October 2016}} 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. Charlton were relegated from the First Division, just as the West Bromwich Albion side he had played in four seasons earlier had been.{{Cite news | title=Garth Crooks |publisher=BBC|access-date=11 December 2007 |date=10 August 2001 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/football_focus/1480432.stm}}

International career

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

Media career

Crooks first worked in the media as a guest presenter on 25 March 1982's Top of the Pops on BBC1 (with Peter Powell), before working as a match analyst at the 1982 and 1990 World Cups. He later worked as a Match of the Day{{'}}s reporter at the England camp at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.

He appeared regularly as a pundit on Final Score from its first series in 2001 until 2022, and on rare occasions on Match of the Day as a replacement for regular pundits and interviewing players for Football Focus. In August 2024, he ended his Premier League team of the week column on the BBC News website due to creative differences.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/spl/hi/football/squad_selector/team_of_the_week/html/ss_team.stm Team of the week] Retrieved 3 September 2008

In 1988, Crooks became the first black chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association but gave up the role after retiring in 1990. 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."{{London Gazette |issue=55513 |date=12 June 1999 |pages=10 |supp=y }}

Away from football, he hosted the BBC Two political late-night programme Despatch Box in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-halcyon-days-for-a-political-footballer-1086496.html | title=Football: Halcyon days for a political footballer | website=Independent.co.uk | date=10 April 1999 }}

Career statistics

rowspan="2"\|Club !rowspan="2"\|Season !colspan="3"\|League !colspan="2"\|FA Cup !colspan="2"\|League Cup !colspan="2"\|Europe !colspan="2"\|Other !colspan="2"\|Total
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition{{ENFA}}
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
rowspan="6"\|Stoke City \|1975–76 \|First Division \|2	0	0	0	0	0	colspan=2\|—	colspan=2\|—	2	0
1976–77 \|First Division \|23	6	1	0	2	0	colspan=2\|—	colspan=2\|—	26	6
1977–78 \|Second Division \|42	18	2	1	1	0	colspan=2\|—	colspan=2\|—	45	19
1978–79 \|Second Division \|40	12	1	0	5	1	colspan=2\|—	colspan=2\|—	46	13
1979–80 \|First Division \|40	12	1	0	4	2	colspan=2\|—	colspan=2\|—	45	14
colspan="2"\|Total !147	48	5	1	12	3	colspan=2\|—\|\|colspan=2\|—\|\|164	52
rowspan="6"\|Tottenham Hotspur \|1980–81 \|First Division \|40	16	9	4	6	2	0	0	colspan=2\|—	55	22
1981–82 \|First Division \|27	13	7	3	7	0	5{{efn\|name=ECWC\|Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup}}	2	0	0	46	18
1982–83 \|First Division \|26	8	2	1	4	3	4{{efn\|name=ECWC}}	3	1{{efn\|Appearances in FA Charity Shield}}	0	37	15
1983–84 \|First Division \|10	1	0	0	1	0	1{{efn\|name=UC\|Appearances in UEFA Cup}}	1	0	0	12	2
1984–85 \|First Division \|22	10	3	1	2	4	6{{efn\|name=UC}}	3	0	0	33	18
colspan="2"\|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
rowspan="3"\|West Bromwich Albion \|1985–86 \|First Division \|19	5	0	0	6	2	colspan=2\|—	3{{efn\|name=FMC\|Appearances in Full Members' Cup}}	3	28	10
1986–87 \|Second Division \|21	11	1	0	0	0	colspan=2\|—	1{{efn\|name=FMC}}	0	23	11
colspan="2"\|Total !40	16	1	0	6	2	colspan=2\|—\|\|4	3	51	21
rowspan="6"\|Charlton Athletic \|1986–87 \|First Division \|7	2	0	0	0	0	colspan=2\|—	5{{efn\|Appearances in Football League First Division play-offs}}	0	12	2
1987–88 \|First Division \|28	10	1	0	2	2	colspan=2\|—	1{{efn\|name=FMC}}	0	32	12
1988–89 \|First Division \|14	2	3	1	0	0	colspan=2\|—	0	0	17	3
1989–90 \|First Division \|0	0	0	0	0	0	colspan=2\|—	1{{efn\|name=FMC}}	0	1	0
1990–91 \|Second Division \|7	1	0	0	2	0	colspan=2\|—	0	0	9	1
colspan="2"\|Total !56	15	4	1	4	2	colspan=2\|—\|\|7	0	71	18
colspan="3"\|Career total !375	129	31	11	42	16	16	9	12	3	476	168

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

FA Cup: 1980–81, 1981–82
UEFA Cup: 1983–84

References

External links

[http://www.givemefootball.com/player-profiles/garth-crooks PFA profile of Garth Crooks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927151740/http://www.givemefootball.com/player-profiles/garth-crooks |date=27 September 2009 }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927005629/http://www.givemefootball.com/display.cfm?article=3077&type=1 PFA profile of Garth Crooks Years:1988–1990]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/sport/garthcrooks.shtml BBC profile]

Category:1958 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Bucknall, Staffordshire

Category:Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent

Category:English men's footballers

Category:Men's association football forwards

Category:Stoke City F.C. players

Category:Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players

Category:Manchester United F.C. players

Category:West Bromwich Albion F.C. players

Category:Charlton Athletic F.C. players

Category:English Football League players