Ted Crawford
Birthdate: 31 October 1906
Birthplace: Filey, Yorkshire, England
Other clubs: Filey Town (1922-23), Scarborough Penguins, Scarborough Town, Filey Town (2 / 1929-31), Halifax Town (1931-32), Clapton Orient (1933-39); Watford, Brighton & Hove Albion (wartime guest)
Bought from: Halifax Town
Signed for LFC: £1,200, July 1932
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Liverpool debut: 27.08.1932
Last appearance: 29.04.1933
Debut goal: 27.08.1932
Last goal: 03.09.1932
Contract expiry: July 1933
Win ratio: 25% W: 2 D: 2 L: 4
Games/goals ratio: 2
LFC league games/goals: 8 / 4
Total LFC games/goals: 8 / 4
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Player profile
Crawford made his name in his hometown Filey in North Yorkshire where he set a local league record by scoring 141 goals in 73 matches! Crawford was picked up by Liverpool after scoring 20 goals in 29 matches in Third Division North with Halifax Town, his first professional club, where former Liverpool favourite, Alex Raisbeck, was in charge. Crawford made an impressive start to the 1932/33 League campaign with Liverpool, scoring four goals in his first three matches but drawing a blank in the following four. Despite his promising goalscoring start Crawford's eighth appearance against WBA at Anfield on 29 April 1933 proved to be his last in a Liverpool shirt. Crawford played 211 games for Clapton Orient (changed name to Leyton Orient in 1946) in Third Division South and the FA Cup, scoring 73 goals. After World War II, he embarked on a managerial career that took him to Degerfors in Sweden, Bologna and Livorno in Italy, AEK Athens in Greece and Barnet in London.
Renowned football writer, Brian Glanville, remembered his good friend in the Times in 2003: "A Yorkshireman from Filey, when it was a fishing village rather than a holiday camp, Crawford was the quintessence of the prewar pro: lean, tough, resilient and undemanding, with a talent for coaching that would emerge after he had retired from playing. Characteristically, he discovered that he had played his last six years as a forward for Clapton Orient with an undiagnosed broken ankle."