Stephen Crainey

However, Crainey was sent off in the 68th minute in the second leg of the semi-final, as the Whites beat Preston North End to reach the final, which they then lost 3–0 to Watford.

Stephen Daniel Crainey (born 22 June 1981) is a Scottish former professional footballer.

He is currently U21 manager for Wigan Athletic.

A left back, he made 319 appearances in the Premier League and Football League, including 214 for Blackpool.

In his 18-year-long playing career, Crainey has also previously played for Celtic, Southampton, Leeds United, and Wigan Athletic and Fleetwood Town.

Born in Glasgow, Crainey started his professional career with Celtic in 1997.

He made a total of 58 appearances for the Hoops.

He scored one goal when Celtic beat Hearts 5–2 in the quarter-final of the 2000–01 Scottish League Cup.

On 18 March 2001 he helped Celtic win the League Cup at Hampden Park when they beat Kilmarnock 3–0 in the Final.

He then made 15 appearances as Celtic won the 2001–02 Scottish Premier League championship.

Crainey started the 2003–04 season with Celtic, but on 6 February 2004 he moved to England when he signed for Premier League side Southampton.

He made his debut four days later as the Saints lost 2–0 away to Arsenal.

However, he was to make a total of just five Premier League appearances for Southampton.

On 6 August 2004, he joined Football League Championship side Leeds United, initially on loan before the move was made permanent four days later for a fee of £200,000.

This was Leeds United's first cash signing since relegation from the Premier League in May 2004.

He made his debut on 14 August in a 0–0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.

He made a total of 11 appearances in the 2004–05 season.

The following season he played a total of 30 games as Leeds United reached the Play-offs.

Crainey was a regular at the start of the 2006–07 campaign under former manager Kevin Blackwell, but played less following Blackwell's departure on 20 September 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.

Crainey's recovery coincided with the return to fitness of loan player Robbie Elliott who was regarded as Dennis Wise's first choice left-back.

Elliott featured on the bench for the game against Leicester City on 13 March 2007, in his first outing since returning from injury, but Crainey was not even included in the squad as Wise chose to start Armando Sá in that role.

His last appearance was on 30 January 2007, in a 2–1 win over Hull City.

Crainey was eventually released at the end of his Leeds contract on 15 May 2007 as the Whites were relegated to League One.

On 9 July 2007, Crainey signed for Blackpool in a one-year deal with an option for a further year.

On 13 August 2007, he was named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week".

Crainey scored his first-ever league goal on 19 September 2007, in a 2–2 draw with Bryan Robson's Sheffield United at Bloomfield Road.

On 3 December 2007, he was again named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week".

He made a total of 43 appearances (scoring one League goal) in the 2007–08 season as the Seasiders finished nineteenth in the Championship, the club's highest-place finish in the Football League in 27 years.

Crainey was also named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week" on 4 February 2008.

In June 2008 newspaper reports linked Crainey with a £250,000 move to fellow Championship club Burnley, but he instead signed a new contract with Blackpool.

He missed the start of the 2008–09 season with a groin injury and Blackpool brought in Mohammed Camara on loan to cover for him.

On 9 September the club confirmed that Crainey had undergone an operation the day before which would keep him out of action for a further four to six weeks.

He made his comeback on 24 January 2009 as an 87th-minute substitute in a 2–0 win over Birmingham City at Bloomfield Road.

That season he made a total of 17 appearances.

Crainey was named in the Championship "Team of the Week", along with teammates Matthew Gilks and Marcel Seip, following his performance in Blackpool's 0–0 draw with Swansea City on 24 October at the Liberty Stadium.

He joined AFC Fylde in December 2015 for a brief spell.

He also played for the Scotland national team on twelve occasions.