Tommy Craig

For other people of the same name, see Thomas Craig (disambiguation).

Tommy Craig

Personal information
Full name	Thomas Brooks Craig
Date of birth	(1950-11-21) 21 November 1950
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1967–1968	Aberdeen	45	(8)
1968–1974	Sheffield Wednesday	214	(38)
1974–1977	Newcastle United	124	(22)
1977–1979	Aston Villa	27	(2)
1979–1981	Swansea City	52	(9)
1981–1984	Carlisle United	98	(10)
1984–1985	Hibernian	11	(0)
Total		571	(89)
National team
1976	Scotland	1	(0)
Teams managed
2009–2010	Charleroi
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Thomas "Tommy" Craig (born 21 November 1950 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football coach and former player who is currently the assistant manager of Scottish club St. Mirren. Craig had an 18 year playing career as a midfielder, playing over 100 league games for English clubs Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United. Towards the end of his playing career he became a coach, and he has worked for clubs including Hibernian, Celtic, Aberdeen and Newcastle.

Playing career

Craig was a talented midfielder who started his playing career at Aberdeen. In 1969 Sheffield Wednesday paid £100,000 for his services, a club record transfer fee at the time, as well as a British record for a teenager. Craig was a favourite with the fans during his time at Hillsborough and was seen by many as the highlight of what was a poor Sheffield Wednesday team. Craig scored 37 league goals for Wednesday, including many from the penalty spot. During his time at the club, Wednesday were relegated from the top flight following Craig's first full season, and they continued to struggle in Division Two, finally being relegated again shortly after he left for Newcastle United in 1974.

After leaving Newcastle he went on to join Ron Saunders' Aston Villa, however, his relatively unsuccessful stay was short lived as Saunders was clearing the decks in order to turn Villa into the Championship and European Cup winning force of the early 1980s. He subsequently moved on to Swansea City, Carlisle United and Hibernian before becoming a coach.

Craig was capped once by Scotland, against Switzerland in 1976.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Craig was made assistant manager to John Blackley at Hibernian. He was then Billy McNeill's assistant manager at Celtic, where they won the championship in their centenary year. A spell at Aberdeen as assistant to Roy Aitken followed, before he took up the coaching role of Scotland's Under-21 team.

Craig spent time as a first team coach of Newcastle United, until he was released in September 2006. He was then chosen by John Collins to be his assistant at Hibernian. Following Collins' resignation, Craig acted as the caretaker manager for four games, but he left the club following the appointment of Mixu Paatelainen as manager. Craig joined Charleroi as assistant coach to John Collins in December 2008. On 20 November 2009, he was appointed as head coach of Charleroi. He signed a one year and a half contract. Despite this contract, Craig was sacked by Charleroi on 14 April 2010.

St. Mirren manager Danny Lennon appointed Craig as first team coach on 22 July 2011.

External links

• Newcastle Fans profile
• Tommy Craig at scottishfa.co.uk