Crowe: Christopher (Chris)

1956-1960 (Player Details)

Winger/Inside Forward

Born: Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 11-06-1939

Debut v Burnley (a): 20-10-1956

5’71/2” 11st 11lb (1957)

Crowe had the distinction of representing Scotland at Schoolboy level and England as a full International. Born in Newcastle, he moved to Edinburgh with his parents at an early age. He joined Leeds as an amateur in October 1954. He won eight England Youth Caps and turned professional in June 1956. He soon broke into the Leeds first team in the 1956-57 season when only seventeen, and it soon became obvious that he was a very talented player. He was second on the Leeds goalscoring list with twelve League goals in 1958-59, with Alan Shackleton getting four more and he was again second in the following season with eleven to John McCole's twenty-two. He had made a scoring debut for the England Under-Twenty-Three team in the 2-0 win over France at Roker Park, Sunderland on 11th November 1959 and it came as no surprise when other teams started to covet the young Leeds star. In January 1960 Wolves manager Stan Cullis and Aston Villa manager Joe Mercer competed to sign the Young England winger, who was away on National Service, for around £30,000. Crowe agreed terms with Cullis but stalled. After consulting his wife the transfer fell through. He then won a second Under-Twenty-Three cap in a 4-4 draw with Scotland at Ibrox Park on 2nd March 1960, which only heightened the interest of other clubs. Leeds, meanwhile, were delighted by the form of Crowe's stand-in, seventeen-year-old Billy Bremner, and he progressed so well, that within a couple of months manager Frank Taylor felt able to part with his prized asset. Blackburn Rovers stepped in with the sizable bid of £25,000 and Taylor felt obliged to accept. Crowe had potential, but was often unnerved by heckling from the fans, and allowed his form to suffer because of this undeserved distraction both at Elland Road and at Ewood Park. He did, however, still figure in the plans of the England team and was picked twice more for the Under-Twenty-Three side while at Ewood Park. On 8th February 1961 he scored again, this time from the spot as England beat Wales 2-0 at Goodison Park, Liverpool, but the was on the losing team for the first time at Under-Twenty-Three level as England were beaten 1-0 by Scotland in his fourth and final game for England on 1st March 1961 at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough. He left Blackburn on 14th February 1962 for £28,000, after scoring just six goals in fifty-one League games. He was very close to selection for the 1962 World Cup tournament in Chile, having been very impressive since his arrival at Molineux the previous February. In a struggling side who were to finish no higher than eighteenth in the First Division, Crowe scored seven goals in fourteen matches, including two in an astonishing 5-4 win at Chelsea, which was Wolves’ only victory in the last ten games of the season. Despite similar good showings in London, which always help in getting international recognition, the former Leeds and Blackburn player lost out to the likes of Johnny Haynes, Bobby Charlton and the mercurial Jimmy Greaves in selection for the trip to South America. Crowe’s time, albeit brief, was soon to come, though. Wolves started the following campaign brilliantly with an 8-1 trouncing of Manchester City and were top until beaten and deposed by eventual champions Everton in early October. Crowe scored five times in the first seven games, including both in a win at Blackpool and one of the two that defeated the best team of that moment, Tottenham Hotspur, in front of 61,412 at White Hart Lane. It was then that he realized his true potential and was rewarded by winning his first and only England cap against France on 3rd October 1962 in a European Championship qualifying game at Hillsborough, Sheffield, as England drew with France 1-1. His Wolves team-mate Alan Hinton was a fellow debutant and a third Molineux man, Ron Flowers, scored from a penalty in the 1-1 draw. Crowe would go on to score eleven goals in all in 1962-63 and register three in four games in another hot start in 1963-64. But, surprisingly, he never won another cap. He went on to scored twenty-four goals in eighty-three League appearances for Wolves. In August 1964 Nottingham Forest signed him for £30,000, when Crowe was still only twenty-five and he stayed with them until January 1967 when he moved to Bristol City for £15,000, after scoring twelve goals in seventy-three League games, together with two goals in three F.A. Cup ties and one in two appearances in the League Cup, while at the City Ground. He scored thirteen goals in sixty-seven League games at Ashton Gate before, in May 1969, he went to Australia to play for Auburn FC. He soon returned to England in September 1969 to join Walsall for £1,000, where he finished his League career in 1970 after scoring once in thirteen games. He ran a pub in Leeds and a Newsagent’s shop in Bristol before coming out of retirement to play for Bath City in February 1971. He then managed Greenway Sports and Norwegian side Fram. He then settled in Bristol, where he ran a shoe shop, then was an estate agent and before becoming a taxi driver. He died Bristol in May 2003.