Crawford is revelling in life as a Rover
Crawford bided time before making switch south but now he’s motoring at Doncaster and eyeing a cup shock
CRYSTAL PALACE midfielder James McArthur will, in FA Cup action today, bump into a former team-mate left behind at Hamilton nine years ago and might be moved to ask: What took you so long?
The question has stumped many a follower of Ali Crawford’s career since he was identified as a certainty to follow Accies academy poster boys McArthur and the more precocious James McCarthy out of Lanarkshire and into the lucrative English game.
On the bench at 15 and a debut alongside McArthur at 18, for years Crawford stood out so obviously as the classiest act at his club, earning praise and predictions of a big-time career from Billy Reid, Alex Neil then Martin Canning.
Yet Crawford, after 272 games, finally made an appearance for a club other than Hamilton only last summer at the age of 27 with League One side Doncaster Rovers. The wait, he enthuses, is worth it.
He’s found a manager in Grant McCann who kept an eye on his progress for several seasons and targeted the midfielder to be his first signing at the Keepmoat Stadium. His style is a fabulous fit for a fine footballing side with promotion ambitions.
There is excitement every week at the fresh challenge, new opponents, unchartered territories for Crawford on the British football map. And today, thanks to his part in knocking out former boss Neil and Preston in a shock last month, he features in Doncaster’s first FA Cup fifth-round tie in 53 years when Premier League regulars Palace visit for a televised tie.
Few of his colleagues boast the big-stage mentality or experience Crawford will bring to the fixture. As Accies soared to the top of the Premiership under Neil in 2014/15, Crawford cracked home a brilliant winner against Celtic at Parkhead.
A couple of years later he bossed the midfield on Joey Barton’s debut, scoring at Ibrox to ruin Rangers’ return to the top flight.
In between times and after, Crawford rightly felt he was performing consistently well enough to earn a transfer — to a level higher than England’s third tier.
‘I needed to do this,’ said Crawford, now 26 games into his Rovers career. ‘I can’t say a bad word about Hamilton. They gave me my chance. If I could have done anything differently, though, I would have liked to leave a couple of years earlier when I was scoring lots of goals.
‘The first year we got promoted and went top of the league and were flying under Alex Neil. The year after that I was in double figures for goals. But it (the move) never happened. I was frustrated, to say the least.
‘I’d watched players in Scotland who I was as good as, if not better than, getting moves and I was still at Hamilton. It was tough but I tried not to be too down about it and wait for my contract to be up.
‘It wasn’t as if Hamilton really stopped me from going. Maybe there wasn’t much interest in me, I don’t know. It’s hard not to doubt yourself at some stages. When you think you’re doing well and there’s no one coming in, you think: “Am I really doing well? Do I warrant a move?”
‘They rejected two bids from Bradford when Stuart McCall was manager because they didn’t find them acceptable and I was one of their best players.
‘At the time, I wanted to go. Having only a year left — and in six months I could starting talking to clubs — made it easier to accept.’
Crawford believes the longer than forecast stay with Hamilton contributed to a feeling of being dangerously snug. Suddenly vulnerable to an omission from the Doncaster team, in contrast, has helped with game raising.
He explains: ‘I probably was a bit too comfortable. I don’t want to sound too cocky but I kind of knew I was going to start week in, week out at Hamilton. I didn’t really have to do much to be involved. So this is a new experience.
‘Here, I’ve played one week then not got on the pitch in the next game. The manager has his reasons every time for dropping you. It could simply be a rest. Other times he thinks a different player is more suited to that game. But it lets you know you have to be on your toes at every stage.’
A long-time admirer, Rovers manager McCann quickly invited Crawford to quit pre-season training with Hearts and head to south Yorkshire. The haste and priority afforded to the pursuit has been justified. Crawford’s qualities have shone through in a surprise promotion push but not until a major hiccup was overcome.
Crawford suffered medial knee-ligament damage on his league bow against Southend, a potentially devastating development so early on. He revealed: ‘It was the same injury I’d been suffering from the previous year, I was living in a new city myself without my girlfriend Gail or family around me. What helped was the quality of treatment and the boys around me. ‘I got sent to London to see a specialist and I’d say I was back four or five weeks earlier than if I was up the road. ‘The dressing room was good for me too. Danny Andrew lives just round the corner and we’ve become good friends. He took me out for coffees and did his best to keep spirits high. ‘I found it hard to force my way back in the team because we’d started so well. But since then it’s been great. As soon as I spoke to the manager, it really was a no-brainer. He said he was the manager who could help me improve to the next level. I’m glad that’s how it worked out.
‘Just to get new surroundings and play in a different league was something I always wanted to do.
‘It makes a change playing in a team that’s winning more weeks than not, rather than fighting for every point in a relegation battle.’
Crawford’s long-range scoring gift now has a promotion purpose. A stunning right-foot strike against AFC Wimbledon from open play earned him the division’s Goal of the Month award for November and, in January, he was nominated for an audacious set-piece success in a 5-0 thrashing of Rochdale.
Those goals would grace a greater stage and Crawford has his ambitious eyes on Wembley. Rovers are two wins away from a last-four appearance in a wide-open tournament already rich with inspirational shocks this season.
‘Hopefully we can continue the way we’ve been playing and get promotion, if not an automatic berth then through the play-offs, which is very exciting,’ he said. ‘We’ve been on a good cup run, too, which is a great experience and getting to play Crystal Palace is great.’
Standing in the way of Crawford’s midfield creativity today is the uncompromising McArthur (left), whose career has provided plenty of inspiration to promising Scottish players since leaving Accies for Wigan in the summer of 2010.
‘When I broke into the Hamilton first team, James was still there,’ says Crawford.
‘He was a very bubbly character, always involved in the pranks and a very nice guy who you could always approach and talk to.
‘When you see what he’s gone on to achieve, he’s done so well for himself. It will be interesting and a real challenge to play against him.
‘He’s played in the Premier League and for Scotland for many years.’
I probably was a bit too comfortable at Accies