| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen James Craigan | ||
| Date of birth | (1976-10-29)29 October 1976 (age 49) | ||
| Place of birth | Newtownards, Northern Ireland | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1994–1995 | Blantyre Victoria | ||
| 1995–2000 | Motherwell | 22 | (0) |
| 2000–2003 | Partick Thistle | 106 | (1) |
| 2003–2012 | Motherwell | 292 | (5) |
| Total | 417 | (6) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2003 | Northern Ireland B | 1 | (0[1]) |
| 2003–2011 | Northern Ireland | 54 | (0[1]) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009 | Motherwell (caretaker) | ||
| 2015 | Motherwell (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 18:51, 13 May 2012 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 12:09, 19 July 2011 (UTC) | |||
Stephen James Craigan (born 29 October 1976)[2] is a Northern Irish former professionalfootballer.[3] He played incentral defence and spent his entire playing career in Scotland, playing forMotherwell (twice) andPartick Thistle. He has also played for theNorthern Ireland national team. He is a pundit for Viaplay's coverage of theScottish League Cup.
A boyhoodGlentoran fan, Craigan started his career in Scotland with Motherwell in 1994 when he was signed byAlex McLeish. However, after only twenty-six appearances, he was released on a free transfer. He signed forScottish Second Division clubPartick Thistle in 2000 and helped them back to theScottish Premier League, making 121 appearances. After his contract expired in 2003, he returned to Motherwell, who were then managed by formerEngland internationalTerry Butcher.
Since then, Craigan has been an integral part of Motherwell's steady progress in the league. Craigan has since gone on to become Motherwell's most capped player. He works forBBC Radio Scotland, also commentated on some European matches for Setanta Sports and ESPN. Craigan is a regular pundit onSky Sports News Radio, rounding up the weekly hot topics in the Scottish Premiership.[3]
In January 2008, Craigan was madeclub captain of Motherwell, taking over fromPhil O'Donnell, who died after collapsing on the pitch during a match againstDundee United on 29 December 2007.
In June 2009, Craigan was appointed the player-caretaker manager of Motherwell while the club looked for a replacement forMark McGhee, who departed forAberdeen.[4] This temporary appointment ended whenJim Gannon was hired as the new manager. He endured a troubled relationship with Gannon, featuring in only seven of the seventeen league games he was in charge at Motherwell after being publicly criticised by the manager, but returned to regular first-team action underCraig Brown.[5] On 16 April 2011 Craigan scored his first goal since 2006 with a header to open the scoring in theScottish Cup semi-final againstSt Johnstone, which Motherwell won 3–0 to advance to the2011 Scottish Cup Final.[6]
On 9 June 2011, Craigan signed a new one-year contract at Motherwell.[7] Craigan was awarded a testimonial match, against his former clubPartick Thistle. He scored the only goal of the game, on 13 July 2011.[8] On 9 May 2012, Craigan announced that he would retire after Motherwell's last game of the2011–12 Scottish Premier League season.[9]
On 29 October 2021, it was announced that Craigan was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.[10]
Craigan isMotherwell's record cap holder, having received 54 caps forNorthern Ireland while playing for the club. Craigan played in their 1–0 victory againstEngland in September 2005 and the 3–2 win overSpain a year later. He captained his country on their end of season tour in 2010 againstTurkey andChile and continued as captain againstMontenegro on 11 August 2010. His 50th cap came in a surprise victory away toSlovenia on 3 September 2010, in their first game of the Euro 2012 campaign.[1][11] On 19 July 2011, Craigan announced his retirement from International football, earning 54 caps, the last of those coming againstSlovenia.[12]
Craigan has made steady strides into management. As well as being caretaker manager for Motherwell in 2009,[4] he was named assistant manager of theNorthern Ireland Under-19 squad on 11 October 2012. He also continued working as a football pundit for radio and television.[3] In July 2015, Craigan was appointed manager of Motherwell's under-20 team.[13][14] After managerIan Baraclough left the club in September, Craigan was put in temporary control of the first team.[15][16]
SinceBT Sport took overESPN UK's rights to theSPFL in 2013, Craigan's journeyman football career has been superseded by his work as a studio pundit on the network, regularly appearing alongsideDarrell Currie, and fellow punditsChris Sutton andAlly McCoist. From the start of the 2016–17 season Craigan has also appeared onBT Sport's coverage of theScottish League Cup, working as an analyst and co-commentator, alongsideRob MacLean orRory Hamilton.He also works as a pundit onPremier Sport's coverage of Scottish Football.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Other[17] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Motherwell | |||||||||||
| 1997–98 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |
| 1998–99 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| 1999–2000 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| Total | 26 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |
| Partick Thistle | |||||||||||
| 2000–01 | 35 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 1 | |
| 2001–02 | 32 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 43 | 0 | |
| 2002–03 | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 0 | |
| Total | 106 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 125 | 1 | |
| Motherwell | |||||||||||
| 2003–04 | 36 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 3 | |
| 2004–05 | 37 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 4 | |
| 2005–06 | 36 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 2 | |
| 2006–07 | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0 | |
| 2007–08 | 38 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 0 | |
| 2008–09 | 22 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 | |
| 2009–10 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 36 | 0 | |
| 2010–11 | 35 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 50 | 1 | |
| 2011–12 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | |
| Total | 292 | 8 | 18 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 341 | 10 | |
| Motherwell Total | 318 | 8 | 20 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 357 | 10 | |
| Career Total | 424 | 9 | 31 | 1 | 27 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 486 | 11 | |
| Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 3 | 0 |
| 2004 | 7 | 0 |
| 2005 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | 8 | 0 |
| 2007 | 7 | 0 |
| 2008 | 5 | 0 |
| 2009 | 7 | 0 |
| 2010 | 7 | 0 |
| 2011 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 54 | 0 |
