Stephen Crainey

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Personal information
Stephen Crainey
Full name	Stephen Daniel Crainey
Date of birth	June 22, 1981 (age 25)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	5ft 9in (1.80m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Leeds United F.C.
Number	3
Youth clubs
	Celtic
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997-2004 2004 2004 2004-	Celtic Southampton → Leeds United (loan) Leeds United	41 (0) 05 (0) 00 (0) 51 (0)
National team²
2002-2004	Scotland	6 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 December 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen Crainey (born June 22, 1981 in Glasgow) is a Scottish footballer, who currently plays for Leeds United. He previously played for Southampton F.C. and Celtic.

[edit] Career

Crainey is a left back who has been capped at full and under-21 level by Scotland. He was signed from Southampton for £200,000 in August 2005, having joined them from boyhood favourites Celtic in 2003. This was Leeds United's first cash signing since relegation from the Premiership in May 2005.

Crainey was a regular at the start of the 2006-07 campaign under former manager Kevin Blackwell, but has played less regularly following Blackwell's departure on September 20, 2006. Crainey featured in the heavy defeats that quickly ended John Carver's hopes of becoming the permanent Leeds manager. When new boss Dennis Wise took over he dropped Crainey in favour of Eddie Lewis and, later, other options at left back. Crainey later regained his place, but then was dropped again before suffering an injury, (presumably in training).

Eddie Lewis has played left-back since shortly after the start of 2007, but was reported to have picked up a back injury on 12 March 2007. A week prior to this, Crainey had been reported to have overcome injury and is now available for selection once more.

However, Crainey's recovery has coincided with the return to fitness of the loan player Robbie Elliot who is widely regarded as Dennis Wise's first choice left-back. Elliot featured on the bench for the game against Leicester on 13 March 2007 in his first outing since returning from injury, but Crainey was not even included in the squad as Wise choose to start Armando Sa in that role. It remains to be seen whether Stephen Crainey has a role within the club still.

Rumours are currently circulating with regard to a prominent League One club looking to take Crainey on loan until the end of the 2006/2007 season.