Andy Crosby

Early career

Crosby began his football career as a trainee with Leeds United, having been with the club as a youth team player since at least 1987. He was released to Doncaster Rovers – managed by former Leeds boss Billy Bremner – after failing to break into the first-team at Elland Road. He featured 26 times in the 1991–92 season as Rovers finished 21st in the Fourth Division. The creation of the Premier League saw the Fourth Division renamed the Third Division, and Doncaster ended the 1992–93 season in 16th place under the stewardship of Steve Beaglehole. Crosby spent a brief part of the 1993–94 season on loan at Halifax Town, featuring just once for the Conference club. He played two reserve team games as a trialist for Wrexham.

Darlington

Crosby signed in December 1993 with Alan Murray's Darlington, which went on to end the 1993–94 campaign second-from-bottom of the Football League. Darlington also finished second-from-bottom in 1994–95, with Crosby clocking up 41 appearances. The "Quakers" improved under new manager Jim Platt, and Crosby played 55 games in the 1995–96 campaign as Darlington qualified for the play-offs after finishing in fifth place; he played in a back five alongside centre-backs Sean Gregan and Matty Appleby, supported by wing-backs Mark Barnard and Simon Shaw. He captained the club in their play-off final defeat to Plymouth Argyle, the club's first appearance at Wembley Stadium. However, Darlington returned to the lower half of the…

Crosby was an "uncompromising, no-nonsense, hard-tackling" defender with a strong 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) frame. He had good leadership and organisational skills, being described as a "natural leader" by former Scunthorpe teammate Paul Musselwhite. He was a penalty kick specialist and missed just one in his career, though he scored from the rebound. He was nicknamed 'Crozzer' whilst at Scunthorpe.

Backroom roles

Following Brian Laws's move to Sheffield Wednesday on 6 November 2006, Nigel Adkins became Scunthorpe United's caretaker manager with Crosby and Ian Baraclough as his assistants. Adkins was given the job permanently the following month, and it was reported by the BBC that "the position of assistant manager will be reviewed in the close season", with Crosby, Baraclough and Tony Daws supporting Adkins until then. On 12 September 2010, Crosby joined Southampton as assistant to manager Nigel Adkins. The pair took the club from League One to the Premier League with successive promotions in 2010–11 and 2011–12. He was dismissed, along with Adkins, on 18 January 2013. The decision to sack Adkins proved highly unpopular with Southampton supporters, who waved white handkerchiefs at St Mary's Stadium to show their displeasure with chairman Nicola Cortese's decision to replace Adkins with former Espanyol manager Mauricio Pochettino. On 26 March 2013, he reunited with Adkins as he became his assistant at Reading. Crosby said the pair had tried to continue the work done by popular former manager Brian McDermott; however, Reading were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2012–13 season. Crosby was strongly linked with the vacant management position at Scunthorpe United in November 2013. Reading aimed for an immediate promotion but narrowly missed out on the Championship play-offs in 2013–14, and Adkins and Crosby were sacked in December 2014. On 2…

Andrew Keith Crosby was born on 3 March 1973 in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire. He grew up in the mining village of Maltby; his father was a lorry driver and miner, whilst his mother worked in the local shops. He grew up supporting Rotherham United but was rejected by the club as a player at the age of eleven.