Lee Croft - A Sad Story

[Canary1902 0]

I was reading my Old Farm Derby book this morning and it triggered Lee Croft in my archive of NCFC memories.

Just read his profile on Wikipedia. Move to derby when we got relegated. Loaned to Huddersfield. Went back to Derby, and now about to be loaned out again.

Quite a sad story considering our relegation season (from Championship) he was one of our stars. He must be gutted now

[Karl Pilkington 0]

I think he''s just been found out, he used to run with the ball a lot and get the crowd excited but I don''t think there was ever any end product. A lot of running down blind alleys. Also from seeing him on Soccer am, he''s very thick.

[jed exodous 0]

I''ve heard sadder, he''ll be alright...

[Shack Attack 0]

Croft is one of those players who is unique to the English game in that despite having very little technical ability he is loved by a decent sized proportion of fans (player of the season?) because of the effort he puts in. Us English fans love a trier whilst we are deeply suspicious of any ''Fancy Dan''. Just look how long it has taken Wes to win over certain sections of the crowd. There was no such problem for Lee Croft.

 

Our national team will never win anything until that attitude changes. But that is probably not for this thread [:D]

[Phillip J Fry 0]

[quote user="Shack Attack"]

Croft is one of those players who is unique to the English game in that despite having very little technical ability he is loved by a decent sized proportion of fans (player of the season?) because of the effort he puts in. Us English fans love a trier whilst we are deeply suspicious of any ''Fancy Dan''. Just look how long it has taken Wes to win over certain sections of the crowd. There was no such problem for Lee Croft.

 

Our national team will never win anything until that attitude changes. But that is probably not for this thread [:D]

[/quote]Well said.

[Chunky Norwich 0]

Sad? No offence to the OP but he was probably one of the most overrated players to ever play at the Rud. A winger who couldn''t cross a ball; ''nuff said.

Won player of the season and then promptly shot off on a free to Derby. We wanted to keep him, he wanted to go

[Sephiroth Owa 0]

He only won POTS because of that goal against the scum. How Clingan didn''t win that year is anyone''s guess.Not sure if I''m right here, but wasn''t he one of the people who wanted to jump ship when we went down? If so, couldn''t care less. Wes stuck with us and look where the two players are now ;)

[......and Smith must score. 1,515]

[quote user="Karl Pilkington"]I think he''s just been found out, he used to run with the ball a lot and get the crowd excited but I don''t think there was ever any end product. A lot of running down blind alleys. Also from seeing him on Soccer am, he''s very thick.[/quote]Totally agree.He was a crowd pleaser running with the ball but when he needed to do something positive with it it rarely ever happened.As to his general intelligence there was never much danger that he''d ever get hold of the '' Mastermind '' trophy......he wasn''t known in the dressing room as '' Trigger '' for nothing.

[pete_norw 0]

[quote user="......and Smith must score."][quote user="Karl Pilkington"]I think he''s just been found out, he used to run with the ball a lot and get the crowd excited but I don''t think there was ever any end product. A lot of running down blind alleys. Also from seeing him on Soccer am, he''s very thick.[/quote]

Totally agree.

He was a crowd pleaser running with the ball but when he needed to do something positive with it it rarely ever happened.

As to his general intelligence there was never much danger that he''d ever get hold of the '' Mastermind '' trophy......he wasn''t known in the dressing room as '' Trigger '' for nothing.
[/quote]

 

MY thoughts too, he was made hero because his Miss kick cross found the back of the scum net,If we could have read his mind that day he would be saying, "Wow how the hell did that happen,"  No,I have no time for him or the others that jumped ship. Clingan, Marshall, Bell, I laugh at them, who''s sorry now.?   

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Sephiroth Owa"]

How Clingan didn''t win that year is anyone''s guess.
[/quote]

Because while Clingan was good for us (especially by the standards of most players around him) he wasn''t outstanding.

 

Our best 3 players that season were Doc, Clingan and Croft. In truth there wasn''t much between the 3 of them but Croft scored a great goal against the scum and showed a lot of right so that''s probably what bagged it for him.

[Hissing Sid 160]

[quote user="pete_norw"]

[quote user="......and Smith must score."][quote user="Karl Pilkington"]I think he''s just been found out, he used to run with the ball a lot and get the crowd excited but I don''t think there was ever any end product. A lot of running down blind alleys. Also from seeing him on Soccer am, he''s very thick.[/quote]

Totally agree.

He was a crowd pleaser running with the ball but when he needed to do something positive with it it rarely ever happened.

As to his general intelligence there was never much danger that he''d ever get hold of the '' Mastermind '' trophy......he wasn''t known in the dressing room as '' Trigger '' for nothing.
[/quote]

 

MY thoughts too, he was made hero because his Miss kick cross found the back of the scum net,If we could have read his mind that day he would be saying, "Wow how the hell did that happen,"  No,I have no time for him or the others that jumped ship. Clingan, Marshall, Bell, I laugh at them, who''s sorry now.?   

[/quote]

 

Agree with just about everything thats been said here, but thats a bit harsh. It was a great strike.

