Lee Croft

Manchester City

Born in Billinge Higher End, Greater Manchester, Croft began his career at Manchester City, who he joined as a 12-year-old after scout Eric Mullenden spotted him playing for junior team Garswood United. He was a talented youth player, representing England at every level up to under-20, including captaining England under-18s. Accumulating more than 40 caps in total, he is the most capped England youth player of all-time. At club level, he was part of the Manchester City youth team which reached the semi-finals of the 2003 FA Youth Cup. He made his first team debut for City on 7 March 2005 against Bolton Wanderers, coming on as a substitute in Kevin Keegan's final game as City manager, and made a further six substitute appearances that season. In April 2005 he signed a one-year contract extension. Croft was a regular substitute at the start of the 2005–06 season. His first English Premier League start came on 31 October 2005 against Aston Villa, and his first Manchester City goal came a week later in a match against Fulham. He also started the next two matches, but this run of four matches was to be the only period Croft formed part of the Manchester City starting eleven. He was a frequent substitute in the remainder of the season, finishing with campaign with 25 appearances, 21 of these as a substitute.

Oldham Athletic (loan)

Croft turned professional aged seventeen, but did not break into the first team straight away. In November 2004…

Croft has represented England at Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 youth international levels, including captaining the Under-18 team. He played in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, making two appearances for England Under-20 as they finished bottom of Group D.

On 14 October 2012, Croft was the subject of a police investigation after he was accused of racially abusing a black ball boy. He admitted he "spoke inappropriately" to the boy and apologised. However, it quickly transpired that "there was no accusation whatsoever from the ball boy of racist abuse", who accepted Croft's apology; Croft said that the false allegations (from those who did not witness the incident) damaged anti-racism efforts.