[zemas tendon 0]

I feel sad for lee Croft, that when we got relegated he could not wait to jump on Clingans and Marshalls Back to be the first ones out the door... so i say to Tyrone hope you have a good long look in the mirror, and see where your career has gone... Ha Bloody Ha

[First Jedi 0]

Lee Croft was an appalling player, elevated in the minds of us fans purely being he was an, albeit hapless, trier in what was a dire period for us.

[Jacko 0]

I can''t feel sorry for the guy at all. He is sitting in Derby''s reserves doing nothing on extremely good money. The reason he failed miserably at both Huddersfield and Derby is because physically he was in very poor condition. The only person to blame for him being that out of shape is himself. He has one year left on his deal with Derby. If he doesnt sort himself out he will plummet down the leagues very quickly. There is a decent player in there when he can be bothered. I thought around the Christmas period in 2007/8 season when Roeder initially took over he was actually pretty good.

 

I know it partly reflects the quality of player we have signed down the years but after leaving there are very few players who actually go on to achieve better things than Norwich. In recent years only Sutton, Green, Ashton, Bellamy and Etuhu really leap out at me to be honest. Players like Marshall (Andy and David), Clingan, Croft, Earnshaw, O''Neill, Francis and Kenton for one reason or another have made little impact after leaving the club.

[Lennon7 0]

Didn''t mind Crofty when he was here. Him and Clingan were our only decent players at the time!

[Congo Canary 0]

Sorry,but he always reminded me of the Water Boy, (you need to see the film). If it wasn''t for the N&P stand, i''m sure he would have ended up in the river!! All running and precious little end product unfortunately. Thick as a stump apparently.

[Captain Holt 580]

It was an absolute disgrace that he won our Player Of The Year that year, shameful decision by the fans. Clingan was miles better.

[ncfc4life 0]

As others say you cant fault his work rate for 1 minute but other than that I thought he was useless. No end produce, couldnt cross always got caught out with the ball if he tried cutting in and I know he scored a few good goals against scum and sheff utd but his shooting was dire and he only scored 9 goals in those 3 years for us which for a winger is pretty poor. Dont really understand why everyone loved the guy so much, when there was apparently all this interest in him we really should have cashed in on him instead of keeping him till his contract ran out.I dont feel sorry for him at all, im sure he will find himself another club and anyway hes earned himself a shit load of money already and he was straight out of here when we went down. On twitter hes been running on about his trip to Las Vegas this summer so he cant be living that bad a life!

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

He was crap.

[macdougalls perm 0]

[quote user="Captain Holt"]It was an absolute disgrace that he won our Player Of The Year that year, shameful decision by the fans. Clingan was miles better.[/quote]

I actually thought it was a bit of a disgrace that we even had a Player Of The Year award for that season.

[Herman 10,904]

Fair points Dan and Mac. I wonder how many people actually voted that season. I certainly didn''t.

[BroadstairsR 0]

Lee Croft, "Player of the Season"  No wonder we were relegated.

 

Worthy paid a lot for him too. Was it £600,000 or even more perhaps?

[Buncey 1]

[quote user="Herman "]Fair points Dan and Mac. I wonder how many people actually voted that season. I certainly didn''t.[/quote]I couldn''t bare to have had to vote for a loan player (Lita) to be our player of the season.

[star_manic 0]

[quote user="Sephiroth Owa"]He only won POTS because of that goal against the scum. How Clingan didn''t win that year is anyone''s guess.Not sure if I''m right here, but wasn''t he one of the people who wanted to jump ship when we went down? If so, couldn''t care less. Wes stuck with us and look where the two players are now ;) [/quote] agree, sammy is a far superior footballer, still his leaving opened the door for new arrivals and the rest is history.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Jacko"]

achieve better things than Norwich. In recent years only Sutton, Green, Ashton, Bellamy and Etuhu the club.

[/quote]

Seeing as you mention Etuhu...

 

I seem to remember there were plenty of people who didn''t think he was good enough for us when he was here. There were various "pub team" or "Sunday league" kind of insults about him.

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1G5or8FEp8

 

OTBC

[Syteanric 1]

Croft was a trier, scored a few goals and jumped ship at the first opportunity... yes he was player of the year and a "star" in the relegation season but thats because the rest of the squad were woeful as well! he was the best of a bad bunch....No where near good enough even for the championship... I wish him well but i wouldnt be suprised if we were the biggest he ever played for.

[Congo Canary 0]

That confirms it, thick as a very thick stump..

[ncfcfan 0]

During our relegation season Lita was by far our best player. If he was on loan till the end of the season, I reckon he would of won our player of the season awards, like how Bullard won the scum''s.

[Jacko 0]

[quote user="GJP"][quote user="Jacko"]

achieve better things than Norwich. In recent years only Sutton, Green, Ashton, Bellamy and Etuhu the club.

[/quote]

Seeing as you mention Etuhu...

 

I seem to remember there were plenty of people who didn''t think he was good enough for us when he was here. There were various "pub team" or "Sunday league" kind of insults about him.

[/quote]

He was really inconsistent in his time here but you could tell there was a very good player in there somewhere. He has gone onto to play Premiership football and play in the Europa League Final. As mighty as Paul Lambert is, I doubt we''ll be doing the latter anytime soon. So give Etuhu his dues.